Graph of the Day: Throwing Fuel On The Fire

by Sky Kalkman on Mar 5, 2009 10:00 AM EST

Which player has the better Hall of Fame argument based on production? And who are the players? Hint one: they played the same position. More hints after the jump. Full disclosure in the comments, eventually.

WAR data from Sean's historical WAR database. It's awesome. Each players' seasons sorted from best to worst, left to right.

More hints:

One player has been retired for 10+ years and is not in the Hall of Fame.
The other is active and is a likely Hall of Famer.
They are both shortstops.
One is a Yankee and one is a Tiger.
Seriously, you need more hints?

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Comments

Is one a bench coach in a major midwestern city?

by Harry Pavlidis on Mar 5, 2009 10:15 AM EST reply actions

luis sojo!

oooh, a mystery graph. sky stepping up his game.

southsidesox.com - now the best place on the interwebs for chicago white sox analysis and discussion.

by larry on Mar 5, 2009 10:36 AM EST reply actions

I think I know

the Tiger could make it eventually into HoF, the defense/position evaluation is kinda evolving, obviously the Yankee is pretty sure to get in based on hype and rings

by viktor06 on Mar 5, 2009 11:02 AM EST reply actions

I'm glad someone in the sabermetric community finally had the stones to say

something, anything about that overrated guy

Bringing you more-or-less replacement level analysis and commentary since sometime in 2008.

by Matt Klaassen on Mar 5, 2009 11:07 AM EST reply actions

yeah. wow. and he's such a great defender, too. i'm shocked at this.

southsidesox.com - now the best place on the interwebs for chicago white sox analysis and discussion.

by larry on Mar 5, 2009 11:44 AM EST up reply actions

Cody Ransom

is a likely Hall of Famer? Wow, that’s high praise for someone that has 7 career HR.

Yep, every Hall of Famer did something unique. Mike Schmidt played with his hat sideways. Roberto Clemente chewed other people's fingernails. Tris Speaker was Japanese. Lou Boudreau rode a dolphin into the batter's box. Nap Lajoie would only use John Wilkes Booth's dismembered leg as a bat. And he corked it. Johnny Mize was from the future. - FJM

by Choix003 on Mar 5, 2009 11:14 AM EST reply actions

Edgar Renteria and Spike Owen

Oh wait, Edgar’s a Giant now. Crap, I have no clue.

by mattybobo on Mar 5, 2009 11:25 AM EST reply actions

Ooh, I know, I know!

Carlos Guillen and Bucky Dent!

by Junker23 on Mar 5, 2009 11:31 AM EST reply actions

This graph is meaningless until I find out how many RBI Player A and Player B had.

And what about fear?

"OBP is not a production number, and should not be used as something he achieved."

by VictorW on Mar 5, 2009 11:51 AM EST reply actions

I'm going with

Alan Trammell and Derek Jeter.

by Sliderule on Mar 5, 2009 12:07 PM EST reply actions

But can we somehow tie Ozzie into this conversation too, to show how he was better than both?

by Sliderule on Mar 5, 2009 12:12 PM EST up reply actions

If he's not, do you still want to see the graph?

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Mar 5, 2009 2:48 PM EST up reply actions

I'll take that as a yes.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Mar 5, 2009 5:48 PM EST up reply actions

Trammell never banged Jessica Biel!

Advantage: Jeter

Bay City Ball | Beyond the Box Score

by xanthan on Mar 5, 2009 12:37 PM EST reply actions

Damn

vivaelbeñsheets

by vivaelpujols on Mar 5, 2009 5:45 PM EST up reply actions

Trammell never gave Jessica Alba Herpes

and we won’t mention Mariah Carey.

Advantage: Trammell.

by klhoughton on Mar 5, 2009 4:14 PM EST reply actions

Answer

Player A is Derek Jeter

Player B is Alan Trammell.

Pretty similar careers, although the slight edge goes to Trammell based on the graph, no?

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Mar 5, 2009 5:48 PM EST reply actions

I should have included "so far".

Jeter certainly have some 4+ WAR seasons left in him.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Mar 5, 2009 5:49 PM EST up reply actions

Not with the way that he has been declining

vivaelbeñsheets

by vivaelpujols on Mar 6, 2009 1:48 AM EST up reply actions

I don't think you're reading the graph right vivaelpujols

It lists best to worst season, they’re not in chronological order. Jeter put up 4 straight 4+ WAR seasons prior to last year. Last year he battled through a wrist injury most of the year and still ended up +2.7 WAR. The final outlier season for Jeter was 1995 when he came up due to an injury to Tony Fernandez and got 51 PA’s. I’m not saying that he might not be done with his +4 WAR years, (although I’d guess he has at least 1 more and probably two), but he’s hardly free falling.

For those taking this opportunity to take shots at Jeter I’ll say this. The graph showing Ozzie, Trammel and Jeter shows 3 HOF SS’s. Don’t smear Jeter with the writers ignorance regarding how great Trammel was. Tammel and Whitaker both belong in the HOF.

by Dwnflfan on Mar 27, 2009 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions