Quote:
Originally Posted by webrian
Late to the party, sorry ...
In my humble opinion, any GREATEST TEAMS league should never include either teams from the Deadball Era (but I love it) nor the 1980s (which I also love). For these two reasons:
The Deadball Era (1900 to 1919) teams don't have the firepower to match teams from 1921 and after. They just don't. We'd hope and assume that pitching and speed would make up the difference, but it doesn't. And I bet these teams rarely (if ever) perform well in mixed-era leagues. They sure don't do it for me.
Teams from the 1980s (and the 70s, to a lesser extent) are just weak all around. I think one could play a very compelling and entertaining 70s-80s "Best Team's" league, but the 80s ELITE teams (1984 Tigers, 1986 Mets, 1988-89-90 Athletics) don't fare well against elite teams or even "good" teams from other Eras.
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I agree that the 1980s did not have any monster teams with the exception of the late 80s A's. However I do wonder whether that is because of parity as opposed to the lack of great players. FWIW, I think that the greatness of the 80s players stand up to any decade. The difference is they were spread throughout the league instead of concentrated in two or three teams.
You obviously know your baseball which is why I am surprised at the low regard you hold the 70s. You have the Big Red Machine, The Swinging A's, The 78 & 79 Yankees, the beginning and the end of the decade Orioles and Pirates, along with the second half of the decade Royals. These teams will hold their own against any decade when it comes to both excellence and star power.