Very interesting reflections here. The question about sabermetrics re-evaluating beloved players of one's youth is something to consider. I thought of four players who fit the category for me.

One is Randy Hundley: it was an article of faith for me that Hundley was a great catcher and potentially a great hitter who was robbed of a brilliant career by injuries. The record doesn't really seem to show that (always granted that WAR is hard to read for catchers). When Hundley caught 160 games in 1968, he was about 2 WAR. When he hit 19 home runs for the Cubs in 1966, the heart of the new-deadball era, he had an OPS+ of 87 (never walking in Wrigley Field will kill your OPS+ in any era). It does seem that Hundley did extraordinary things as a catcher, particularly in technique, though how valuable his defense was is hard to ascertain. He worked with some excellent pitchers. But I had this vision of him as the white Roy Campanella (at least potentially), and it just isn't real.

Another Cub from that period is Glenn Beckert. I was a scrappy sandlot second baseman, so I loved Beckert, and when he hit .342 in 1971 I was sure he was as close to perfect as a ballplayer could get. Now come to find that was good for an OPS+ of just 108 (never walking, Wrigley Field). And to add insult, WAR has him as -28 runs on defense for his career (DRA has him at -25). He grades passably with his glove at his peak, but I thought he was superior. Sigh.

I also thought of Del Unser, whom I always thought had a kind of mystique about him: good glove, decent speed, smart player, fine CF, could hit a little, would take a walk. WAR and other "new" metrics have him as pretty good, actually, particularly with the Phillies (which was when I followed him), and nobody thought he was that great anyway. He was underrated – sort of the poor kid's Joe Rudi – and the record actually confirms my opinion of him.

That leaves Larry Bowa. DRA has him at -57 runs for his career; B-Ref WAR actually has him at +30, which surprises me a little. Everyone thought at the time that he was a great defender (by "everybody" I mean my 8th-grade class), and he learned how to hit a little; seriously, when Bowa hit .290 or .300 we thought he was an overlooked MVP candidate. (I had forgotten that he placed third in MVP voting in 1978, so I guess he wasn't that overlooked.) The "new" metrics tell me that he was at best a capable defender, and he hit OK for his position, and became over time a very fine baserunner, and was an exceptionally smart player. And played forever, and played for winners: surprisingly enough, my youthful fascination with Bowa is not undercut by the record. (It was always clear that he had no power, for instance, so there was no way to honestly claim he was as good a player as Garry Maddox or Bob Boone, let alone Mike Schmidt. I just loved the heck out of him :)

And on another interesting comment: my impression from living in New York through the heyday of both Jeter and Wright is that Jeter really is beloved by young fans there (young teenage female fans in particular, but what's wrong with that?). And that admiration for Wright is cooler but runs very deep. There used to be (still is, maybe?) this vendor who had a table on 32nd Street that sold African-Americana, books and tapes and what-not, and baseball cards of all the star black ballplayers. Plus David Wright. I always got a kick out of that: the man has serious urban credentials.

When you hit 40 (I'm well over 50 now), you don't love players anymore, it's true. They come and go and they've broken your heart so often that you just watch them more critically now. And like Jordan here, and like the banished Andy, I get fed up with the Mallpark experience and the music and the constant branding of everything and the sportsbars within the stadium and crap. But I see little kids in HAMILTON 32 shirts squirming around when Josh bats. It's still pretty cool.

My youthful fave, Johnny Ray, comes out just about where I remember him, which is nice.

If Wright is not loved as much, I think a lot of that has to do with him developing alongside Jose Reyes, who was a much more dynamic and flashy player.

@ Bring Me, you wanna know what's crazy? Johnny Ray was an example I nearly cited in the discussion. I checked his stats right before extending the conversation on empty batting average/.OBP. Def would've been interesting if he played at his avg. level until age 38.

I was a big Andy Van Slyke fan when I was a kid, to the point I fistpumped when the papers reported the Pirates had decided to keep Van Slyke and let Barry Bonds go. (Yeah, I know.) Turns out Van Slyke really was pretty awesome for a few years there.

I'm just delighted with the Ruppert Jones sighting. Like the author, I loved me some Ruppert.

If you like pina coladas...

I suppose I came of age as a baseabll fan in a transitional era. My team had beloved gritty guys Mickey Morandini and Rico Brogna who had good defensive reputations. But there was always something apologetic about their fan-favorite status. It wasn't an attempt at actually canonizing them as great players. There was no "Sure, Roberto Alomar hits home runs, but Mickey Morandini does the little things. If I want to win a championship I'd rather have him." It was just a sort of tautology. This guy does the little things, he doesn't appear to be hurting the team through gross incompetence, therefore as fans we are programmed to like him.

Crispix: Definitely. It's the Jack Wilson Principle.

Came of age with the 69 Mets as a kid growing up on Long Island. Favorite players were Tommie Agee and Seaver. So no disappointments there. I also liked Ken Boswell a lot. I remember he had a long error less streak and I thought that was really cool. Was disappointed a number of years back when I looked up his defense and realized he had the range of a traffic cone.

I saw nothing wrong with liking the Yankees at the same time. I just loved baseball and both teams were on TV all the time, so why not ? Bobby Murcer was my favorite Yankee.

Guess I had a thing for centerfielders with some power.

I started playing Strat baseball after the 1971 season, and it didn't take me long to figure out the value of walks/power vs. hollow batting average and to never pay much attention to the pitchers won loss record on the card as that often didn't seem to have anything to do with how good the card was. (Steve Carlton kinda sucked in 1971)

So after 71 not too many surprises for me. Strat was the best teacher I ever could have had.