Baseball-Reference’s Career Leaders for Wins Above Replacement list is a great starting place for ranking the best baseball players in history. While there are some things I would change about this method of determining players’ greatness, it is one of the best approximations of player strength out there. Here’s a glance at the greatest 25 pre-1900 players based on Baseball-Reference’s career WAR analysis:
In order of career WAR, from highest to lowest:
- Cy Young
- Kid Nichols
- Cap Anson
- Tim Keefe
- George Davis
- Roger Connor
- John Clarkson
- Dan Brouthers
- Old Hoss Radbourn
- Jim McCormick
- Pud Galvin
- Ed Delahanty
- Amos Rusie
- Tony Mullane
- Monte Ward
- Mickey Welch
- Billy Hamilton
- Charlie Buffinton
- Jack Glasscock
- Jake Beckley
- Tommy Bond
- Bob Caruthers
- Jesse Burkett
- Al Spalding
- Jim Whitney
So if we could gather all 25 of these players together to play as a team in 1900, what would the roster look like?
Starting Lineup
- Billy Hamilton CF
- Cap Anson C
- Ed Delahanty LF
- Dan Brouthers 1B
- Roger Connor 3B
- George Davis RF
- Jack Glasscock SS
- Monte Ward 2B
Working with what I have, I put Cap Anson at catcher because he’s the only one out of these 25 players with any experience at the position.
Bench
- Jake Beckley
- Jesse Burkett
Only two hitters on the bench, but both good-hitting lefties.
Starting Rotation
- Cy Young
- Kid Nichols
- Tim Keefe
- John Clarkson
- Old Hoss Radbourn
I put the best five pitchers into the starting rotation since all pitchers of this era were starters.
Bullpen
- Jim McCormick
- Pud Galvin
- Amos Rusie
- Tony Mullane
- Mickey Welch
- Charlie Buffinton
- Bob Caruthers
- Al Spalding
- Jim Whitney
Considering how 19th-century baseball was played, the bullpen doubles as the bench, with any of these players able to come out and hit or pitch as needed.
Closer
- Tommy Bond
With a 1.091 career WHIP and lots of strikeouts, he makes a good game-ender
Good stuff, I’m comprising my 19th C Strat-o-matic team, very insightful article!
The article specifies that it’s looking at “pre-1900” players, but 1900 was, in fact, the final year of the 19th century, not 1899.
With that in mind, Christy Mathewson qualifies as a 19th century player, even though all of his good years were in the 20th century.
Fair point on the technicality. I will push back a little though about Christy Mathewson. If it were the year 1901 and I was charged with the task of assembling a team of best players of the past century, I would not have picked Mathewson. At that time, he was just a young rookie and hadn’t done anything spectacular yet (besides leading the league in wild pitches in 1901).