Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis

Comparisons, again...

So I decided to compare another bunch of players who may or may not deserve to be counted as some of the great players of the game. Some that may have been underrated, or at least under appreciated in their day. By the same token, some may have also been overrated.

I chose ten players at random, eight non-Hall of Famers, and two that are enshrined. Somewhat random choices, with the Hall of Famers being sot of the control group, I chose two that were not in the upper stratosphere of the statistical realm.

As before, I am basing these on each player's ten best seasons, and will give you the average of those seasons, along with my statistical calculation, or their raw number, which takes out the performances against their team and league averages, which I use in the season to season analysis.

But enough of that boring stuff...

Let's make this a game...which numbered player matches which letter statistics, and see if you can guess which two are the Hall of Famers. Which of them do you think should be in the Hall?

Players:

1. Al Oliver
2. Bill Buckner
3. Dale Murphy
4. Rusty Staub
5. Bobby Bonds
6. John Olerud
7. Bill Madlock
8. Dick Allen
9. Ron Santo
10. Ryne Sandberg

	HR	RBI	AVG	SLG	OB	SB	RC/G	MY #
PLAYER A	30	89	.300	.564	.404	10	1.11	2.0807
PLAYER B	27	81	.271	.480	.368	36	1.10	1.9445
PLAYER C	11	72	.304	.433	.365	14	0.94	1.7380
PLAYER D	12	67	.316	.457	.401	15	0.93	1.7898
PLAYER E	26	81	.264	.470	.369	10	1.02	1.86
PLAYER F	19	90	.305	.488	.431	1	1.04	1.9561
PLAYER G	14	86	.313	.468	.369	5	1.07	1.9114
PLAYER H	23	80	.289	.476	.365	26	1.02	1.8648
PLAYER I	27	100	.288	.490	.396	3	1.03	1.9125
PLAYER J	15	75	.287	.442	.399	2	0.85	1.6875

Quite frankly, some of these numbers and rankings surprised me, and I didn't expect to have five .300 hitters on this list. So I will further add more information for each of the above, along with their career totals for the same information as listed.

PLAYER A

351

1119

.292

.534

.398

133

1.07

1.9988

PLAYER B

332

1024

.268

.471

.368

460

1.06

1.8951

PLAYER C

174

1208

.304

.433

.365

183

0.94

1.5949

PLAYER D

163

860

.305

.442

.388

174

0.90

1.7254

PLAYER E

398

1266

.265

.469

.364

161

0.95

1.7807

PLAYER F

255

1230

.295

.465

.418

11

0.94

1.8242

PLAYER G

295

1285

.302

.472

.359

84

0.92

1.7513

PLAYER H

256

1061

.285

.442

0.36

344

1.02

1.7813

PLAYER I

342

1331

.288

.490

.386

30

0.95

1.7926

PLAYER J

292

1466

.279

.431

.387

47

0.80

1.6181

How did you do? Here are the answers...

#A-8 Dick Allen, a.k.a. “The Wampum Walloper”, was the 5^th player to reach 200 hits in his rookie season. He had the 7^th highest batting average in the 60's, with the 6^th highest On Base Percentage during that time. He was the 2^nd player to win an MVP in his first year in a new league. He finished in the top 10 MVP votes one other time. He was the 2^nd Chicago White Sox player to win an MVP, their 4^th home run champion, and their 2^nd RBI champ. He was also the second Phillie to win the Rookie of the Year, and the 4^th Phillie to hit 40 homers in a season. He led his league in homers twice, led in RBIs once. During his rookie year, he led the league in runs scored, triples and total bases. He led in slugging three times and in on base percentage and walks once. He drove in 90 or more runs six times, and hit 20 or more homers in nine consecutive seasons. According to Willie Mays, Allen hit the ball harder than anyone he had ever seen. He founded a doo-wop group called “The Ebonistics” and performed with them in various Philadelphia night clubs. In 1996, he reached his highest percentage in Hall of Fame balloting, but that was just 18.9% of the vote, far below the 75% needed for enshrinement.

#B-5 Bobby Bonds During the 1970's, this man had the 5^th most hits, 4^th most Home Runs, (only Hall of Famers hit more: Willie Stargell, Johnny Bench and Reggie Jackson) 7^th most Runs Batted In, 2^nd most runs scored and 4^th most stolen bases. He was the 5^th player to reach 200 Home Runs AND 200 stolen bases in his career, and just the 2^nd to eclipse the 300 barrier for each as well.. He was the 4^th Yankee to lead the team in home runs and then be traded for the following season. He was the first player in the 'modern era' (since 1900) to hit a Grand Slam in his first major league game. He led the league in runs scored twice, total bases once, and finished in the top 5 in MVP voting twice. Hit 20 or more homers in seven straight seasons, drove in 90 or more runs four times, and scored over 90 runs nine times. He scored 100 or more in five straight seasons, leading the league twice. In those five consecutive seasons, he averaged 123 runs scored. He drove in 100 runs three times. He was the 2^nd player to have multiple 30/30 (Homers and Stolen Bases) seasons, but he was the first to 30/45. He and his so, Barry are the only members of the 300 Homer/400 Stolen Base club. His highest Hall of Fame vote was in 1993 when he reached 10.3%.

#C-2 Bill Buckner was a 2^nd round draft pick by the Dodgers. He was the 4^th player to get 200 hits in each league, and is one of nine players to get 200 hits in a season, but hit less than .300. He has the 7^th lowest strikeout rate for a player who led his league in batting. He drove in 20.27% of the Cubs runs in 1981, He scored over 1000 runs in his career (1077 to be exact), but never more than 100 in a season. He set the major league record for assists by a first baseman in a season in 1985. (the record has since been broken) His last home run was inside-the-park, at age 40, on notoriously bad ankles. He played 22 seasons altogether, won one batting title, led the league in doubles twice, and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting twice. He received 2.1% of the Hall of Fame vote in his only year of eligibility, 1996.

#D-4 Bill “Mad Dog” Madlock had the 2^nd highest batting average in the 70's. He was the 3^rd National League player to win a batting title, and be traded the following season. He was the 1^st Cub to win back to back batting titles, and the 3^rd Cub with 6 hits in a game. He finished in the top ten in MVP voting twice. He won four batting titles, which was a record for third basemen, but was surpassed by Hall of Famer Wade Boggs. His four National League batting titles since 1970 is second to Tony Gwynn's eight. One of three right handed batters to win multiple batting titles in the NL since 1960. He was drafted in the 5^th round of the 1970 draft by the Washington Senators. In his only year of Hall of Fame eligibility, 1993, he received just 4.5% of the vote.

#E-3 Dale Murphy. This man won 2 MVP awards. He recorded the 5^th highest hit total during the 80's, and was 2^nd in both Home Runs and Runs Batted In in the 80's as well, along with soring the 4^th most runs. He has the most hits of any player born in the state of Oregon. He has the 13^th highest home run career total for someone who never played in the World Series. He was the 2^nd Braves player to win an MVP, the 3^rd to lead the league in homers and the 2^nd to lead in RBI. Along with the 2 MVP awards, he finished in the top 10 in voting two other times. He scored 90 or more runs on six different occasions. He led the league in games played for four consecutive seasons. He led the league in RBIs twice, and had a streak of four years of driving in 100 or more. He had eleven years of hitting 20 or more homers, eight of those consecutive. He hit 36 or more for four straight seasons as well. He is a member of the 30/30 club, for 30 homers (36) and 30 stolen bases in the same season. He was the 1^st round pick of the Braves (5^th player chosen overall, behind Bill Almon, Tommy Boggs, Lonnie Smith and Tom Brennan) in 1974. He received 23.2% of the Hall of Fame vote in 2000, his highest percentage.

#F-6 John Olerud went straight from college to the major leagues, In his career, he only played in 3 minor league games, all during his final season. He has the 8^th highest On Base Percentage during the 90's. Was the 1^st Blue Jay to win a batting title, and was the 2^nd to hit for the cycle in each league. He had just one top 5 MVP vote, and just the one batting title, but he hit .290 or higher eight times, and .350 or better twice. He is the 4^th American Leaguer to get 200 hits and 100 walks in a season. He walked 90 or more times in six seasons. He led the league in doubles once, and drove in 90 or more in seven seasons, six of those consecutive. He was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 3^rd round of the 1989 draft. In his only year of Hall eligibility, 2011, he received just .7% of the vote.

#G-1 Al “Scoop”Oliver finished 2^nd in Rookie of the Year voting, and finished in the top 10 in MVP votes four times. He had the 3^rd most hits in the 70's, 8^th highest batting average in the 80's. He was the 3^rd player to get 200 hits in each league. He is the single season Hits and RBI leader in Expos/Nationals history. He hit .280 or better in fourteen consecutive seasons, and hit .300 or better in nine straight. He drove in more than 100 runs twice, leading the league once. He lad the league in batting and hits one time as well. He led the league in doubles twice, and had nine seasons where he hit 30 or more. He hit the last home run at Forbes Field, and drove in the first run at Three Rivers Stadium. He was appointed “Mr. Ambassodor” for the city of Portsmouth, Ohio. In 1991, his only year of Hall eligibility, he received 4.3% of the vote.

#H-10 Ryne “Ryno” Sandberg became just the third 2^nd baseman to hit 40 homers in a season, and is also a member of the 200 Home Run/Stolen Base club. He was the 1^st Chicago Cub to lead the National League in Runs Scored for two consecutive seasons. He also holds the National League record for Gold Gloves by a 2^nd baseman with 9. He has the most career hits of any player born in Washington state. He retired in mid-season, and then un-retired after eighteen months to play two more seasons. He was the 20^th round selection of the Phillies in the 1978 draft. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2003, his third year of eligibility.

#I-9 Ron SantoThis player holds the National League record for most consecutive games played at third base. He accumulated the 10^th most hits in the 1960's, and had the 5^th most Home Runs and Runs scored during that decade. He has the 4^th highest total of Home Runs hit at Wrigley Field, and hit the most Home Runs of anyone born in Washington State. He is the only third baseman to have eight consecutive seasons of 90 or more Runs Batted In. He led the league in triples once, sacrifice flies three times, and walks four times. He finished 4^th in Rookie of the Year voting, and had 2 top 10 MVP seasons. He became the first player to enforce the 5 and 10 rule, in which a veteran player with 10 years of experience, and 5 years with the same team can refuse a trade to another team. He hid the fact that he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes until 1971, afraid that he might have been forced into early retirement. He had both lower legs amputated due to complications of his diabetes in the early 2000's. He endorsed the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Ron Santo Walk from 1979 through his passing in 2010, and raised over $65 million dollars for that organization. He reached as high as 43.1% of the Hall of Fame vote in 1998, but still falling short of enshrinement. He was then selected in 2012 for enshrinement by the Veteran's Committee.

His charitable foundation's information can be found here:

http://ronsantofoundation.com/

#J-4 Rusty “Le Grande Orange” Staub was the last active player who played for the Houston Colt .45's. He ad the 6^th most Runs Batted In during the 70's, had the 6^th highest Runs Batted In during the 70's, and has the 8^th highest Runs Scored of any player who never scored 100 in a season. He was the 2^nd teenage rookie to play in 150 or more games in a season, was the 2^nd player to hit a home run before their 20^th birthday, and after their 40^th birthday. He led his league in doubles once. He only had 1 year in which he finished in the top five for the MVP Award, there were 6 other seasons in which he received votes. He had eight straight pinch hits, which tied a National League record, and also one year had 25 pinch hit RBIs, which tied the Major League record. He is the only player in history to have reached 500 hits for four different teams. He reached 7.9% of the Hall of Fame vote in 1994, his highest vote tally.

Off the field, he created the “New York Police and Fire Widows' and Childrens' Benefit Fund” which has raised more than $100 million that has been distributed to the families of police and man and firefighters who had lost their lives in the line of duty. 

 The link to this organization is:

http://www.answerthecall.org/

I would love to know what you think, or how you did....