I think if you took an "average" player from the modern era, he would pretty convincingly outperform his "average" counterpart from the first half of the 20th century. But then when you're talking about the extraordinary, Cobb, DiMaggio, Mays, Speaker, Keeler, etc...it gets much more tricky to compare. You never really know when it comes to those guys. They may have had some "it" factor that transcended the era they played in. That being said...
Ruth
Mays
Bonds
Henderson
And for pitchers...
W. Johnson
B. Gibson
Paige
Maddux
And my "5th man" spot would go to Cobb for hitters and Koufax for pitchers
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