If Marty Marion is elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, it will be because he was perhaps the finest-fielding shortstop of the 1940s, a starter on Cardinals teams that won four pennants and three World Series titles and a winner of the 1944 National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Marion wasn’t known for his hitting _ he usually batted in the seventh and eighth spots in the order during a 13-year big-league career _ but much like another Cardinals standout shortstop, Ozzie Smith, Marion worked to enhance his value at the plate.
...With a .263 career batting average and 1,448 hits in 11 seasons with the Cardinals and two with the Browns, offensive numbers alone won’t qualify Marion for the Hall of Fame, but his batting shouldn’t disqualify him either.
In 1942, his third season with the Cardinals, Marion, a right-handed batter, initially struggled at the plate so badly that some wondered whether he could remain in the big leagues. Though he was the everyday shortstop, he was hitting .188 on May 31 that season.
Years later, Marion explained to St. Louis writer Bob Broeg how he improved as a hitter. “I began studying hitting on my own, changing my batting stance, observing the pitchers, laying off bad pitches and hitting more to right field,” Marion said.
Repoz
Posted: November 10, 2012 at 10:48 AM |
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1. BDCPlayer Rfield PA OPS+ SB PosClete Boyer 160 6368 86 41 *56/4
Marty Marion 130 6143 81 35 *6/5
Scott Fletcher 98 5976 85 99 *64/5D3
Greg Gagne 83 6209 83 108 *6/D849
Billy Rogell 60 5919 85 82 *65/4987
Sparky Adams 54 6175 82 154 456/79
Ray Schalk 46 6228 83 177 *2
Don Blasingame 30 5937 79 105 *4/65
Alex Gonzalez 29 6098 81 30 *6
Freddie Patek 13 6247 79 385 *6/459D7
Frank Bolling 12 6190 85 40 *4
Granny Hamner 12 6291 84 35 *64/51
Howie Shanks -6 6420 82 185 7564/893
Jose Vizcaino -14 5918 76 74 *645/3D7
Vince Coleman -14 5970 83 752 *78/9D
Julian Javier -18 6197 78 135 *4/563
Tito Fuentes -27 6073 82 80 *46/5
Joe Dugan -28 5880 82 37 *56/47
Bill Wambsganss -60 6107 78 140 *46/53
Rafael Ramirez -68 5887 77 112 *6/5479
Such comps suggest that it isn't even hitting that's kept Marion out of the HOF; it's career length.
... great news for Mark Lemke!
Marion was as much a product of the best talent being in the war as anything else. Also being the best defensive player at short for a short period of time, isn't enough to put you in the hof. Vizquel was as good defensively, for longer period of time in an era with higher quality play and he isn't a worthy hofer (I think he makes it eventually, but don't think he's worth it)
Marty Marion Hall of Stats Record
Similar in Value to Marty Marion
Player (Hall Rating)
Similarity
Billy Jurges (50)
72
Greg Gagne (41)
119
Eddie Miller (33)
134
Clete Boyer (45)
153
Jack Wilson (39)
163
Mike Bordick (38)
168
Billy Rogell (38)
172
Scott Fletcher (55)
176
Ray Schalk (48)
179
Craig Counsell (35)
179
Frank White (50)
183
Terry Turner (59)
187
Tony Pena (50)
188
George McBride (28)
201
Rick Dempsey (48)
206
Frankie Crosetti (32)
215
Bill Mazeroski (50)
219
Bill Russell (45)
230
Lou Bierbauer (20)
231
Jose Valentin (51)
232
And that is why people who care about the HOF should care about post-season awards. Without that (hugely unjustified) award, no one would think to argue for Marty Marion. In fact, he would never make the cut to get on the ballot in the first place.
I think Lenny Harris made that cut:-)
I'm talking about the VC ballot that he is on now. He absolutely should have been on the BBWAA ballot.
Later in my softball days I had a Ted Williams glove, which is like having a CD of vocal lessons by Elvis Costello.
I also had a Juan Guzman glove, because it was bright blue. I have absolutely no regrets about that one.
But I do remember the Wilson A2000 glove I used when playing softball in the 1990s: the Jose Canseco model. All I needed was the Steve Jeltz model bat, and the perfection would be complete.
I don't care if the HOF never elects guys like Marion, but I'd love it if they had some kind of permanent display with film and descriptions of the greatest fielders at every position. It'd be great if they had Keith Hernandez (or Marty Marion, or Maz, or Brooks, or Andruw, etc.) game footage on some kind of loop.
FTFY
That just means you bought it at Sears. You coulda had a Ted Williams fishing rod too; probably a Ted Williams basketball.
My first glove was probably a Ted Williams. It lasted one day before a bunch of 14-year-old punks stole it from my 10-year-old punk self. Awwww. A blessing in disguise as I inherited a properly broken-in Rawlings Billy Williams. I was a Rawlings man for life after that although I think I had only two more gloves after that.
And remember kids, two fingers in the pinky hole.
When I was a kid I had some very flexible cool outfielders' gloves (Yastrzemski, Clemente, Kaline) and a first baseman's mitt that didn't seem to bend very well (Killebrew). How prophetic.
Or like having a Marty Marion bat.
True. My cousin had Ted Williams indoor gym mats.
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