Graph of the Day: Sandberg, Grich, Morgan and Kent

by Harry Pavlidis on Mar 8, 2009 11:00 AM EDT Comment 14 comments

Joe Morgan had a long career and a very high peak run of about 5 years. Bobby Grich put together a strong run of his own early in his career while Ryne Sandberg started fast and played less baseball than the other three. Jeff Kent, the most recently retired, got off to a slow start but still had a long run of productive seasons.

If Ryno is a no-brainer HOF member, Grich shouldn't have been virtually ignored. Grich got 11 votes (just 2.6%) in his 1992 appearance on the ballot. Barely half the votes needed to stay on the ballot. What does Jeff Kent have to look forward to from the BBWAA?

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secondbasemen

I am curious how Lou Whitaker’s seasonal WAR stats compare to those in the graph?

by KalineCountry on Mar 8, 2009 11:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

first thought i had, too.

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by larry on Mar 8, 2009 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whit didn't have the peak that the others did...

but was consistently very good. He was +6.8 in his best year and +4.2 in his ninth best according to Rally’s WAR. That’s pretty damn impressive and puts him in the top 10 at the position during the years it Rally has done.

by BraveBronco0121 on Mar 8, 2009 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What about Roberto Alomar?

While we’re on the topic of HOF-worthy 2B, Alomar would make sense to add into the mix. IIRC he’s eligible next year.
I imagine his line would look very similar to Grich’s.

by Willl on Mar 8, 2009 2:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Kent has been fellated by Rick Reilly for years

Grich is going to look like the outlier on the database by a WIDE margin.

by klhoughton on Mar 8, 2009 3:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Robbie and Lou

by Harry Pavlidis on Mar 8, 2009 4:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i love graphs.

but you need to use cooler colors. and i like the use of hot pink for robbie, especially after the supposed revelation about his experiences in the mino leagues.

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by larry on Mar 8, 2009 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Excel didn't know about that

by Harry Pavlidis on Mar 8, 2009 7:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Joe Morgan was THAT good?

vivaelbeñsheets

by vivaelpujols on Mar 8, 2009 6:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Check out rally's top 300

Yes. That great. Great, not good.

by Harry Pavlidis on Mar 8, 2009 7:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, he was awesome.

Got on base. Had some power. Ran the bases. Played 2B. Played 2B really well. Sustained it for a long time.

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

by Sky Kalkman on Mar 8, 2009 9:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

so you're saying he was cosistent.

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by larry on Mar 8, 2009 9:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Interesting, especially when you add Whitaker and Alomar to the mix

If Ryno is a no-brainer HOF member

See, I don’t think that he was a no-brainer — in fact, with Grich not in, it’s hard to make a case for Sandberg if you ask me. Had he not played for the Cubs and played in relative obscurity like Grich did for pretty well his entire career, I don’t think that Sandberg gets all the publicity, which created a situation where he’s elected as a no-brainer. Grich had 10 seasons of WAR above 3.0, Sandberg had 8. Grich also didn’t get the luxury of playing at Wrigley field and played in huge ballparks his whole career. I think he easily hits 300 homers playing his whole career at Wrigley.

I would also love to see a UZR/150 comparison between the two, because I’ve always felt that Sandberg’s defense was overrated, especially in terms of range. He was very good at fielding balls hit at him, but he wasn’t good moving to his right or left or making plays out of range. Grich was known as one of the best second basemen in the game for the majority of his career and played on a team known for it’s pitching and defense in the early 1970’s.

The HOF is more of a popularity contest than anything else, and Sandberg was popular, while guys like Whitaker, Trammell, Kent, and Grich were not, outside of their home markets

"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller

by fourstick on Mar 10, 2009 11:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Maybe not to us

But it only took the writers 3 votes to get him in – but, maybe no-brainer is too strong a term. I’m glad you mention Trammell, I think he was worthy, too.

by Harry Pavlidis on Mar 10, 2009 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs