Rank your top 19th Century Baseball Players

[Schwertfeger1007]

I'm working on a N172 HOF run and it got me thinking....

Who your top 5-10 players of that era?

[G1911]

1. Cy Young
2. Cap Anson
3. Kid Nichols
4. Dan Brouthers
5. Tim Keefe
6. Ed Delahanty

Off the top of my head without checking baseball reference again, based on careers in the major leagues. Spaulding, Creighton and others may be more deserving. Added a 6th since Young spans two full decades, only one of which is the 19th century. If only his career through 1899 counts he probably doesn’t merit inclusion.

[skelly423]

Very off the top of my head ranking, but I’d go with.

1. Cap Anson
2. King Kelly
3. Ed Delahanty
4. Tim Keefe
5. Pud Galvin


I’m cutting of Cy Young because his career straddled the decades, though the first half his career is probably still good enough to make the list on merit. And as much as I’d love to see it, I just couldn’t find room for Old Hoss Radbourn

[darwinbulldog]

My approach was just to look only at stats compiled prior to the 1901 season. That yields this list:

1. Kid Nichols
2. Cy Young
3. John Clarkson
4. Tim Keefe
5. Dan Brouthers
6. Roger Connor
7. Cap Anson
8. Jim McCormick
9. Hoss Radbourn
10. Bob Caruthers

[mouschi]

Without looking at stats, here are my favorites at least! 2-5 can be interchangeable, but the King will always be the King!

King Kelly
Cap Anson
Cy Young
Roger Connor
Dan Brouthers

[oldjudge]

1. Buck Ewing
2. Ed Delahanty
3. George Wright
4. Sam Thompson
5. King Kelly

In the 19th century the catcher was the most important player on the field and Ewing was the best catcher of the period. In the 1920s Connie Mack called Ewing the greatest player he had ever seen.