The field of competitors in those 70s and 80s straight pool tournaments were so much better than the fields the TH competes in today and for at least the past 10 years - I have seen most of the competitors from the 70s to now playing 14.1 live and TH would really struggle to come in the top 5 of anything from the 70s and 80s, much less against Mosconi, Crane, Caras, Greenleaf, Ponzi, etc. in their prime, I really do not rank TH in the top 12 of 14.1 all time- at a minimum.
I think I have to disagree with this. Ist off, I'm not going to consider the older guys as I only saw Mosconi in person. People from back then claim Greenleaf was better but that's hard for me to believe. Of the others mentioned, I think the general consensus would be that Mosconi was the best of the bunch.
As far as the next generation goes I would rank only Mizerak, Sigel and Varner as having an edge on Hohmann. And it wouldn't be a very big edge. The others mentioned are a step behind, IMO, and that includes Hopkins who many attach godlike status to but I can't quite figure out why. I don't think Thorsten would have any trouble going deep in those tournaments back then and he'd win his share.
When talking about something like this, there're 2 ways of looking at it. You can consider the overall talent level or you can look at it from the standpoint of will to win and that is a huge, huge factor when you get to the upper echelon of any endeavor.
Of those 4 I'd rank Mizerak 1st talent wise and Sigel 1st in the killer instinct category but Hohmann is right up there in both.
I agree completely that the overall fields are easier today, particularly in the "World" tournaments of late. The American 14.1 is considerably tougher but still a little weaker than the old tourneys. Reason being is simply that the new guys don't play much straight pool. If they did I think they'd be stronger as a group than the 70's/80's guys. JMO