[Rhotchkiss]

Regarding pre-war, the first 5 plus Cy Young, Joe Jackson, and Lou Gehrig (collectively, the “Big 8”), are everything going forward. There are SO many great players excluded by this statement, but future generations will know less and less about them and collect them less.

The Big 8, for whatever or many reasons, are the players that have grown bigger than the sport and bigger than their stats and accomplishments. Unless or until some movie or similar promotion elevates the general status of a different player, the Big 8 are, in my opinion, the only 8 to collect longterm if you are hoping for asset appreciation. This sucks bc, if I am correct, so many great players will fade into collecting obscurity.

I do think there is a second level who could stay relevant, albeit increasingly inferior, including Lajoie, Speaker, Musial, Williams, DiMaggio, Foxx, Hornsby, Anson, etc. But the gap between the Big 8 and all the others will grow as most players from the past pass into obscurity.

I think you see a similar phenomena happening in post-war vintage, where you have Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Robinson, Clemente, Koufax, Ryan emerging as the GOATs of that era, with Paige, Berra, Rose, and maybe Gibson and Frank Robinson as having a chance, and the likes of Spahn, Kaline, Seaver, Banks, Bench, etc slowly losing steam, while Killebrew, McCovy, Marichal, Carew, etc. basically irrelevant.

As time goes on, some become immortal, others become mentioned, others become footnotes, and most are forgotten. The Big 8 are, and will remain immortal, and everyone else is just hoping to breath their legacy-air