Another Rules Update and Ross Barnes Exception

Yikes. Someone found teams with just 20 games per season, and players who have appeared in all of them are technically eligible under the current rules:

1) For teams with less than 100 games in a season, a player from that team is only eligible if he has appeared in 95% of his teams games. For teams with more than 100 games, a player is only eligible if he has appeared in 85% of his teams game

So, they are amended once again. There is a league minimum of 65 games. So that 85% and 95% rule only works if a player has more than 65 games.

This excludes 1873 Ross Barnes, a potentially elite second basemen. Here are some quotes on the all time great:

Al Spalding - ""in my opinion one of the best all around players the game has produced."

Cap Anson - "Ross Barnes was one of the best ball players that ever wore a shoe, and I would like to have nine men just like him right now under my management. He was an all-around man, and I do not know of a single man on the diamond at the present time that I regard as his superior."

Writer Sam Crane - "Ross Barnes, in the opinion of the players who played on the same clubs with him, and also those who were his opponents, was the best second baseman the game has produced, and there are, too, many old-time players and fans who have kept in touch with baseball for forty years or so, who still think that Baines has never been excelled as a guardian of the keystone sack, even by the many stars in the position who have been before the public since."

Spalding's Official Baseball record of 1916 said Barnes was "by many considered the best second baseman in the history of Base Ball."

His obituary in the same publication said he was "one of the greatest ball players who ever lived" and "Old Base Ball players and old managers, who were expert in their judgment, considered Ross Barnes to be the most expert second baseman who had ever played the position.

"Barnes was not only a good fielder of wide range, but he was a sure fielder. He played the hardest hits with so much ease that they looked easy. Almost every second baseman, who, at some time, commands so much attention that he is esteemed to be a leader, excels in some one characteristic or another. Either he is a great thrower or fields a ball better on his right side than on his left. Such was not the case with Barnes. He was almost Base Ball perfect in everything and as expert with one arm as with the other. If a one-hand stop was to be made it seemed as if he could grasp a ball as easily with his left hand as with his right."

Barnes is not eligible for the Hall of Fame because he only played 9 seasons of major league ball and 10 is required.

In 1873 playing in all 60 of his teams games, Barnes batted .431 / .465 / .616, 1.080 OPS. He led the league in:

Plate Appearances

Runs

Hits

Doubles

Triples

Stolen Bases

Walks

Batting Average

OBP

SLG

OPS

OPS+

Total Bases

RAR

WAR

Runs Created

Offensive Winning Percentage

Batting Wins

Even his fielding data lines up with the anecdotal evidence - at second base despite playing only 47 games he was first in assists, and second in putouts and chances.

So, unless anyone vehemently objects, I am giving Barnes a playing time exception and making him eligible for this season and beyond.

Barnes is also sentimental favorite, a stalwart from the throwback days of ATB I when we used Tony Larussa 3 for the software.