An argument has been made that Ross Barnes was the greatest baseball player of all time in the League. Unfortunately, that aforementioned League was the National Association, not the current Leagues known today.
The argument about Ross Barnes’ skills is easy to make. He led the Baseball Association in both traditional and sabermetric categories multiple times and was called the most valuable teammate among his peers; many of whom would go on to Cooperstown themselves. In 1877, Barnes fell ill with a severe fever and was never the same player afterward. He was out of baseball by age 31, and many have speculated that had he not suffered from poor health, he would have been elected as a pioneer of the game. As it stands now, he is a forgotten workhorse of a bygone era, and bluntly, we are not even sure eligible, as he only played nine seasons. We know what that means in this century, but is that still the case for Barnes?
Comments powered by CComment