Posted By:
Jay MillerI have reconsidered my prior post and have now decided that the most useless stat is the "help". This must be the major league baseball equivalent of every kid in little league getting a trophy. If most of you are like me you can't even accurately define how someone gets a "help". However, any stat that can be accumulated by a pitcher, whether his team wins or not, has doubtful value.
When discussions turn to players in the HOF who made it simply on longevity, don't forget Yaz. I agree with Scott on this one, enshrining someone into the HOF because they played forever only dilutes the honor.
As why some people call Willie Mays the greatest living player it is a mystery to me. I think Hank Aaron was better, although not by alot. Looking at the stats Aaron hit .305 lifetime, had a homer every 16.38 times at bat and had an RBI every 5.38 times at bat. He has a .980 fielding percentage as an outfielder. He hit .364 in the WS and .357 in the playoffs. Mays was a .302 lifetime hitter with a homer every 16.49 times at bat and an RBI every 5.72 times at bat. Mays' fielding percentage as an outfielder was almost identical to Aaron's .981. However, Mays generally performed poorly in the post season with a .239 WS average and a .247 postseason series average. Willie played in New York (for part of his career) and got more press. It is probably as simple as that. BTW, it is interesting to look at those AB/HR stats for these two supposed home run hitters. Both are surprisingly low compared to the real sluggers.