The Best of All Time: 1890-1920

In order to cure my blogging plague and in honor of summer coming to an end and fall ball getting underway, I am going to recap the greatest players to ever set foot on the diamond. Everyday (with the possibility of a few breaks because of my lovely work schedule) I will reminisce the best professional players of each decade, leading up to this decades’ inaugural season.

Major League Baseball began in 1869, but since the structure differed until the addition of the American League in 1901, I will start with the deadball era spanning from the 1890s to 1920.

I begin with the “Flying Dutchman” Honus Wagner. In his 21 year career, ending in 1917, he boasted a .327 batting average with a .947 fielding percentage. He won eight batting titles and led the league in slugging six times and in stolen bases five times. In 1936, he was one of five men selected in the Baseball Hall of Fame’s inaugural class.


Switching to the other side of the plate, we have Cy Young. When he retired after 22 seasons in 1911, he had a 2.63 ERA and a .618 win percentage. In 7,356 innings he struck out 2,803 batters. He is notorious for great pitching to this day since each league’s best pitcher is given an end-of-season award in his name.


One of the lesser-known greats early baseball is Nap Lajoie, who played 21 seasons from 1895-1916. He finished with a .338 batting average, although he was best known for his work in the infield, primarily as a second baseman. He had a career .967 fielding percentage and won the Triple Crown in 1901. In 1937, he was elected into Cooperstown.


Last but not least, I leave you with Ty Cobb. Cobb entered the Majors at the young age of 18 and played for 24 years before hanging up his cleats in 1928. His .367 career batting average is still the best of all-time. He also finished with a .513 slugging percentage, .961 fielding percentage and 4,191 hits. He set 90 Major League records, earned 12 batting titles (including nine in a row from 1907-1915), stole home a record 54 times, and only batted below .300 once in his astonishing career. In 1911 he was the league’s MVP and he entered the Hall of Fame with the most votes of any of the inaugural inductees with 98.2%.