I have some random thoughts about his 14.1 game from last night and the last time he tried this.
I saw Sigel, Varner, Mizerak, Martin, Rempe, Hopkins, Nagy, Murphy and West at their absolute 14.1 peaks. I saw Mosconi while still playing very well in his 60s, Lassiter a bit after his peak and everyone since then. I never saw Cranfield or Eufemia and obviously never saw Greenleaf.
IMO shaw's ability to pocket balls, get position, push balls around with control and hit the break shot is ahead of all of them.
If I have any criticism (and it's probably idiotic for someone like me to criticize him) I think guys like peak Varner, Nagy, Appleton, Schmidt, Rempe and maybe a couple of others took the balls off the table a little better. Shaw goes into the balls a LOT more often in situations I think those other players would work around. IMO that opens the door to getting stuck, tying balls up, having a tough combo etc.. His shot making is so incredible, it rarely matters because he'll just make some really tough shot and get back in line. But I think if he took the balls off better, 1000 would easily be within his range because when he's rolling, he pretty much mever misses. I wish I saw Lassiter at his peak to know whether they were comparable shotmakers.
I saw all of them, too, and also Eufemia, but I do not agree. Nobody of his own era or since even comes close to playing the table and the patterns as well as Mosconi. Mike Sigel has said the same.
Jayson's record run is certainly something to celebrate but it hardly establishes him as the best straight pooler of this era. Like Schmidt before him, he doesn't have the straight pool titles that validate excellence, and I'm not calling anyone the best without that. Both Jayson and John have played in many straight pool events, too. Mentioning either in the same breath as a Thorsten Hohmann, who mass produced World and European straight pool titles, is silly.
As you note, quite a few took the balls off the table better than Jayson, and you can add Crane to your list. In Nick Varner's opinion, Lassiter was the best pocketer of balls ever. Still, Lassiter fell short of the mark as a manager of the table in straight pool, despite being a pattern play maestro at 9ball. Certainly, Shaw is one of the top few pocketers of all time, and on loose equipment, he'll just about never miss, but on a tighter table, the fact that he doesn't take the balls of as well as some of the all-time greats would catch up to him.
I think it's only a matter of time until Jayson tops 1,000, and I'm not sure 1,500 is out of reach, but in what sport do we measure greatness by how one played on their finest day. Only one player in the last 130 years went 7-7 in a baseball game. His name is Rennie Stennett and awfully few have ever heard of him. He had the best day of any player since 1900, but he's not the best, because true greatness is about sustained excellence, and not about how one performed on one's very finest day.
I couldn't be happier for Jayson, and his feat is legendary, but let's not carried away by comparing him to those who have mass produced major straight pool titles against the best.
FYI, I believe that, right now, the best straight pool technician in the world is Lee Van Corteza, and if Jayson tried him on a pro spec table in a race to 500, my money would always be on Lee.
