[Hebrews 11:6]

I got your point: Cobb played against a diluted talent pool due to the absence of blacks. But here is the question: once MLB was fully integrated, was its overall competitiveness measurably higher as a direct result, as you imply?

[Dan in Wichita]

Cobb played against a diluted talent pool due to the absence of blacks. But here is the question: once MLB was fully integrated, was its overall competitiveness measurably higher as a direct result, as you imply?

Was its overall competitiveness measurably higher? Yes, it was. As you said, it was a diluted talent pool before integration, implying that after integration, the talent pool was no longer diluted. At that point, the game was played at a higher level, although the level of competitiveness/improvement would be difficult to actually quantify/measure.