Which MLB players make up the best starting nine for every generation of fans, from the Greatest Generations to the Post-Millennials?
MLB meets the generations
The Pew Research Center recently announced the demarcation of a new generation. Going back more than a century, we have the Greatest Generation, the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers, Generation X, the Millennials and, now, the Post-Millennials. This isn’t the official name for the new generation. It’s just a placeholder until a new name can be agreed upon.
This generation will need a more distinctive name at some point, and a few have already been suggested. Possible titles include Generation Z, the iGeneration, the @Generation, Tweennials, and Screeners (because they constantly have a screen in front of their faces). They all have their pros and cons. If we call this generation Generation Z, then the logical question is, what happened to Generation Y? The iGeneration seems a little too close to an advertisement for an Apple product. Tweennials might sound good when they’re young, but as they get older would they want to continue to be called Tweennials?
This generation will need a more distinctive name at some point, and a few have already been suggested. Possible names include Generation Z, the iGeneration, the @Generation, Tweennials, and Screeners (because they constantly have a screen in front of their faces). They all have their pros and cons. If we call this generation Generation Z, then the logical question is, what happened to Generation Y? The iGeneration seems a little too close to an advertisement for an Apple product. Tweennials might sound right when they’re young, but as they get older would they want to continue to be called Tweennials?
- 1901-1927—The Greatest Generation
- 1928-1945—The Silent Generation
- 1946-1964—The Baby Boomers
- 1965-1980—Generation X
- 1981-1996—Millennials
- 1997-????—Post-Millennials
This made me curious. Who are the best MLB players for each generation of fans? This is not the best players born during the years that define each age, but the best players who were active during that time, with an important twist. This twist is based on a theory by superb writer Joe Posnanski, who once wrote: “My theory, built up over many years, by the way, is that eight years old is the perfect age to fall in love with baseball.”