HOF Numbers Game: The Accumulators

[rats60]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

In defense of Yount, his first 700 games, he had an 89 OPS. He was a full-time player at age 18, long before medicine and training had guys hitting the ground running at such a young age. He didn't know if he wanted to be a baseball player, or a golfer. Once he decided, and started adding weight training to his exercise regiment, he took off. From age 24 to 34, he was a .305 hitter, and OPS +'d 135. For those ten seasons, his 162 game averages: 108 runs scored, 194 hits, 38 doubles, 10 triples, 20 home runs, 92 RBI, 17 stolen bases, .365/.485/.850. Considering, especially, that this is between 1980 and 1989, those numbers for a shortstop/center fielder are pretty exceptional.

His first 6 years and last 4 years he was an average hitter. That is half his career. The middle 10 years he had an OPS+ of 135 3 seasons. No doubt a Hofer, but Arky Vaughan had a career OPS+ of 136 and he played 85% of his games at shortstop.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Yount's inarguably one of the top five shortstops to ever play the game. And before he hurt his shoulder, he was one of the top two or three players in baseball. Shortstops just didn't hit for that kind of power, and play incredible defense, at the same time. You had guys like Ernie Banks who could crush the ball, and was pretty good with the glove, but he couldn't do all the things Yount could. Wagner is the Gold standard. But after that, Yount's not far behind anyone else who's ever played the position.

There's NO comparison between Baines and Yount. None. Baines, in 22 seasons (20 full ones) finished 9th and 10th in the MVP. Yount was an MVP at short and center field, two of the three toughest defensive positions in baseball. Baines by no stretch of the imagination should be a Hall of Famer, and that he is in now further waters down what has become a joke.

And nowhere have I ever said that Ryan Braun was innocent. He screwed up, broke the rules, and deserved to be suspended. The narrative I've always pushed was that he didn't need PEDs to be a great player, and that he didn't take a PED. He took a banned substance to heal an injury. Dumb, and illegal, per baseball's rules, but not the same thing as a performance enhancer. Before he had the nerve damage in his hand, he was one of the very best hitters in baseball. After his positive test, and with baseball testing him/watching him under a microscope, he put up a season nearly as good as his 2011 MVP one. Led the league NL in home runs, and with a .987 OPS, only 7 points lower than the prior season.

The problem with ALL PED guys is that you never know exactly when they STARTED - and once he was caught, he lied like a rug.

A BUM!

I question ALL of his stats!


I agree with you on Yount and Molitor - GREAT, EXCITING HOF players!

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