Friday trivia

[Peter_Spaeth]

I don't know if the old Negro League stats were comprehensive enough to get someone to high enough totals, but I'll guess Oscar Charleston.

[nolemmings]

Ty Cobb

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I don't know if the old Negro League stats were comprehensive enough to get someone to high enough totals, but I'll guess Oscar Charleston.

Because of the way they figured which stats would or wouldn't count for the Negro League players, I don't believe they have a single year where they count anywhere near the number of games being played by the AL and NL teams. So no Negro League players would have ever topped the majors in all three Triple Crown categories, they din't have enough HRs or RBIs.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by BobC

Because of the way they figured which stats would or wouldn't count for the Negro League players, I don't believe they have a single year where they count anywhere near the number of games being played by the AL and NL teams. So no Negro League players would have ever topped the majors in all three Triple Crown categories, they din't have enough HRs or RBIs.

Yeah we'll never really be able to do apples to apples on the greats such as Charleston, Gibson, Paige etc.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Yeah we'll never really be able to do apples to apples on the greats such as Charleston, Gibson, Paige etc.

Agree! The biggest inconsistency is due to what is being counted as a major league level game for Negro League players, and the huge difference from year to year in the number of games that end up qualifying.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by BobC

Agree! The biggest inconsistency is due to what is being counted as a major league level game for Negro League players, and the huge difference from year to year in the number of games that end up qualifying.

I looked up Paige on Baseball Reference. I am really surprised, even counting his stats equally on a league-relative basis, he got to top 15 all time in a couple of the Bill James categories. There doesn't seem enough there and even in the context of just the Negro Leagues, his stats other than Ks don't seem that overwhelming, not a lot of league leads.