1931 poll of managers

[princeton]

I found this interesting

http://baseballguru.com/bburgess/ana...burgess11.html

[George Anderson]

Gabby Street thought Hal Chase and Freddy Parent were better than George Herman Ruth??

[cumberlandreds]

I think most us think players of our past are better than the current crop of players. Looks like people thought the same back in 1931. Most of the players named at the top by those were players they played with or watched when they were younger. Still interesting to see who they thought were the best of all time.

[RedsManRick]

Gabby Street thought Hal Chase and Freddy Parent were better than George Herman Ruth??

Ruth was just a guy who who only hit HR... we all know how useless that was. I'm sure if The Babe lost some weight and stole some more bases he would have been more highly regarding.

[westofyou]

Ruth was just a guy who who only hit HR... we all know how useless that was. I'm sure if The Babe lost some weight and stole some more bases he would have been more highly regarding.

Hal Chase was considered the most graceful fielder in an era of fielding, Street was backup catcher and a marginal player most of his career, Hal Chase was often quoted by deadball era players as being the best player, a perception based on eyeballs more than anything else, something else.

By the same measure Buck Ewing always got more accolades from 19th century players than he ever did after most of them died.

[cumberlandreds]

Ruth was just a guy who who only hit HR... we all know how useless that was. I'm sure if The Babe lost some weight and stole some more bases he would have been more highly regarding.

He could pitch a little bit too. That's the reason I consider him the greatest ever. He was one of the few,if only one, who proved they would have been a great player pitching or hitting.

[Always Red]

Hal Chase was considered the most graceful fielder in an era of fielding, Street was backup catcher and a marginal player most of his career, Hal Chase was often quoted by deadball era players as being the best player, a perception based on eyeballs more than anything else, something else.

By the same measure Buck Ewing always got more accolades from 19th century players than he ever did after most of them died.

"Prince" Hal Chase was also, by most accounts, one of the the biggest cheaters of all time. Interestingly, in his three years with the Reds, his defensive stats were by far the worst in the league. He had rep as a great fielder, but made a total of 402 errors in 1800 games at 1B; this is how he threw many games. He was notorious throughout the game for his gambling, and he was finally expelled from baseball after the 1919 World Series, when he was caught up in the infamous Black Sox scandal.

http://baseball.suite101.com/article...bling_scandals
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/cheat...rob&id=2965046
http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/chaseha01.shtml

[nate]

Hal Chase was considered the most graceful fielder in an era of fielding, Street was backup catcher and a marginal player most of his career, Hal Chase was often quoted by deadball era players as being the best player, a perception based on eyeballs more than anything else, something else.

By the same measure Buck Ewing always got more accolades from 19th century players than he ever did after most of them died.

Wasn't Hal Chase also the most graceful at throwing games for gamblers?

[westofyou]

Wasn't Hal Chase also the most graceful at throwing games for gamblers?

Yep.. including a stint in the queen city

http://www.redszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56820

[red-in-la]

Not a historian at all, but didn't Lou Gehrig show Yankee fans what a one dimensional player Ruth was?

[westofyou]

Not a historian at all, but didn't Lou Gehrig show Yankee fans what a one dimensional player Ruth was?

Ruth a one dimensional player?

First time I've ever seen that written.

Short answer... No.

[George Anderson]

Not a historian at all, but didn't Lou Gehrig show Yankee fans what a one dimensional player Ruth was?

Ruth could hit for power and average. As a pitcher he was one of the best of his era until he became a full time position player and he also had the reputation of being a very good defensive outfielder. Dave Kingman was one dimensional but not Ruth

[princeton]

Ruth could hit for power and average. As a pitcher he was one of the best of his era until he became a full time position player and he also had the reputation of being a very good defensive outfielder. Dave Kingman was one dimensional but not Ruth

my guess is that within his era, coming out of the Deadball Era and its emphasis on defense and baserunning, Babe Ruth was one of the most one dimensional players. and some managers don't like that, as is true today.

however, it was one BIG dimension.

and around the time of this poll, weren't other even more one-dimensional players (Hack Wilson, Chuck Klein) beginning to appear?

[westofyou]

and around the time of this poll, weren't other even more one-dimensional players (Hack Wilson, Chuck Klein) beginning to appear?

Riggs Stephenson, Bob Fothergill, Chick Hafey, Babe Herman.... the game was littered with them.

Ruth did get thrown out at 2nd on a steal attempt to end the 1926 WS.

Then man ran.. and not just to the hot dog cart on the train platform.

[princeton]

Riggs Stephenson, Bob Fothergill, Chick Hafey, Babe Herman.... the game was littered with them.

and weren't they a bit dissed as well? I vaguely remember reading backhanded compliments about Hafey and Herman, sort of like "they could hit the ball hard but..."