Forgetting about Ty Cobb for a moment, were there just a lot less injuries in those days? I've never looked at it, but it's always been my impression that there were less day-to-day injuries but a lot more CEI. Anyone ever really looked at that?
Regardless, I thought there was some option that was supposed to help ensure historical players were as good as they were in real life. Was it just to do with ratings, not with injuries and thereby playing time?
EDIT: It looks like I was thinking of
"Recalc player ratings based on real stats after each year". That playing time idea might make for a good suggestion for historical fans though. Feel free to post it.