regarding the non-war years that players miss - i am trying to find the best way to approach this. i was looking over players today to make sure we have all the available players. Sam Thompson technically played until 1906, although that was the only year he played after 1898. he came out of retirement at the age of 46 to play 8 games for Detroit. so should he be available for 1901? the answer is no. i said in a different post and i'll say it again, i have no patience for the circus stuff. no pinch-hitting midgits and no players showing up in their late 40's to steal a base and set the record for oldest base-stealer. if the player was still active in the minors for a few seasons in his early 30's and then comes back up to play for 3 more seasons - yes. honestly, anybody who was that borderline at their position probably isn't going to make one of our squads anyways. Dan Brouthers was active for 2 games in 1904 at the age of 46. only God knows why. he's out too.
once we get to WW2 era we will re-confirm our league opinion on the war years, but i strongly lean towards letting guys like Feller & Ted Williams get their time back. for one, it's an honor they served the country when they could've tried to stick around the big leagues like Musial did. and #2, we all want to know what Ted's numbers looked like had he stayed. now we are going to find out.
here's a funky idea. whoever drafts Babe Ruth can detiremine which position he plays - OF or P. he will only be allowed to do one, but for the whole time. he gets extra at bats to hit homers, or you can see if he would win 300 games. in fact, for the Babe and only the Babe, we can have him available for two teams - one at each position. i think we can all agree he is the most iconic figures of all time in the sport. could we give him the honor of being the only clone for this purpose (answering the pitching/hitting question of "what if?"). this is silly, i'm going to say it. and i don't want to get silly in this league. but it is an idea and i'm throwing it out there for everyone to ponder. and i would insist he would be the ONLY one we'd do it for.