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Posted By: Matt Goebel

Kenny,

I have to say that I agree with just about everything you said, I just spin it a little differently. When you say that the caliber of play was between that of the contemporary AAA and Major league level, I think you probably could have said the same thing about the Federal League (which is considered a major league) as well as the Union Association and the Players League. The white talent pool was clearly spread much thinner those years resulting in less bench strength and poorer pitching. Hell, you could say that about several Major League seasons in the expansion era - you hit upon this yourself. Additionally, I think this lack of depth in the Negro Leagues actually fostered one of their greatest strengths - the development of much more multi-dimensional players. Because of the limited roster size the pitchers were forced to be much better hitters and also be able to fill in at other positions, and a premium was placed on players who were adept at several positions and were able to man other functions from coaching/managing to groundskeeping (who knows?). Also, remember that Negro Leagues were representing only a small percentage of the American population, so it may not be fair to extrapolate that over the full Major League contingent of the time. I think the bottom line is that there were probably a couple of Negro League teams each year that would have challenged for the pennant in the AL or NL, probably another handful that would have matched up with the Major League also-rans, and several that were not of Major League caliber.

Just my two cents.