First under appreciated player that pops into your head

puckpaul · #1 12-17-2022, 02:40 PM

Tempting to go for Foxx, Musial or Ott, but i would say Jerry Koosman. Big time lefty. If those Mets teams didn’t generally suck, he wins a lot more games. He still won 222 games, and his stats compare favorably to Jim Kaat for instance. Better ERA, same WHIP, 18 years vs 24 years, but aside from Kaat’s extra longevity stats, you might easily take him over Kaat. Good hitter too, and 4-0 in playoffs and World Series and led the Mets to the 69 title in game 5.

Collectors know, though, just look at the price of his rookie card! ;-)

perezfan · #2 12-17-2022, 04:06 PM

To me, "overlooked" indicates a non-HOFer. My under-appreciated player is Dave Concepcion.

Econteachert205 · #3 12-17-2022, 04:08 PM

Doc Cramer

nickedson · #4 12-17-2022, 04:09 PM

Vic Power.

howard38 · #5 12-17-2022, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by puckpaul

Tempting to go for Foxx, Musial or Ott, but i would say Jerry Koosman. Big time lefty. If those Mets teams didn�t generally suck, he wins a lot more games. He still won 222 games, and his stats compare favorably to Jim Kaat for instance. Better ERA, same WHIP, 18 years vs 24 years, but aside from Kaat�s extra longevity stats, you might easily take him over Kaat. Good hitter too, and 4-0 in playoffs and World Series and led the Mets to the 69 title in game 5.

Collectors know, though, just look at the price of his rookie card! ;-)

Koosman was one of my favorites growing up & I agree he was under appreciated as was teammate John Matlack. But his ineptitude as a hitter was a running joke when he played.

puckpaul · #6 12-17-2022, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard38

Koosman was one of my favorites growing up & I agree he was under appreciated as was teammate John Matlack. But his ineptitude as a hitter was a running joke when he played.

Oops, memory failing me on that. Seaver was a good hitter?

howard38 · #7 12-18-2022, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by puckpaul

Oops, memory failing me on that. Seaver was a good hitter?

Seaver was definitely better than Koosman but still not good. The two did have a tongue in cheek rivalry as to who was the "better" hitter which may be what you remember.

puckpaul · #8 12-18-2022, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard38

Seaver was definitely better than Koosman but still not good. The two did have a tongue in cheek rivalry as to who was the "better" hitter which may be what you remember.

What�s my name again?

Anyway, looking it up, Koos went 2 for 4 with an RBI against the Reds in 73 playoffs! So there is that.

peanuts · #9 12-18-2022, 09:56 AM

Lefty O'Doul - Both for being a solid player and for his massive contribution to fueling baseball's rise in Japan

George Brett - For just kind of being forgotten about and never mentioned after his retirement. Those last three years were rough, but he had an incredible run his entire career. And now you only ever hear him discussed in the context of the Pine Tar game

Musial - I know, wild to say. I just really think that we do not recognize how INCREDIBLE he was. He sometimes seems to get grouped into "Oh just an HOFer from the 60s," giving short shrift to the fact that he's a top 10 player in history.

Salmon should get some more nods than he does. Not an HOFer by any means, but posted fantastic numbers for a decade and only retired after injury. But yet, never gets mentioned in the discussion around the 90s.

Exhibitman · #10 12-20-2022, 11:55 AM

King Carl

So overlooked this is his first mention in this thread.

He led the League in WHIP during six of the eight seasons from 1931-1938.

He led the League in K/BB during five of the seven seasons from 1932-1938.

He led the League in wins during three of the five seasons from 1933-1937 and he won over 20 games during all five of those consecutive seasons.

He led the League in ERA during three of the four seasons from 1933-1936.

In a combined three World Series, Hubbell posted a 1.79 ERA.

He led the League in ERA+ during three of the four seasons from 1933-1936.

He led the League in H/9 three times during his career.

glynparson · #11 12-21-2022, 06:34 PM

Frank Robinson

Snapolit1 · #12 12-18-2022, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by puckpaul

What’s my name again?

Anyway, looking it up, Koos went 2 for 4 with an RBI against the Reds in 73 playoffs! So there is that.

Seaver wasn't a terrible hitter. At the time I remember him seemingly to be quite good (relatively speaking of course). Seems like most years he hit more HRs than Bud Harrelson did.

12 career HRs. Not too shabby.

JimmyC · #13 12-19-2022, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Seaver wasn't a terrible hitter. At the time I remember him seemingly to be quite good (relatively speaking of course). Seems like most years he hit more HRs than Bud Harrelson did.

12 career HRs. Not too shabby.

Seaver and Harrelson were roomies…..and Seaver from time to time would use Harrelson bats….

3finger1908 · #14 12-18-2022, 02:24 PM

I’ll go with Ed Reulbach, who incidentally died the same day as Ty Cobb in 1961, with infinitely times more championships under his belt (ok 2), against Ty’s Tigers no less…

Golfcollector · #15 12-19-2022, 11:47 AM

Samuel Earl Crawford

55koufax · #16 12-19-2022, 11:53 AM

But my THREE large oversights are from the 70's, and 80's mainly:

1. Don Mattingly
2. Steve Garvey
3. Keith Hernandez

IMO all three should ALREADY be Hofers. The fact they are not makes them "underrated".

mikemcgrail · #17 12-19-2022, 01:15 PM

Rod Carew

DHogan · #18 12-19-2022, 01:28 PM

James (Shanty) Hogan Hitting over .300 four consecutive seasons in New York

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