The result:
Jay Dahl was 19 years, 6 months, 14 days.
Will Smalley was 20 years, 3 months, 14 days.
Gus Williams could have been younger than Dahl. He was born in 1870, date unknown, and died April 18, 1890.

Of course, there are many others for whom no birth or death date is known.

It doesn't matter if a player hits a HR in a particular park and always strikes out everywhere else. What matters is how many runs it takes to win a game there. Runs in pitchers parks have more value because they add more wins.

But if you want to keep beating up your strawman, go right ahead.

Jim Wynn is the textbook example of why we shouldn't give credence to generalized PF's. Wynn's career OPS at the Astrodome was .840, compared to only .781 at other parks. (Of the 59 point difference, 33 was SA and 26 was OBA, so he both slugged and reached base considerably better in the Astrodome). In his best season, 1969, his OPS was *189* points better at home, and the following season, his OPS was 102 points better at home, despite "home's" PF of 94. And, he continued to hit well at the Astrodome even after leaving the Astros, posting OPS's over 1.000 there in both 1974 and 1975, So, while the numbers suggest that the 'Dome was a pitchers park on average, it looks like Jimmy never got the memo.

I've wondered a few times over the years if Jay Dahl was the youngest guy with a major league appearance to die. Perhaps pre-1900 or even in the early part of the 1900s, someone may have died of some disease (such as pneumonia) that is curable today but was practically a death sentence then. Or maybe in an industrial accident as a result of having to work in the off-season.

Sonny Jackson is a favorite of mine because he's one of what seems like a very small number of players to have come out of populous Montgomery County, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC. He was actually born in DC, but he graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring with no "s" at the end, MD. True, it's a cold climate place, but so is Montgomery County, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia, which has similar population and demographics, which has produced a lot of major leaguers, including at least one Hall of Fame player (Reggie Jackson) and at least one Hall of Fame manager (Tom Lasorda). Perhaps Montgomery County, PA, has sent more guys to the majors because Philadelphia has more of a baseball town over the years. In Montgomery County, MD, all of the public high schools are part of the same school district, and maybe baseball has not been as competitive there over the years. In Montgomery County, PA, virtually every public high school is in a different school district (the one exception coming to mind right now being Lower Merion and Harriton), and maybe there's more of a rivalry with schools outside the district.

But maybe things will change with the arrival of the Nationals. Prospect Justin Maxwell's birthplace is listed as Olney, MD, probably in Montgomery General Hospital. His hometown was listed in a Nationals' scorecard I saw somewhere as Bethesda, MD, also in Montgomery County. While this could be his home while playing for the Nationals, he was currently in the minors at the time. Another thing pointing to his coming from suburban Maryland is that he played for the University of Maryland. His baseball-reference.com entry does not show a high school yet. Jim Riggleman, who finished this past season as the team's manager, also comes from Montgomery County, MD.