What I enjoy doing is editing the rosters on MLB The Show so that most teams will have 1-2 super stars. For example the Oakland A's have Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, and Mark McGwire, Yankees have Jeter, Boggs, and Lou Gherig, etc....
Of the players you mentioned, I have Eckersely, Schmidt, Ozzie Smith, Rickey Henderson, Tony Gwynn, Pete Rose, and Kirby Puckett in my game
I'm currently playing the Road to the Show mode but prior to that I was 3-4 yrs deep in a franchise that had all the legends sprinkled in. It's so much fun to look at the league leaders and see guys I created at the top, where they should be.
I'm still educating myself on the history of baseball but so far, it seems like the early 1900's and 1930's is when baseball was at it's peak. The game hasn't changed that much, to my surprise. Bats are still the same regulations now as they were then, field sizes are the same(I believe, still trying to get clarification on that). It's just the guys seemed to be better back then.
If you think about it, there was no NFL, there was no NBA, so baseball was more than likely held to a standard we cannot understand in the sports world we grew up in. If you think NFL is popular now, imagine how popular it'd be if there was 0 basketball and 0 baseball.
It's crazy the #'s guys in the 1900's used to put up. Insane I tell ya!!