What do you think is the greatest year ever by a player way under the radar?

[CMIZ5290]

How about Hack Wilson in 1930 for the Chicago Cubs. 56 home runs, 190 RBI's (record still stands today), .359 batting average, and 109 walks! My second choice might be Denny McClain in 1968 with 30 wins.....

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

People don't realize the single greatest season by a 3B is Al Rosen's 1953 .336 43 145
10.1 WAR

[Peter_Spaeth]

For a decent player, Norm Cash's 1961 was absurd.

[kdixon]

Lefty O’doul 1929 batted .398 with 254 hits 152 runs 35 doubles 32 homers with 122 rbi and .465 OBP and gets no attention .

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

For a decent player, Norm Cash's 1961 was absurd.

Yeah league went crazy that year with career years for decent players. Maris, Cash, Colavito, Jim Gentile

Fun fact Bobby Richardson finished 24th in MVP voting in 1961 with a -0.7 WAR wonder how many negative WAR's have gotten MVP votes!

[Tabe]

Steve Stone's 25-7, 3.23 Cy Young year in 1980.

Bob Welch's 27-6, 2.95 Cy Young year in 1990.

[Tabe]

Zach Greinke's 2015: 19-3, 1.66 ERA. His ERA all year was never over 1.97.

Luis Tiant's 1968: 21-9, 1.60 ERA. 0.871 WHIP, 9 shutouts.

[Robbie]

One I always think of is Steve Carlton's 1972 season.
The team's record was 59-97. He was 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA, and struck out 310 batters. I'm stunned every time I think about what he did that year on that team.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Steve Carlton did not exactly fly under the radar though.

[bgar3]

Joe Wood 1912 season
34 and 5, 35 complete games, 10 shutouts, and 3 wins in the World Series. Just for kicks he batted .290

[howard38]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Steve Stone's 25-7, 3.23 Cy Young year in 1980.

Bob Welch's 27-6, 2.95 Cy Young year in 1990.

Given that Stone won the Cy Young award in 1980 I'd say that the actual best pitcher in the league that year, Mike Norris, was even further under the radar.

[Throttlesteer]

Harry Heilmann's 1923 season. There were a few others that came close, but this one stands out.

[MRSPORTSCARDCOLLECTOR]

Yaz 1967 WAR= 12.5

[MRSPORTSCARDCOLLECTOR]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Zach Greinke's 2015: 19-3, 1.66 ERA. His ERA all year was never over 1.97.

Luis Tiant's 1968: 21-9, 1.60 ERA. 0.871 WHIP, 9 shutouts.

Still can't believe Looie is not in the Hall of Fame.

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Steve Carlton did not exactly fly under the radar though.

I agree... maybe "under appreciated" is more appropriate... IMO

[LincolnVT]

2019 Rafael Devers! 😊

[Cliff Bowman]

One has already been mentioned, but I was always amazed as a kid looking at the backs of their baseball cards at the one monster year by these three, Norm Cash in 1961, Tommy Davis in 1962, and Deron Johnson in 1965.

[rats60]

Honus Wagner 1908. 1st in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, hits, TB, 2B, 3B, RBI, SB, 2nd in runs, 1b & HR. He had 11.5 oWAR, Hans Lobert was 2nd place with 6.5. I don't think a player has ever dominated a league like that. He did that in the lowest scoring season of the dead ball era, league ERA 2.35 and the toughest hitting park, 16% below league average. Bill James rates it as the best season ever.

[insidethewrapper]

1959 Roy Face 18-1 pitching record.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by rats60

Honus Wagner 1908. 1st in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, hits, TB, 2B, 3B, RBI, SB, 2nd in runs, 1b & HR. He had 11.5 oWAR, Hans Lobert was 2nd place with 6.5. I don't think a player has ever dominated a league like that. He did that in the lowest scoring season of the dead ball era, league ERA 2.35 and the toughest hitting park, 16% below league average. Bill James rates it as the best season ever.

Honus Wagner was a player under the radar?

[tedzan]

Russ Ford

1910 W-L 26 - 6 (rookie year)

1911 W-L 22 - 11






TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Honus Wagner was a player under the radar?

His 1908 season was. It is not like almost every other season mentioned isn't well known. The OP picks the all time record for RBIs in a season and the last pitcher to win 30 games and says they are under the radar

[frankbmd]

I hate to throw gasoline on this thread, but all seasons before 1935 flew under the radar which wasn’t invented until then.

So I’ll add Ruth and Cobb and all our other prewar friends including Wahoo, Cy and my namesake, “The Crab”.

[z28jd]

Pirates outfielder Adam Comorosky in 1930. He hit 47 doubles, 23 triples and 12 homers. You can't find another season in baseball history where a player reached all three of those numbers. The best part is that he led the majors with 33 sacrifice hits, so he was giving up plenty of at-bats that season to move runners along, yet he still set numbers that were never reached nor equaled.

[insidethewrapper]

Granderson had a 20-20-20-20 season in 2007 with Detroit. Not bad !
2B-38
3B-23
HR-23
SB-26

[h2oya311]

Minor leagues, but Joe Hauser of the Minneapolis Miller’s in 1933 hit 69 HRs and had a 332 batting avg and 770 slugging pct. this came only 3 years after he hit 63 HRs with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League.

[Mark17]

Dean Chance 1964

AB - 89
H - 7
2B - 0
3B -0
HR - 0
BB - 0
K - 53
AVG - .079

Since he couldn't hit, they let him do some pitching:

Games - 46
Starts - 35
Innings - 278.1
W/L - 20-9
Shutouts - 11
ERA - 1.65 (which would be amazing in the deadball era, let alone the 1960s)

Lifetime he was 128-115.

[GeoPoto]

He led the AL in hits while the radar techs were distracted by hitting streaks and .400 averages.

Also, in 1998 or so, Bonds became first 400HR/400SB and couldn't get a ping with all the yapping about McGuire, Sosa, et al. It appears that was when he decided to get back on the radar by juicing.

[packs]

Babe Herman's 1930 season:

Hit 393, 35 homers, 138 rbi's, 241 hits, 28 doubles and scored 143 runs.

Might have gone down as an all time season if not for Bill Terry hitting 400.


Also Earl Webb's 1931 season:

Webb hit 333, scored 96 runs, had 103 rbi's but set the all time single season record with 67 doubles.

[KCRfan1]

I'll toss in a couple of arms from the 1960's that fly under the radar.

Jim Maloney who had a fine but short career. He had a couple of standout seasons with 1963 being his best.

23 -7 with a 2.77 ERA. He finished with 250 IP, 183 Hits allowed and 265 K's.

For the season he finished 19 in MVP voting. No All - Star or Cy Young placement.


The next name is Sam McDowell.

In 1965, he finished at 17 - 11 and a 2.18 ERA. Additional numbers of import are 273 IP, 178 Hits allowed and 325 K's.

For the season he finished 17 in MVP voting. No All - Star or Cy Young placement.

[packs]

Speaking of arms, how about some of the seasons old Hoyt Wilhelm was able to put together? I know he's a HOFer, but who ever has anything to say about him?

Between 1964 and 1968 he was 41 to 45 years old, pitched over 500 innings while maintaining an average ERA of 1.74....in his 40s! He surrendered almost 200 less hits than innings pitched over that time.

1965 was probably his masterpiece. He threw 144 innings as a 42 year old giving up only 88 hits, while pitching to the tune of a 1.81 ERA.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I've also always been a fan of fluke seasons like Davey Johsnon's and Rico Petrocelli's 40 Home Run years or Bert Campaneris's 20 HR year etc. THen you have guys like Dave Stapleton who has a very good rookie season and literally gets worse every year from there on out. Wonder what the record is for longest career with a batting average that dropped every season? Stapleton made 7.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I've also always been a fan of fluke seasons like Davey Johsnon's and Rico Petrocelli's 40 Home Run years or Bert Campaneris's 20 HR year etc. THen you have guys like Dave Stapleton who has a very good rookie season and literally gets worse every year from there on out. Wonder what the record is for longest career with a batting average that dropped every season? Stapleton made 7.

Petrocelli is a good one. He had a 10 WAR season leading the AL. It totally went under the radar until advanced metrics. He finished 7th in MVP voting behind 5 guys with more RBIs and Cy Young winner Denny McClain.

[howard38]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

I'll toss in a couple of arms from the 1960's that fly under the radar.

Jim Maloney who had a fine but short career. He had a couple of standout seasons with 1963 being his best.

23 -7 with a 2.77 ERA. He finished with 250 IP, 183 Hits allowed and 265 K's.

For the season he finished 19 in MVP voting. No All - Star or Cy Young placement.


The next name is Sam McDowell.

In 1965, he finished at 17 - 11 and a 2.18 ERA. Additional numbers of import are 273 IP, 178 Hits allowed and 325 K's.


For the season he finished 17 in MVP voting. No All - Star or Cy Young placement.

Had Maloney's arm not given out in the late 60s he would have been the ace of the Big Red Machine and probably in the Hall of Fame.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

Speaking of arms, how about some of the seasons old Hoyt Wilhelm was able to put together? I know he's a HOFer, but who ever has anything to say about him?

Between 1964 and 1968 he was 41 to 45 years old, pitched over 500 innings while maintaining an average ERA of 1.74....in his 40s! He surrendered almost 200 less hits than innings pitched over that time.

1965 was probably his masterpiece. He threw 144 innings as a 42 year old giving up only 88 hits, while pitching to the tune of a 1.81 ERA.

Man that seems like a lot of innings for a reliever, even in the pre-closer days? He pitched until he was 49, how great is that? He was 29 when he made his debut.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

For a decent player, Norm Cash's 1961 was absurd.

I would vote with Peter on this one. His performance in the '61 season was well above any of his other seasons....something like 80 bps for BA. I wonder what he did that year to give rise to the increased performance? He would have been 27 and in the prime of his like......such a huge increase in BA for 1 year is just odd.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Not sure if mentioned yet, Darrell Evans 1973. 9.0 WAR 18th in MVP.

[the-illini]

Bret Boone, 2001

.331 BA 37 HR 141 RBI 9.4 WAR

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Roid heads need not apply

[Jay Wolt]

Here's one for you, Tip O'Neill's 1888 season
In 130 games (577 ab) led the league in these 8 categories - average 435, OB% 490, 225 hits, 167 Runs, 123 RBI, 52 doubles, 19 triple & 14 HR's
& stole 30 bases too!

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by howard38

Given that Stone won the Cy Young award in 1980 I'd say that the actual best pitcher in the league that year, Mike Norris, was even further under the radar.

Good point.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by MRSPORTSCARDCOLLECTOR

Yaz 1967 WAR= 12.5

Yaz ain't exactly flying under the radar either

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

I would vote with Peter on this one. His performance in the '61 season was well above any of his other seasons....something like 80 bps for BA. I wonder what he did that year to give rise to the increased performance? He would have been 27 and in the prime of his like......such a huge increase in BA for 1 year is just odd.

He corked his bat.

He later did a story for Sports Illustrated where he documented the exact technique he used.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

The next name is Sam McDowell.

In 1965, he finished at 17 - 11 and a 2.18 ERA. Additional numbers of import are 273 IP, 178 Hits allowed and 325 K's.

For the season he finished 17 in MVP voting. No All - Star or Cy Young placement.

No Cy Young votes because they only picked one for both leagues in '65 and Sandy Koufax was the unanimous pick in 1965.

McDowell was almost as good in 1968 - 1.81 ERA, 6.1 H/9.

And then he finished 3rd in the CYA in 1970, too.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Tabe

He corked his bat.

He later did a story for Sports Illustrated where he documented the exact technique he used.

He once went to the plate without a bat. LOL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEboSkPUgUo

[irishdenny]

Howevar, certainly not mentioned enough!

BiG ED Walsh was from another planet

1908 Season

*40 Wins
15 Loses
469 Innings Pitched
Win% .727
ERA 1.42
Games Started 49
Games Completed 42

Chicago White Sox Record *88-64

[Fred]

Would a season where a player led the league in H's-225, 2Bs-52, 3Bs-19, HR-14, RBI and BA-.435 count? Tip O'Neil in 1887.

Trivia question - what player led the league in BA one season, dropped 100 points the next season and still led the league in BA? Tip O'Neil.

[btcarfagno]

Miguel Dilone 1980.

Not including his 1980 season, he was a career .238 hitter with an OPS+ of 67. Only had 2000 career at bats in parts of 12 Major league seasons.

In 1980 he hit .340 with 30 doubles 9 triples and 61 steals and an OPS+ of 120.

Where did that come from?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

Miguel Dilone 1980.

Not including his 1980 season, he was a career .238 hitter with an OPS+ of 67. Only had 2000 career at bats in parts of 12 Major league seasons.

In 1980 he hit .340 with 30 doubles 9 triples and 61 steals and an OPS+ of 120.

Where did that come from?

He was a Strat-o-matic god that year

[timn1]

I have to agree with this. 1908 was a serious pitcher’s year and Wagner dominated completely. Wagner is known as a great player, sure, but I think he is still underappreciated. in this season he was Babe Ruth and ty Cobb combined. Greatest season of all time, imho.

Sorry guys, but anybody batting.390 in 1929 or 1930 is batting.305 in an average year. Those years were offensive explosions.

Tim

Originally Posted by rats60

His 1908 season was. It is not like almost every other season mentioned isn't well known. The OP picks the all time record for RBIs in a season and the last pitcher to win 30 games and says they are under the radar