Baseball Generations

U. S. History Cycles

BASEBALL!

Generations at Bat

As a baseball fan I suppose it was natural that I would eventually try to tie my "Generations" view of History to baseball's great eras. The tables below are my latest effort. In these tables I have gathered the greatest baseball players, by birthdate only, into the generational fold. I think this compilation is a good self test for generational identity. Look through these generational teams and decide which one you emotionally associate with. I am willing to bet you will find that it is the team from your very own generation. Keep returning because I am going to keep working on this page until I get it right. Anyway, I hope you have as much fun with this as I am having.

They say the ball became live when they went to the cork center in 1911. It certainly seems like that was the case. But something else happened about then. The Lost Generation took the field. Babe Ruth and his contemporaries made baseball into a hitters game. But it didn't stay that way. Over the years the hitting waxed and waned, even with the cork center. Until just recently. In the last few years hitting has taken back its place in baseball's itinerary. In fact, it kind of coincided with the arrival of the Generation-X crowd. The first Reactive Generation to come to bat since, you guessed it, the Lost Generation. Go figure. The Gen-Xers have already claimed the Home Run as their own and they are only halfway through their run. Another interesting point is that, right at this moment in time, essentially the entire professional league is made up of Generation X players.

The Progressive Generation

Birth Years (1843-1859)
Playing Years (1873-1889)
Hitters (7,3,0)
Pitchers (14,9,6)

The Players	Position	Honors	Rank	Records
Dan Brouthers	1b	H	57	9/85/-
Bid McPhee	2b	H	61	-/-/-
Tim Keefe	p	H	70	56/97/20 #1 sea. ERA (.857)
Cap Anson	1b	H	86	28/3/-
Buck Ewing	c	H	90	-/-/-
Roger Conner	1b	H	92	67/73/-
Jack Glasscock	ss	--	111	-/-/-
Tony Mullane	p	--	127	-/-/74
Fred Dunlap	2b	--	136	-/-/-
Hardy Richardson	2b,of	--	140	-/-/-
Charley "Old Hoss" Radbourn	p	H,T	150	70/77/71 #! sea. wins (59)
King Kelly	of,c	H	152	-/-/-
Harry Stovey	of,1b	--	166	-/-/-
Guy Hecker	p,1b	T	170	-/-/-
Jim McCormick	p	--	176	33/-/92
Charley Jones	of	--	183	-/-/-
Jim Devlin	p	--	--	5/-/-
Al Spalding	p	H	--	9/1/- #1 car.win% (.7956)
Dave Foutz	p,1b,of	--	--	-/5/-
Deacon White	3b	--	--	85/-/-
Hugh Nicol	of	--	--	-/-/- #1 sea. stolen bases (138)
Candy Cummings	p	H	--	40/90/- First curveball
George Bradley	p	-	-	29/-/- #1 sea. shut out (16)tie

The Missionary Generation

Birth Years (1860-1882)
Playing Years (1890-1912) "Dead Ball Era"
Hitters (21,9,0)
Pitchers (48,27,10)

The Players	Position	Honors	Rank	Records
Honus Wagner	ss	H	11	35/16/-
Cy Young	p	H,T	12	57/68/15 #1 car. wins (511)
Nap Lajoie	2b	H,T	13	21/23/-
Christy Mathewson	p	H,T(2)	17	8/15/23
Ed Walsh	p	H	53	1/86/82 #1 car. ERA (1.816)
Kid Nichols	p	H	54	-/39/68
John Clarkson	p	H,T	81	-/25/59
Amos Rusie	p	H,T	82	-/-/65
Mordecai Brown	p	H	87	6/26/-
Sam Thompson	of	H	91	30/84/-
Bill Dahlen	ss	--	97	-/-/-
George Davis	ss,3b	H	103	-/47/-
Ed Delahanty	of	H	107	5/43/-
Billy Hamilton	of	H	113	8/-/- #1 sea. runs (192)
John (Pop) Lloyd (Negro Leagues)	ss	H	114	n/n/n
Johnny Evers	2b	H,M	115	-/-/-
Bobby Wallace	ss	H	119	-/-/-
Bob Caruthers	p,of	--	123	-/6/- (p)
Sam Crawford	of	H	141	-/37/-
Pete Browning	of	--	144	13/-/-
Jack Stivetts	p	--	147	-/91/-
Eddie Plank	p	H	148	21/52/40
Silver King	p	--	154	-/-/-
Willie Keeler	of	H	158	14/-/-
Fred Pfeffer	2b	--	159	-/-/-
John Ward	p,ss,2b	H	161	7/70/-
Cupid Childs	2b	--	167	-/-/-
Clark Griffith	p	H	171	-/66/-
Fred Clarke	of	H	177	86/-/-
Elmer Flick	of	H	184	78/-/-
Rube Waddell	p	H,T	186	10/-/36
Addie Joss	p	H	187	2/57/-
Denny Lyons	3b	--	188	-/-/-
Jack Pfeister	p	--	--	3/69/-
Hugh Duffy	of	H,T	--	43/82/- #1 sea. bat. ave. (.440)
Matt Kilroy	p	--	--	-/-/- #1 sea. SO (513)
Roger Bresnahan	c	H	--	-/-/-
Frank Chance	1b	H	--	-/-/-
Hughie Jennings	(ss)	H	--	89/-/- #1 sea. hit by pitch (51) #1 car. hit by pitch (287)
Jimmy Collins	(3b)	H	-	-/-/-

The Lost Generation

Birth Years (1883-1900)
Playing Years (1913-1930) Hitter's "Live Ball Era"
Hitters (29,11,2)
Pitchers (30,16,6)

The Players	Position	Honors	Rank	Records
Babe Ruth	of	H,M,A(2)	1	10/2/2 #1 car. slugging% (.6897)
Ty Cobb	of	H,M,T	3	1/6/- #1 car. bat. ave. (.366)
Walter Johnson	p	H,M(2),T(3)	6	11/-/8 #1 car. shutouts (110)
Rogers Hornsby	2b	H,M(2),T(2)	7	2/27/91
Tris Speaker	of	H,M	14	6/36/-
Grover Alexander	p	H,T(3)	19	48/28/43 #1 sea. shutouts (16)tie
Lefty Grove	p	H,M,A(6),T(2)	21	-/8/39
Eddie Collins	2b	H,M	23	26/83/-
Joe Jackson	of	-	42	3/-/-
Frankie Frisch	2b	H,M,A(3)	64	69/97/-
George Sisler	1b	H,M	68	16/-/- #1 sea. hits (257)
Gabby Hartnett	c	H,M,A(6)	69	-/-/-
Pie Traynor	3b	H,A(2)	89	52/92/-
Oscar Charleston (Negro Leagues)	of,1b	H	99	n/n/n
Frank (Home Run) Baker	3b	H	105	-/-/-
Rabbit Maranville	ss	H	116	-/-/-
Ted Lyons	p	H,A	125	-/-/-
Harry Heilmann	of	H	126	12/34/-
Bill Terry	1b	H,A(3)	128	15/-/-
Carl Mays	p	--	130	-/61/-
Dave Bancroft	ss	H	151	-/-/-
Joe Sewell	ss	H	157	82/-/-
Dutch Leonard	p	--	172	90/-/-
Goose Goslin	of	H,A	174	70/22/-
Heinei Groh	3b	--	189	-/-/-
Lefty O'Doul	of	A	--	4/-/-
Joe Wood	p	--	--	4/10/-
Hack Wilson	of	H	--	-/-/- #1 sea. RBI (191)
Tom Zachary	p	--	--	-/-/- #1 sea. Win% (1.00)

The G.I. Generation

Birth Years (1901-1924)
Playing Years (1931-1954) "Era of Transitions"
Hitters (30,18,14)
Pitchers (1,19,8)

The Players	Position	Honors	Rank	Records
Ted Williams	of	H,M(2),A(17),T(2)	4	7/12/13 #1 sea. OB% (.5528) #1 car. OB% (.4817)
Lou Gehrig	1b	H,M(2),A(7),T	8	17/4/18
Stan Musial	of	H,M(3),A(20)	9	29/5/19
Joe Dimaggio	of	H,M(3),A(13)	15	41/35/54
Jimmie Foxx	1b	H,M(3),A(9),T	18	38/7/11
Warren Spahn	p	H,C,A(14)	20	-/-/18
Charlie Gehringer	2b	H,M,A(6)	30	49/49/-
Carl Hubbell	p	H,M(2),A(9)	31	-/60/99
Mel Ott	of	H,A(12)	37	-/10/16
Bob Feller	p	H,A(8),T	44	-/62/19
Jackie Robinson	2b	H,R,M,A(6)	48	91/-/-
Luke Appling	ss	H,A(7)	58	87/-/-
Hoyt Wilhelm	p	H,A(5)	59	44/-/-
Hank Greenberg	1b	H,M(2),A(5)	60	76/90/73
Bill Dickey	c	H,A(11)	63	80/-/-
Joe Cronin	ss	H,A(7)	65	-/50/-
Roy Campanella	c	H,M(3),A(8)	71	-/-/-
Al Simmons	of	H,A(3)	73	23/14/88
Mickey Cochran	c	H,M(2),A(2)	74	52/-/-
Arkie Vaughan	ss	H,A(9)	75	60/-/-
Josh Gibson (Negro Leagues)	c	H	77	n/n/n
Satchel Paige (Negro Leagues)	p	H	78	n/n/n
Ralph Kiner	of	H,A(6)	93	-/-/52
Cool Papa Bell (Negro Leagues)	if	H	98	n/n/n
Paul Waner	of	H,M,A(4)	100	25/77/-
Lou Boudreau	ss	H,M,A(8)	101	-/-/-
Hal Newhouser	p	H,M(2),A(7),T	106	-/-/75
Bobby Doerr	2b	H,A(9)	112	-/96/-
Bob Lemon	p	H,A(7)	120	-/67/-
Johnny Mize	1b	H,A(10)	121	82/67/56
Buck Leonard (Negro Leagues)	1b	H	134	n/n/n
Bob Johnson	of	A(8)	137	-/87/99
Dizzy Trout	p	A(2)	142	-/-/-
Dizzy Dean	p	H,M,A(4)	145	-/27/-
Lefty Gomez	p	H,A(7),T(2)	156	-/24/-
Joe Medwick	of	H,M,A(10),T	160	44/58/-
Joe Gordon	2b	M,A(9)	162	-/-/-
Wes Ferrell	p	A(2)	168	-/-/-
Minnie Minoso	of	A(7),G(3)	169	-/-/-
Chuck Klein	of	H,M,A(2),T	178	51/-/92
Billy Herman	2b	H,A(10)	179	-/-/-
Harry Brecheen	p	A(2)	180	-/-/-
Charlie Keller	of	A(5)	190	-/-/-
Early Wynn	p	H,A(6),C	191	-/-/35
Spud Chandler	p	M,A(4)	--	-/2/-
George Kell	3b	H,A(10)	--	-/-/-
Ernie Lombardi	c	H,M,A(8)	--	-/-/-
Buddy Myer	2b	A(2)	--	-/-/-

The Silent Generation

Birth Years (1925-1942)
Playing Years (1955-1972) "League Growth Era"
Hitters (2,21,27)
Pitchers (4,7,20)

The Players	Position	Honors	Rank	Records
Willie Mays	of	H,R,M(2),A(20),G(12)	2	-/9/3
Hank Aaron	of	H,M,A(21),G(3)	5	-/1/1 #1 car. RBI (2297) #1 car. homerun (755)
Micky Mantle	of	H,M(3),A(16),T,G	10	-/38/10
Frank Robinson	of	H,R,M(2),A(12),T,G	16	-/15/4
Bob Gibson	p	H,M,A(8),C(2),G(9)	24	-/-/12
Roberto Clemente	of	H,M,A(12),G(12)	25	62/80/-
Eddie Matthews	3b	H,A(9)	27	-/44/15
Yogi Berra	c	H,M(3),A(15)	33	-/48/57
Al Kaline	of	H,A(15),G(10)	34	-/29/34
Whitey Ford	p	H,A(8),C	39	84/4/61
Willie McCovey	1b	H,R,M,A(6)	47	-/31/12
Sandy Koufax	p	H,M.A(6),T(3),C(3)	49	92/21/32
Ernie Banks	ss	H,M(2),A(11),G	55	-/20/14
Carl Yastrzemski	of	H,M,A(18),G(7)	56	-/11/24
Pete Rose	of,if	R,M,A(17),G(2)	62	-/75/- #1 car. hits (4256)
Ron Santo	3b	A(9),G(5)	72	-/70/65
Brooks Robinson	3b	H,M,A(15),G(16)	76	-/63/-
Bill Mazeroski	2b	H,A(8),G(9)	80	-/-/-
Lou Brock	of	H,A(6)	84	-/-/-
Harmon Killebrew	1b	H,M,A(11)	88	-/28/6
Duke Snider	of	H,A(8)	94	-/69/33
Willie Stargell	of	H,M,A(7)	96	-/33/20
Richie Ashburn	of	H,A(5)	102	-/-/-
Luis Aparicio	ss	H,R,A(10),G(9)	108	-/-/-
Juan Marichal	p	H,A(9)	124	-/44/37
Phil Niekro	p	H,A(5),G(5)	132	-/-/10
Dick (Richie) Allen	1b,3b	R,A(7),M	135	-/-/59
Robin Roberts	p	H,A(7)	138	-/-/34
Gaylord Perry	p	H,A(5),C(2)	146	-/-/7
Don Drysdale	p	H,A(8),C	153	-/-/24
Jimmy Wynn	of	A(3)	163	-/-/97
Billy Williams	of	H,R,A(6)	181	-/40/31
Norm Cash	1b	A(4)	--	-/-/47

The Boomer Generation

Birth Years (1943-1960)
Playing Years (1973-1990) "Free Agent Era"
Hitters (3,28,33)
Pitchers (2,7,31)

The Players	Position	Honors	Rank	Records
Tom Seaver	p	H,R,A(12),C(3)	22	-/98/5
Rickey Henderson	of	M,A(8),G	26	-/-/98 #1 car. runs (2248) #1 car. BB (2141) #1 car. stolen bases (1395)
Joe Morgan	2b	H,M(2),A(10),G(5)	28	-/-/-
Mike Schmidt	3b	H,M(3),A(12),G(10)	29	-/25/9
Reggie Jackson	of	H,M,A(14)	35	-/17/8
George Brett	3b	H,M,A(12),G	36	-/24/79
Cal Ripken Jr.	ss	R,M(2),A(19),G(2)	38	-/18/30
Ozzie Smith	ss	H,A(15),G(13)	41	-/-/-
Wade Boggs	3b	A(12),G(2)	43	33/-/-
Steve Carlton	p	H,A(10),C(4),G,T	45	-/-/2
Johnny Bench	c	H,R,M(2),A(14),G(10)	46	-/59/39
Tony Gwynn	of	A(15),G(5)	50	20/-/-
Robin Yount	ss	H,M(2),A(3),G	51	-/54/-
Jim Palmer	p	H,A(6),C(3),G(4)	52	-/35/42
Nolan Ryan	p	H,A(8)	67	-/-/1 #1 car. SO (5714)
Dave Winfield	of	H,A(12),G(7)	79	-/13/21
Ryne Sandberg	2b	M,A(10),G(9)	83	-/-/-
Tim Raines	of	A(7)	85	-/-/-
Bobby Grich	2b	A(6),G(4)	95	-/-/-
Rollie Fingers	p	H,M,A(7),C	104	-/-/-
Rod Carew	1b,2b	H,M,R,A(18)	109	34/-/-
Carlton Fisk	c	H,R,A(11),G	110	-/71/49
Gary Carter	c	A(11),G(3)	117	-/-/75
Dale Murphy	of	M(2),A(7),G(5)	118	-/94/35
Eddie Murray	1b	R,A(8),G(3)	122	-/8/17
Paul Molitor	3b	A(7)	129	-/79/-
Reggie Smith	of	A(7),G	143	-/-/83
Dennis Eckersley	p	M,A(6),C	149	-/-/31
Darrel Evans	3b	A(2)	155	-/64/32
Keith Hernandez	1b	M,A(5),G(10)	164	-/-/-
Jack Clark	of	A(4)	173	-/-/66
Fergie Jenkins	p	H,A(3),C	175	-/-/11
Bert Blyleven	p	A(2)	182	-/-/4
Dwight Evans	of	A(3),G(8)	185	-/57/40
Bobby Bonds	of	A(3),G(3)	192	-/-/72
Andre Dawson	of	R,M,A(8),G(8)	193	-/26/29
Don Gullett	p	--	--	-/7/-
Don Sutton	p	H,A(4)	--	-/-/6
Ted Simmons	c	A(8)	--	-/56/-
Buddy Bell	3b	A(5),G(6)	--	-/-/-
Terry Pendleton	3b	M,A,G(3)	--	-/-/-
Bob Welch	p	A(2),C	--	-/-/60
Mark Davis	p	A(2),C	--	-/-/-
Kirk Gibson	of	M	--	-/-/-
Orel Hershiser	p	A(3),C,G	--	-/-/54
Frank Viola	p	A(3),C	--	-/-/70

The Thirteenth (GenX) Generation

Birth Years (1961-1981)
Playing Years (1991-2011?) "Steroid Era"
Hitters (8,10,24)
Pitchers (1,15,19)

The Players	Position	Honors	Rank	Records
Roger Clemens	p	M,A(8),C(6),T(2)	32	-/18/3
Barry Bonds	of	M(4),A(10),G(8)	40	-/32/7 #1 sea.HR (73) #1 sea. BB (177) #1 sea.slugging% (.8635)
Gregg Maddux	p	A(8),C(4),G(12)	66	-/36/22
Barry Larkin	ss	M,A(11),G(3)	131	-/-/-
Ken Griffey, Jr.	of	M,A(11),G(10)	133	-/68/23
Mark McGuire	1b	R,A(12),G	139	-/52/5
Kirby Puckett	of	H,A(10),G(6)	165	58/-/-
Pedro Martinez	p	A(5),C(3),T	--	66/3/58
Randy Johnson	p	A(8),C(4)	--	-/16/9
Larry Walker	of	M,A(6),G(6)	--	73/-/86
Mike Piazza	c	R,A(9)	--	39/-/82
Frank Thomas	1b	M(2),A(5)	--	-/-/63
Manny Ramirez	of	A(5)	--	82/-/-
Ichiro Suzuki	of	M,R,A	--	-/-/-
Jeff Kent	2b	M,A(3)	--	-/-/-
Jason Giambi	1b	M,A(2)	--	-/-/-
Chipper Jones	3b	M,A(5)	--	-/-/-
Ivan Rodriguez	c	M,A(10),G(10)	--	-/-/-
Sammy Sosa	of	M,A(5)	--	-/-/25
Juan Gonzalez	of	M(2),A(3)	--	-/88/36
Tom Glavin	p	A(7),C(2)	--	-/49/66
Ken Caminiti	3b	M,A(3),G(3)	--	-/-/-
John Smoltz	p	A(4),C	--	-/-/46
Pat Hentgen	p	A(3),C	--	-/-/-
Mo Vaughn	1b	M,A(2)	--	-/-/93
Jeff Bagwell	1b	M,R,A(4),G	--	-/-/61
David Cone	p	A(5),C	--	-/82/17
Jack McDowell	p	A(3),C	--	-/-/-
Doug Drabek	p	A,C	--	-/-/-
Kevin Mitchell	of	M,A(2)	--	-/-/-
Bret Saberhagen	p	A(3),C(2),G	--	-/-/89
Jose Canseco	of	M,R,A(6)	--	-/-/22

The Millennial Generation

Birth Years (1982-now)
Playing Years (2012?-???) "The Next Era"
Hitters (x,x,x)
Pitchers (x,x,x)

The Players	Position	Honors	Rank	Records
The Millennials are just beginning to reach playing age. I would be willing to bet we will see some future stars showing up on the radar pretty soon.

Notes:

Bold denotes the all generational team. Clearly, in some cases, the players were not actual playing contemporaries. If a player happened to be an early cohort in his generation then he would have to play late into his career to play with the last cohorts in his generation. I have included three pitchers on the team. Don't be disappointed if your favorite active player doesn't show up on the list. The Gen-Xers are only halfway through their playing years and some of the stars haven't built up their stats to the level that will get them on later lists.
The items in columns are:
1. The players position,
2. A summary of the honors and accomplishments a player has received (H-Hall of Fame, M-MVP, R-rookie of the year, A-All Star, T-Triple Crown, C-Cy Young Award and G-golden glove),
3. A cumulative ranking which includes the ranking in the SABR Top 100/ "Sporting News" Top 100/ "Total Baseball" Top 100 Stats / "Total Baseball" 100 Best,
4. Personal lifetime records. For position players the records are top 100 ranking of lifetime batting average, top 100 ranking of lifetime RBIs and top 100 ranking of lifetime home runs. For pitchers it is top 100 ranking of lifetime ERA, top 100 ranking of lifetime winning percentage and top 100 ranking of lifetime strikeouts.
Playing years are the years when most of the top players in the league are from the generation.
Hitters is number of all-time top 100 lifetime batting averages,RBIs and home runs from the generation.
Pitchers is number of all-time top 100 lifetime ERA, winning % and strike outs from the generation.
If you want to talk about Baseball History or about Baseball and History in general drop by my BLOG. I would love to hear from you.

BASEBALL Links
Baseball Almanac - The Official Baseball History Site	Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Baseball Statistics and History	The Baseball Online Library - CBS SportsLine
The Baseball Archive	Baseball Links Main Menu	Historical Stats - The Official Site of Major League Baseball
The Negro Leagues	HickokSports.com - Baseball History - "Invention" & Early Growth	Negro League Baseball

BASEBALL Books and Video
" Past Time : Baseball As History" by Jules Tygiel	" Wait Till Next Year : A Memoir" by Doris Kearns Goodwin	" Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns" (1994) Director: Ken Burns "The Book"
" Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract" by Bill James		" The Baseball Timeline" by Burt Solomon

Rate This Site at Skilton's Baseball Links

contact webmaster

visits

[ TOP ]

[ HOME ]