Thurman Munson Hall of Fame? And other careers cut short.

[Kutcher55]

Statistically he is probably a below average candidate, but he has the intangibles having been one of the key players on some historically important and memorable Yankee teams in the 70s. Some might say he was the backbone/spiritual leader of those Yankee teams. For those reasons, I don't think he'd be a terrible candidate.

In a way he reminds me of Steve Garvey. Same era, was a huge star in the game for many years, a marquee name and a clutch player on memorable teams. His WAR puts him well short, but probably more deserving than many including Harold Baines, or Lee Smith.

Fred Lynn is another one. Probably a near miss, but he was one of the best players in baseball for the better part of a decade. Injuries keep him out.

[packs]

Munson was just not an all time great player. Sorry, guys. I'm a huge Yankees fan but he's all mystique and no production. I would even say he's lucky to have an MVP on his resume, as George Brett was clearly the superior player in 1976 (Brett OPS+ was 144 with 7.5 WAR compared to 126 and 5.3 WAR for Munson).

Even in his prime he spent several seasons hovering around replacement level with OPS+ of 105, 101 and 101.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by packs

Munson was just not an all time great player. Sorry, guys. I'm a huge Yankees fan but he's all mystique and no production. I would even say he's lucky to have an MVP on his resume, as George Brett was clearly the superior player in 1976 (Brett OPS+ was 144 with 7.5 WAR compared to 126 and 5.3 WAR for Munson).

Even in his prime he spent several seasons hovering around replacement level with OPS+ of 105, 101 and 101.

Sorry packs, you're wrong. He was the best catcher in all of baseball.

[mckinneyj]

Originally Posted by jingram058

He was the best catcher in all of baseball.

Munson was a tremendous competitor, but, Bench, Fisk and Simmons might take issue with that "best" declaration.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by mckinneyj

Munson was a tremendous competitor, but, Bench, Fisk and Simmons might take issue with that "best" declaration.

They might. But Munson was as good or better than any of them. The three best catchers I ever saw were Berra, Bench and Munson.

[howard38]

Originally Posted by packs

Munson was just not an all time great player. Sorry, guys. I'm a huge Yankees fan but he's all mystique and no production. I would even say he's lucky to have an MVP on his resume, as George Brett was clearly the superior player in 1976 (Brett OPS+ was 144 with 7.5 WAR compared to 126 and 5.3 WAR for Munson).

Even in his prime he spent several seasons hovering around replacement level with OPS+ of 105, 101 and 101.

A 100 OPS+ isn't replacement level it's league average and for a catcher it's above average. But yeah, I would have voted for Brett over Munson. Maybe Nettles as well.