Talk:Nate Berkenstock

Content removed
''Berkenstock had been a free swinging slugger on amateur Philadelphia teams of the 1860's. During his prime he was a firstbaseman. At the plate he was known for sometimes wildly missing the ball but often crushing it a great distance. In the field and on the bases he was said to be sometimes careless or even lazy.''

No cite, and user is anonymous, so I'm deleting this. RMc 13:37, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

earliest what?
Berkenstock is the earliest-born "major leaguer" or league player. Jewish Major Leaguers lists him among 140-odd Jewish major league players. Given his birthdate and the lack of research on pre-league players, which might identify more early Jews and early pros, he is likely to be both the earliest-born known-Jewish ballplayer and the earliest-born known-professional ballplayer.

BUT his one game with the 1871 Athletics makes him the earliest-born league player (or "major leaguer"), not the earliest born pro as the article claims. There are many known pros who played before the leagues and we don't know whether Berkenstock was the earliest-born among them. P64 (talk) 01:55, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I re-worked the lead and infobox just a tad when running across this article, it definitely needs cited references, I'll leave it as a "C" for now. I left the earliest born professional baseball player part in as well, due to the fact that open professionalism didn't begin until 1869.  Before that players were paid under-the-table, many times by given "ghost-jobs" for the team.  However, it is unlikely, that someone was older than him from the 1869-1870 time period. Neonblak  talk  -  14:14, 17 February 2010 (UTC)