Other Crap

Interesting footage of Ty Cobb above, with Cobb's narration. Most interesting to me is the list of the best players he had ever seen. He mentions Ruth and Shoeless Joe and Lajoie (which he pronounces LA-zho-yay, not la-ZHWA, as some others say it). No surprises there. But he also mentions Frank Schulte, a nearly forgotten player from the great Cubs teams of the turn of the century.

Most people remember that great team for "Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance," the double play trio who all got into the Hall of Fame, but "Wildfire" Schulte was often considered the best position player on that team by contemporaries.

It is difficult to describe how good the 1906 Cubs were in modern terms, because the deadball era stats don't translate well to our perceptions, but one way to look at is this: they had the best player in the league at 6 of the 8 positions, and they had SIX of the league's ten best pitchers. If the rest of the league had former an all-star team, the Cubs would have kicked their asses!

And the two Cubs who were not league's best at their positions were good players. SS Joe Tinker was obviously not a better player than Honus Wagner, but Tinker is in the freakin' Hall of Fame! And "Circus" Solly Hofman was also a solid player, but he was only 23 that year. Four years later he was one of the league's stars.

The 1906 Cubs went 116-36. Translating that to a modern schedule: 123 wins! The New York Giants had a great team that year and finished 20 games behind.

By the way, Tinker was a good player, but doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame. He was merely a solid shortstop who batted ninth, but he got swept to glory by a famous poem, "Tinker to Evers to Chance." Tinker couldn't carry Frank Schulte's jockstrap, but Schulte is not in the Hall. For fun, look at the 1911 MVP balloting in the NL. You'll see plenty of familiar names near the top, like Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson. And on the very top? Cobb's man, Frank "Wildfire" Schulte. Cobb was a prick, to be sure, but he knew a hitter when he saw one.