[Vision2020] answering g. crabtree

[Deacon James]

Tom Hansen,

I don't think I made myself very clear. By saying that we will never really know how well they would have compared, I meant it the opposite of how you took it.

Take Satchel Paige, for example. Over 6 years, he pitched 476 innings. He struck out 288 and had a 3.29 ERA. However, he began pitching in the newly integrated majors at about 41 years old. We have no idea just how good he was (relative to Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Early Wynn, et al.) in his prime, but we do know that he pitched 3 scoreless innings -- allowing only one hit -- at the age of 58. 58! I would love to know what he could have done at 27.

I don't know about you, Tom Hansen, but I feel cheated, all because of the stupid and dispicable idea of racism.

Take care,

D

=====================
From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
Date: Tue Jun 27 07:52:03 CDT 2006
To: 'Deacon James' <deaconjames at verizon.net>, vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] answering g. crabtree

Deacon James stated:

" . . . we will never know just how well the Negro Leaguers would have
compared. The level of competition, the quality and measurements of the
fields, poor/non-existant/inconsistent scoring, and more all contributed to
the poor collection of Negro League statistics that we have."

You are correct that the quality of venues in which the Negro Leaguers
played was far inferior to those of their white counterparts.  However, you
are far from accurate when you stated, " . . . we will never know just how
well the Negro Leaguers would have compared."  There were several that made
the move from the negro leagues to the white majors.  How about Josh Gibson,
Ernie Banks, Roy Campanella, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and
Satchel Paige to name just a few, all of whom are enshrined in Cooperstown
(the white baseball hall of fame), but not all are enshrined in Atlanta (the
negro baseball hall of fame).

I don't know about you, DJ, but I have a pretty good idea how they fared in
white baseball.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho 

"Uh, how about a 1-strike law. Deathdoesn't seem too extreme for a Level-3
sex offender."
 
- Dale "Comb-Over" Courtney(August 3, 2005)

-----Original Message-----

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Deacon James
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 10:55 PM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] answering g. crabtree

Tom Hansen,

The A's have been playing uncharacteristically well for this time of year;
normally they don't start going on a tear until a week or two after the
All-Star Break. My guess is that they will taper off a month early as well.
They have clearly been overacheiving. But, hey, even if they do make the
playoffs, they'll just get beat in the first round, so that's of some
comfort to this M's fan.

Oscar Charleston was certainly an incredible baseball player, beloved of
both fans and players. I have no doubt that he would have put up incredible
numbers in the majors, but, regretably, we will never know just how well the
Negro Leaguers would have compared. The level of competition, the quality
and measurements of the fields, poor/non-existant/inconsistent scoring, and
more all contributed to the poor collection of Negro League statistics that
we have.

That said, I would still say that Charleston is one of the top ten -- maybe
top five -- greatest players in the history of the game. And heck, I don't
even know if he was Protestant...

Take care,

D