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Hall of Merit— A Look at Baseball's All-Time Best
Saturday, September 08, 2007
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2023 Hall of Merit Ballot Discussion (168 - 1:46pm, Jul 13)Last:  DL from MNMost Meritorious Player: Trophy Case (71 - 6:53pm, Jul 08)Last: DL from MNMost Meritorious Player: 1900 Results (6 - 6:28pm, Jul 08)Last: DL from MNMost Meritorious Player: 1900 Ballot (11 - 4:03pm, Jul 06)Last: DL from MNMost Meritorious Player: 1918 Results (6 - 8:58pm, Jun 29)Last: kennaMost Meritorious Player: 1920 Ballot (25 - 8:55pm, Jun 29)Last: kennaMost Meritorious Player: 1900 Discussion (9 - 1:14am, Jun 29)Last: Harmon RipkowskiHall of Merit Book Club (6 - 12:45pm, Jun 28)Last: progrockfanMost Meritorious Player: 1899 Results (6 - 1:51pm, Jun 22)Last: DL from MNMost Meritorious Player: 1899 Ballot (10 - 9:54am, Jun 22)Last: TomHMost Meritorious Player: 1899 Discussion (9 - 9:04am, May 31)Last: DL from MNMost Meritorious Player: 1898 Results (4 - 3:22pm, May 06)Last: DL from MNMost Meritorious Player: 1898 Ballot (8 - 10:07am, May 05)Last: DL from MNMost Meritorious Player: 1898 Discussion (7 - 1:08am, May 02)Last: Harmon RipkowskiMost Meritorious Player: 1897 Results (2 - 4:29pm, Apr 06)Last: DL from MN
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1. John (You Can Call Me Grandma) Murphy Posted: September 08, 2007 at 07:53 PM (#2516773)It's not unique. (I was going to say "unprecedented" but maybe McGee is the precedent.) In many way, McGee 1985 is eerily similar to Ichiro, 2001.
Of course, it was indefensible. Even on the Cardinals, I thought that John Tudor and Ozzie Smith each had cases as good as McGee's. But the moment you mention Tudor, you run into the big problem: Tudor was (properly) a near-unanimous second in the Cy Young voting. Lets put it another way: among starting pitchers since WWII, including all of the ones who did win MVP awards, can you find a better MVP case than Gooden 1985? Gibson 1968 might be about as good.
As for McGee's 105 RBI in 1987: he batted fith most of that season, behind Jack Clark. That RBI total has a whole lot to do with Clark's ~.460 OBP.
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Now: what is the best team you could field if the criteria included that they would take the field in utterly blank uniforms with no identifying marks, and you had to instantly, unfailingly identify who they were from any half-second camera pan or from sitting in the upper deck. McGee's got a shot at that CF job, right? (Pictures do exist, but I'm afraid to look.)
The camera pan may be a close-up, I suppose
So McGee has one of the most distinctive looks by portrait and by silhouette.
Dennis Rodman may give him a run for the money.
Did he learn baseball in Jamaica? learn cricket? depart before he could learn?
Davis was unusually consistent. 16 consecutive seasons with only one exception to 134-158 games played (1994-95 prorated). 9600+ plate appearances (600+/season). In the last of those 16 seasons he hit 30 home runs for the first time, ruining a trivia question. (prorated 37 hr in 1994 but that doesn't ruin a trivia question)
It appears that he thrived as a designated hitter, batting somewhat better in his thirties than in his twenties.
Still productive in his final season at age 39, OPS+ 115 in 554
Number 52 all-time in walks, his highest rank in a performace statistic.
Number 72 in plate appearances at 9996.
Similar to Dwight Evans as a batter, but not as good. To make them very similar replace Davis' sophomore slump (age 23) and Evans' career year (age 29) with full seasons at their career averages.
Play a little better than Chili Davis and you overcome usually-bad teams on the West Coast.
Devon White had a very distinguishable run/jog when he tracked down fly balls. It was like watching a gazelle or a large deer, very lithe, very smooth, never seemed hurried (even when he was chasing down that flyball in the 1992 World Series).
Actually Keith Hernandez had peculiar (and ineffable) mannerisms that would make him easy to spot...if you know what I mean, then when I say that it's something to do with his thumbs and with his the stiffness of his lower legs, you'll picture it easily.
Then there's Nomar....
I bet there's lots of Phils, Royals, O's, Cards, and Pirates fans who could easily spot Lonnie Smith if all they saw was a quick shot of a guy approaching a line drive.
Oh, and Jim Kaat's near-unique I-just-sucked-on-the-sourest-lemon-ever face would probably be an easy one to pick out of a baseball lineup. And Randy Johnson would be pretty easy to spot. Someone like Larry McWilliams with the ur-herky-jerky windup might be easy.
Actually, Mike Lowell would be easy to spot too, if you all you saw was a very brief clip of him fielding a thight-to-waist high chopper. He has this very relaxed way of transitioning the ball to his throwing hand, where his glove hand goes dead afterward and just falls to his side, whereas most guys seem to keep the glove hand active. It's unmistakably Lowell.
I was recently in an office with a blown up live action shot of a game at Camden Yards. The only player on the field I could identify was Frank Thomas (even in context). He'd have to be on that team.
Howard, BTW, was all-Big Ten at Ohio State. You'd think a guy could do that, could play D on a baseball diamond, but I guess not. 'Course hoops wasn't as quick then either. Part of the changes. Still, he was no oaf.
Hank Greenberg was a Frank Thomas/Frank Howardesque big player for his generation. I also think Honus Wagner would have been pretty easy to spot.
And of course the pinch hitter would be Eddie Gaedel.
I just ran Gooden's numbers. That 1985 certainly holds up well.
The starting pitcher seasons I've found that were better:
15.0 Walter Johnson 1913
12.8 Walter Johnson 1912
12.4 Roger Clemens 1997
12.2 Steve Carlton 1972
12.3 Walter Johnson 1914
11.9 Walter Johnson 1918
11.9 John Clarkson 1889
11.7 Sandy Koufax 1966
11.7 Dwight Gooden 1985
Gibson in 1968 was 10.9. Don't forget, these include hitting.
That's pretty damn good company. I haven't run Pedro, Maddux and RJ yet, of course, so one of them may have a season in there too. By comparison, Clemens 1986 scored 9.0.
Remind me to repost that when Gooden gets his own thread. That season is 23% of his career pennants added.
I think Bucky Walters is a decent comp for Gooden. Gooden hit a higher peak, and Walters was better in the #3 and 4 years, but overall, they are pretty close.
Was McGee the guy who ran without really moving his upper body, or am I thinking of someone else?
Two of my odder baseball-watching experiences: 1) returning from an overseas trip in 1990, going to a ballgame at Yankee Stadium, and seeing an absolutely unmistakable Willie McGee in center field in an Oakland uniform;
2) driving through Chicago in 2004 after having been in the North Woods of Wisconsin, far from a TV set, for two weeks, stopping for pizza, looking up at a TV and seeing what had to be Nomar Garciaparra in a Cub uniform, going through his usual antics at the plate.
Agreed: the chance that you could have been mistaken about that identification is zero.
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