Baseball Pioneers : Ratings of Nineteenth Century Players

Cap Anson, King Kelly, Wee Willie Keeler--three of the best hitters in baseball's infancy.

But which of these three was the best? And who was the era's top pitcher? Pud Galvin? Cy Young? Joe McGinnity? This unique reference work provides the answers to these questions and many others.

Position-by-position, men who played all or the majority of their major league career in the nineteenth century are ranked.

Hitting and fielding ratings are given for infielders and outfielders appearing in at least two-thirds of their teams' games and all catchers appearing in at least one-half of the seasons' games.

Pitchers involved in 15 or more decisions are also included, with their ratings weighted so that those on weak teams can be fairly compared with hurlers on strong teams.