I'm not an expert on Einstein's biography, but I always had the impression that his path from youthful anonymity to the annus mirabilis papers and the subsequent fame and prestige -- and the discovery of general relativity a decade later, followed by even greater fame and prestige -- was extremely unusual by today's standards. In particular, observe the way the famous 1905 papers were published: a fairly obscure patent bureaucrat and part-time physics student mailed them to Max Planck, one of the top physicists of the time, who was impressed enough to publish them in the top journal of the time and promote them among his colleagues on his own initiative and authority. Such avoidance of bureaucratic and credentialist obstacles is hardly possible nowadays, especially considering the greatly controversial nature of the special relativity paper.

Now, one could argue that a genius of Einstein's caliber would nevertheless be able to jump through all the bureaucratic and credentialist hoops he'd face nowadays, but I can certainly imagine ingenious people put off or discouraged by the present system. Also, it should be noted that, at least according to my impressions, physics is generally among the healthiest and best-functioning areas of science nowadays, and I'm sure this problem is pronounced even more in various fields that are not in such a good shape.