There are no hard and fast rules for what exactly constitutes an era of baseball history and due to this there are going to be some gray areas where I decide to place the cutoffs. Basically my goal was to look at 20 to 30 year stretches and once I did the dead ball era I decided I wanted the next era to stretch at least until the end of War World II as that stretch featured some irregularities and the biggest event around that time that vastly altered the league was the breaking of the color barrier in 1947 which is how I cam about this era.
Catcher: This ended up being very little contest as there was one catcher season that easily stood out above the rest. Now the odd thing about this is this particular player didn't have much of a career and his 1945 season was his rookie season. Bill Salkeld that year batted .311/.420/.547 which was good enough for a wRC+ of 161. He showed good power on the season hitting 15 HR while only striking out 5% of the time. Salkeld only played baseball 6 seasons (two of them he had under 70 PA) 3 of which came with the Pirates and while he did have a few respectable seasons none of them approached what he did his rookie season. No one came particularly close to Salkeld in this era, Spud Davis had a solid 1940 season and Earl Smith had two good seasons but nothing approached Salkeld's 1945 campaign.
First Base: Two names quickly rose to the top here both of which I was familiar with even with my somewhat limited knowledge of Pirates history. Elbie Fletcher and Gus Suhr each have a few strong seasons I considered for this spot. Fletcher's best season was probably his 1941 campaign and Suhr was likely his 1936 season. The two are strikingly similar as Fletcher hit .288/.421/.457 and Suhr hit .312/.410/.467. Both hit 11 home runs and both had well over 600 PA meaning playing time wasn't an issue. It was difficult for me to make a distinction between the two and the deciding factor ended up being something I usually don't put much stock into and that is RBIs. Suhr in 1936 knocked in 118 runs whereas Fletcher in 1941 only drove in 74. For the record based on wRC+ Fletcher's season was a little better but I'm ok giving it to Suhr and his 1936 seasons which was still 38% above the league average. I considered a few other seasons from both Fletcher and Suhr but no one else really entered the discussion.
Second Base: At first glance second base looked like a relatively straight forward position but he proved to be a bit more complex. George Grantham appeared to have an easy leg up on the competition but he wasn't always a 2B having spent large chunks of some seasons at 1B. THe presence of Pep Young and Rabbit Maranville further complicated matters as neither were good offensive players but come with solid defensive profiles. In the end I went with Grantham as most of his better seasons did come as a 2B but still I had the issue of figuring out just which one to select. In the end it became a playing time question based just on rate stats 1929 was his best year but he only played 110 games that year and the difference between that season and 1927 and 1930 in which he played 151 and 146 games respectively isn't huge. I opted to give the edge to his 1929 season despite the lower playing time. That year Grantham hit an impressive .307/.454/.533 good for a wRC+ of 143. He hit 12 HR and stole 10 bases on the year but what made me stick with this season was his 20.4% walk rate.
Third Base: Looking down the list of seasons only two names made sense here Pie Traynor and Bob Elliott. Both had some fantasitic seasons making this a very difficult selection. In the end though with the offensive seasons being so similar I made the decision to select Tarynor's bests eason since he comes with such a solid defensive reputation. As for which of Traynor's years to select as the ebst one I decided to choose the one in which he showed the best combination of power and speed. In 1923 Traynor hit 12 home runs and swiped 28 bases both were career highs for him. Traynor hit .338/.377/.489 on the season good enough for for a performance 25% above league average. Elliot's best seasons were 33% abov eleague average offensively but Traynor's addition of speed and defense was enough for him to over take him.
Shortstop: Possibly the most overlooked great player in franchise history is Arky Vaughan. Vaughan's career was a relatively short one and there is no case to be made that he is the greatest shortstop in franchise history but put him on any other franchise and he is at least 1a if not the hands down winner. Simply put he was outstanding when he was with the Pirates and he faces no real compeittion for this spot. I mean one could potential make the argument Glenn Wright deserves one of his seasons to be at the back half of the top 10 but I don't think I would even say that Vaughan probably has the entire top 10 which is impressive seeing as 10 seasons was exactly how long his Pirates career was. His best season though was quite easily 1935 when he hit an insane .385/.491/.607 putting up a performance 94% above league average. That is a seasons comparable to the best Wagner did in his time with the Pirates. It was simply an outstanding year and if he wasn't for the greatness of Wagner, Vaughan would be in the discussion for the Pirates best single season performance ever.
Left Field: Technically speaking I am going to violate a rule here. The season I have selected as the best season of the era from a left fielder came from a player in a seaosn in which he played primarily right field. I didn't set out to break the rule and while Jim Russell's 1940 season and the winner's 1924 and 1926 are deserving candidates I was left with a bit of a problem. The winner of this position was Kiki Cuyler and his best season came in 1925. However this is where the problem arises his 1925 season giot edged out in rigth field by a truly exceptional player and his 1924 season squeaked by in right field. The problem with all of this though is that his 1925 season which is vastly better than his 1924 season would be left off the team and that didn't quite seem fair to me so since he earned the spot anyway I opted to go with his best season despite the positional problem. With that out of the way here is Cuyler's 1925 season line, .357/.423/.598 good for a 154 wRC+. By contrast in his 1924 season which I suppose is our technical winner he hit .354/.402/.539 which is still a great line but did so in 515 PA compared to 700 for 1925. He also doubled his HR total (18 vs 9) and stole more bases (41 vs 32) in 1925 compared to 1924.
Center Field: Center field ended up being an easy choice and resulted in our first player to appear on two seperate teams. Max Carey who just barely edged out a bench spot in the dead bal era gets the nod as this era's center fielder due to his 1922 season. Carey had a few other years in competition for this spot but his 1922 campaign edged them out. He hit .329/.408/.459 on the year, hitting 10 home runs and swiping 51 bases on his way to a perfomance 25% better than league average.
Right Field: Now we get to the guy who actually caused all the problems in left field. Cuyler's 1925 season was definitely good enough to win this spot but competing with that season was a bunch of years from the great Paul Waner. Relooking at the numbers I think I may actually take Cuyler's season over any of Waner's but I'd take a lot of Waner's over Russell's 1940 so this is the alignment we would have ended up with even without moving Cuyler's 1925 season across the field. Choosing Waner's best season was no easy task as he has probably about 8 seasons in which you could easily make a case for but I went with his 1928 year. In 1928 Waner posted a batting line of .370/.446/.547 good for a mark 56% above league average. Waner had years with more home runs, more stolen bases and even years with a slightly better wRC+ but the .446 OBP was tied for the best of his career and the .547 slugging was the second best of his career.
Bench: Between Elliot at 3B, Wright at SS and Russell in left field there are a bunch of candidates to choose from here but in the end I went with the guy who finished second in what I consider the closest race to date and that is Elbie Fletcher who just got edged out by Gus Suhr. I've already discussed Fletcher's 1941 seasons which was the best of his career but I'll rehash it here. Fletcher hit .288/.421/.457 on the year positing a wRC+ of 150. He played 151 games hitting 11 home runs and stealing 5 bases. It was great year that could have easily earned him starting 1B honors but Suhr edged him out landing Fletcher on the bench.
Starting Rotation: The farther we go the more these pitching lines are starting to look like something I can releate to. The innings total are still a little high and the strike out numbers a little low but its getting more relatable.
1945 Preacher Roe: Being honest with myself and everyone else before I did this I had no clue a pitcher by this name had ever existed. It looks like Roe went on to have a solid enough career witht eh Dodgers but none of his seasons there or any of his other seasons touch his career year of 1945. Roe went a modest 14-13 on the season but did a great job controlling the plate with 5.67 K/9 and 1.76 BB/9. He posted a great ERA pf 2.87 and his FIP (which is basically ERA based just on Ks, BBs and HRs) was an even better 2.49. It was a great season for Roe.
1935 Cy Blanton: Another name I am unfamilair with. Balnton's following two seasons with the Pirates were solid ones as well much like Roe he never had another season that could touch his career best. Blanton went 18-13 pitching 254.1 innings with an ERA of 2.58 and a FIP of 2.77. He showed great control of the plate with 5.02 K/9 and 1.95 BB/9.
1921 Wilbur Cooper: Like Max Carey we get another rplayer who has managed to make two seperate teams. Cooper is sort of a hold out from the older era as he operated by pitching a lot of innings and striking out very few hitters. In 1922 he went 23-13 pitching 294.1 innings while positing a 3.18 ERA. His walk rate was kept undeer control at 1.86 BB/9 and his strike outs were 3.94 K/9 a good mark for the dead ball era but clearly behind our first two pitchers.
1943 Rip Sewell: Sewell didn't have the strike out to walk ratios we look for today but the results were there. In 1943 he went 21-9 pitching 265.1 innings to the tune of a 2.54 ERA. The strike outs were a low 2.20 K/9 and the walks came a t ahigher rate than the strike outs at 2.54 BB/9 but regardless of those he got the job done and earned a spot on the team.
1928 Burleigh Grimes: Grimes got things done similar to how Cooper did. He went 25-14 in 1928 throwing 330.2 innings posting a 2.99 ERA. His rates weren't good at 2.64 K/9 and 2.10 BB/9. Whatever he was doing was working and when you add in his ability to eat innings his 330.2 was the most of the era he makes for a solid 5th starter.
Others receving consideration were Ray Kremers' 1927 seasons, a couple of Babe Adams years, Nick Strincevich's 1945, Johnny Morrison's 1923 and a couple of Lee Meadows seasons. I also looked at Larry French, Carmen Hill and Wally Hebert.
Releif Pitcher: During this era began the rise of the releif pitcher. For the first time pitchers were used primarily in relief and not only in releif when they weren't starting. Xavier Rescigno in 1945 pitched in 50 games starting only 1 and recoridng and era high 9 saves but his season was awful so he faisl to get the nod here. Instead the title goes to Waite Hoyt in 1934. In the 1934 seaosn Hoyt did start 15 games but he appeared in releif much more frequently recording 6 saves in 33 releif appearances. On the season he pitched 190.2 innings to the tune of a 2.93 ERA. He also showed some strike out ability positing 4.96 K/9 while walking only 2.03 batters per nine innings. I also considered Mace Brown who had three seasons of 7 saves and Bill Harris who in 1933 recording 5 saves in 31 relief appearances with no starts.
Opening Day Lineup
1. 1922 Max Carey, CF (S)
2. 1928 Paul Waner, RF (L)
3. 1935 Arky Vaughan, SS (L)
4. 1925 Kiki Cuyler, LF (R)
5. 1945 Bill Salkeld, C (L)
6. 1923 Pie Traynor, 3B (R)
7. 1936 Gus Suhr, 1B (L)
8. 1929 George Grantham, 2B (L)
9. 1945 Preacher Roe, P (R)
And now the team based off their career numbers with the Pirates between 1921 and 1946.
C: Earl Smith
1B: Elbie Fletcher
2B: George Grantham
3B: Pie Traynor
SS: Arky Vaughan
LF: Kiki Cuyler
CF: Lloyd Waner
RF: Paul Waner
BN: Max Carey
Not too many changes. The catching position is a bit of a mess. Salkeld didn't have much past his strong 1945 season and Smith only really had two good seasons but Al Lopez and Johnny Gooch the main catchers of the era were very poor hitters. Fletcher edges out Suhr at 1B based on career numbers. Lloyd Waner who didn't even get a mention in the main piece wins the center field position based on longevity. He didn't have any great seasons but he had a bunch of very good ones. Carey who lost the CF spot to Waner edges out a bench spot over the likes of Elliott, Suhr, Wright and Russell (all of whom except Suhr were denied spots on either team despite a great career and good top seasons).
SP: Ray Kremer
SP: Rip Sewell
SP: Lee Meadows
SP: Cy Blanton
SP: Wilbur Cooper
RP: Mace Brown
Few changes here Preacher Roe and Burleigh Grimes didn't have long enough careers with the Pirates to stick so two of the ones on the outside (Kremer and Meadows) manage to crack the list. As for the relief pitcher spot Brown also uses longevity to edge out Hoyt.
Good work BB... Arky Vaughn is definitely underrated, I have always said that but he was appreciated enough to have his number retired, so at least some people can respect his legacy.
Rabbit Maranville is one of the all time great baseball nicknames.
