Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, and Honus Wagner were among the greatest hitters who ever played major league baseball, but how do they stack up against players of other eras and each other? This book employs a statistical analysis of “production per at-bat” to compare 120 top batters by position over a 19-year period when contact, speed and hit-and-run strategy were more valuable than power and home runs.
Included are an analysis of each player’s strengths and weaknesses, rankings of the most talented and the most valuable producers, and the selection of an All-Star team for the era.

Retired CPA, corporate executive and management consultant Robert E. Kelly is an author and an award-winning journalist. He lives in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Robert E. Kelly
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 220
Bibliographic Info: bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4125-9
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5358-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii

Foreword by Leonard Levin      1

Introduction      5

The World Beyond the Ballpark, 1901–1919      13

The World Within the Ballpark, 1901–1919      15

First Basemen—Analysis, 1901–1919      17

First Basemen—Summary in Domination Point (DP) Sequence      40

Catchers—Analysis, 1901–1919      42

Catchers—Summary in Domination Point (DP) Sequence      62

Infielders—Analysis, 1901–1919      64

Infielders—Summary in Domination Point (DP) Sequence      129

Outfielders—Analysis, 1901–1919      132

Outfielders—Summary in Domination Point (DP) Sequence      200

Summary, 1901–1919      203

Bibliography      207

Index      209

“the unique quality of this narrow study recommends it to any baseball research collection”—ARBA.