One of many funniest issues to return out of this mailbag column to date occurred two weeks in the past, after I wrote about essentially the most replacement-level gamers of all time. I started that week’s mailbag by speaking about questions that require each quantitative knowledge and subjective evaluation to reply, and I used the query “Who’s the best baseball participant of all time?” for example. I made it fairly clear that I wasn’t going to offer my opinion on the topic; as an alternative, I defined how individuals may contemplate the query and formulate their arguments, and in doing so, I discussed a number of of the very best gamers ever. Nothing to it.
Besides, after all, I ought to’ve identified that you simply fantastic baseball sickos couldn’t resist hashing out that debate within the feedback. A superb variety of you latched on to the half about how somebody may give Barry Bonds the sting over Babe Ruth as a result of “Bonds wouldn’t have been allowed to play throughout Ruth’s profession.” Readers additionally made factors about growth and cited U.S. census numbers to check the inhabitants sizes of main league baseball and the nation. I actually didn’t anticipate any of that.
So possibly I must be ready for something with the query I answered to start this week’s mailbag, which additionally offers with all-time nice gamers and lineups. It’s quantitative for positive, however context can be needed to know why issues turned out the way in which they did. It’s a enjoyable one, so let’s get to it. Earlier than we do, although, I’ll remind you all that whereas anybody can submit a query, this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. For those who aren’t but a Member and wish to hold studying, you possibly can join a Membership right here. It’s one of the best ways to each expertise the positioning and help our workers, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, when you’d wish to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an e-mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
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