Ty Cobb - A Standout in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame

Sverre Braathen boasted that Ty Cobb is one of the best players in Major League Baseball history. Braathen is certainly not the only one to think this. Eddie Collins, a 1939 baseball hall of fame inductee and teammate of Cobb's, wrote a gracious forward to Sverre Braathen's book, “Ty Cobb The Idol to Baseball Fandom" regarding Cobb and his prowess. This admiration was shared by most members of the baseball community. In 1936, Ty Cobb became a member of the first Major League Baseball hall of fame class. Cobb’s hitting ability along with his baserunning skills allowed him to be voted into the hall of fame with a 98% approval rating. Along with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Honus Wagner were also inducted into baseballs first hall of fame class.  

Babe Ruth 

Babe was both an outfielder and pitcher, but he is best known for his ability to hit homeruns. Ruth ended his career with an ERA of 2.28 and a batting average of .342. Ruth hit 714 homeruns during his career.

Walter Johnson

Walter Johnson was a pitcher who played for the Washington Senators. When his successful pitching career ended he had a lifetime ERA of 2.17. Johnson was not known for his batting skills, but did have a career batting average of .235 which included 24 homeruns. He, also, had 13 stolen bases. 

Christy Mathewson

Christy Mathewson was a pitcher for the New York Giants. His career ERA was 2.13. Similar to Johnson, Mathewson was not known for his batting. But, he did end with a respectable lifetime batting average of .215 which included 7 home runs. He also had 20 stolen bases.

Honus Wagner

Honus Wagner was the only other player besides Cobb inducted to the first hall of fame class who was not a pitcher. His career stats were similar to Cobb's. He had a lifetime batting average of .328 which included 101 homeruns. He also had 723 stolen bases. 

So, which MLB hall of fame class is better? The first hall of fame class of 1936 or the 2018 hall of fame class?

In 2018, four more players were inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. The four players inducted were:

·       Chipper Jones

·       Vladimir Guerrero

·       Jim Thome

·       Trevor Hoffman

The following charts compare home runs, stolen bases, batting averages, and ERAs of the 1936 hall of fame inductees (shown in blue) and the 2018 hall of fame inductees (shown in red). In these stat categories it appears that the 1936 inductees edge out the 2018 inductees. The only category where the 2018 inductees edge out the 1936 inductees is homeruns. This could possibly be due to the changing of pitching styles and rules in baseball overtime, or the fact that the 1936 class included 3 pitchers while the 2018 class only included 1.