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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[jsq]

ragin cajun ron guidry, 25 -3 record with 1978 yankees.

the yankees sucked big time till after the all star break and guidry was the only thing holding the team together and he still posted a 25-3 record. yankees were still 6.5 games out starting september they caught fire and went on to win.

jim rice won mvp. rice had an excellent year. and since many people felt bad about fred lynn winning the mvp the prior yr over rice when rice in 1977 was arguably better, rice received massive sympathy votes in 1978 and had a great year but no where near as exceptional a year as guidry.

guidry had one of the best pitching yrs in major league history, he had that record with a great team for 1 month of the season (september), a sub 500 team for first 1/2 of the season and a solid team for a few months.

guidry was unstoppable. go look up the era, the strikeouts, everything, he totally dominated every team he pitched against. literally one of the greatest pitching feats in major league history

[Tabe]

Lynn won the MVP in 1975. It had zero effect on the voting three years later.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Not to mention Lynn deserved it in 1975, and probably deserved it again in 1979. It's not like he was gifted an MVP and the writers regretted it.

[Bpm0014]

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

hahahahahhahaha!!

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Lynn won the MVP in 1975. It had zero effect on the voting three years later.

If I’m not mistaken, not only did he win MVP, but was an AS, Gold Glove and ROY. Now that I think about it, has anyone even done that since?

[rats60]

Originally Posted by conor912

If I’m not mistaken, not only did he win MVP, but was an AS, Gold Glove and ROY. Now that I think about it, has anyone even done that since?

Ichiro Suzuki

[Yoda]

How about Denny MacLaine and his 30 win year? The future should have been bright but, of course, it wasn't.

[conor912]

Originally Posted by rats60

Ichiro Suzuki

Never heard of him.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by jsq

ragin cajun ron guidry, 25 -3 record with 1978 yankees.

the yankees sucked big time till after the all star break and guidry was the only thing holding the team together and he still posted a 25-3 record. yankees were still 6.5 games out starting september they caught fire and went on to win.

jim rice won mvp. rice had an excellent year. and since many people felt bad about fred lynn winning the mvp the prior yr over rice when rice in 1977 was arguably better, rice received massive sympathy votes in 1978 and had a great year but no where near as exceptional a year as guidry.

guidry had one of the best pitching yrs in major league history, he had that record with a great team for 1 month of the season (september), a sub 500 team for first 1/2 of the season and a solid team for a few months.

guidry was unstoppable. go look up the era, the strikeouts, everything, he totally dominated every team he pitched against. literally one of the greatest pitching feats in major league history

Jim Rice had a monster year. He finished 3rd in AVE, 1st in SLG, 1st in OPS, 2nd in runs, 1st in hits, 1st in TB, 1st in 3b, 1st in HR and 1st in RBI. He carried the Red Sox to a first place tie in the AL East. He absolutely deserved MVP.

Guidry had a great season and won the Cy Young, but he had nowhere near the impact of Rice. You want to bad mouth the Yankees, but they were loaded, the best team money can buy. The Yankees won 97 games in 1976 and were AL Champions. The Yankees won 100 games in 1977 and were World Champions. The 1978 Yankees again won 100 games.

Also, your description of the Yankees season is false. The Yankees went 10-9 in April and were above .500 the rest of the season. They were 46-35 the 1st half of the season, 11 games over .500. They were 53-28 the 2nd half and won game 163. They were 77-54 at the end of August, 23 games over .500. They got crazy hot in September going 22-9 to catch the Red Sox. Only a Yankees fan would call 11 games over .500 sucking or 23 games over .500 only solid.

Guidry had a good season, but nowhere near historic. That would be Steve Carlton in 1972 or Dwight Gooden in 1985. If you go by WAR and look at the 20 years between 1969-1988, Guidry only had the 13th best year during that period.

[byrone]

Not sure it's a greatest year ever by a player way under the radar, but Nolan Ryan's 1987 season sure was odd.

He led the league is ERA and posted a 8-16 won-loss record.

Thanks for the run support, boys

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by byrone

Not sure it's a greatest year ever by a player way under the radar, but Nolan Ryan's 1987 season sure was odd.

He led the league is ERA and posted a 8-16 won-loss record.

Thanks for the run support, boys

K's and WHIP too if I recall correctly

EDIT: I don't. He was 4th in NL in WHIP

[Touch'EmAll]

In 1884 Old Hoss Radbourn went 60-12 with ERA 1.38

[robw1959]

Originally Posted by jsq

ragin cajun ron guidry, 25 -3 record with 1978 yankees.

the yankees sucked big time till after the all star break and guidry was the only thing holding the team together and he still posted a 25-3 record. yankees were still 6.5 games out starting september they caught fire and went on to win.

jim rice won mvp. rice had an excellent year. and since many people felt bad about fred lynn winning the mvp the prior yr over rice when rice in 1977 was arguably better, rice received massive sympathy votes in 1978 and had a great year but no where near as exceptional a year as guidry.

guidry had one of the best pitching yrs in major league history, he had that record with a great team for 1 month of the season (september), a sub 500 team for first 1/2 of the season and a solid team for a few months.

guidry was unstoppable. go look up the era, the strikeouts, everything, he totally dominated every team he pitched against. literally one of the greatest pitching feats in major league history

That season came to mind, but I don't think it went "under the radar." Maybe it's because I'm from Syracuse and was a teenager in the 70s, but it seemed like Ron Guidry was all over the sports news all year long that year.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Love Gator, but the year even spawned a catch phrase "shades of '78" not really under the radar

[DoubleXX]

Hard to believe but one of those 3 losses was to the Blue Jays -- only the team's second year in existence. "Louisiana Lighting" had a great slider!

[BigBeerGut]

Around Horn

1b gil hodges
2b jeffkent
ss jim fregosi
3b matt williams
c any molina
of jim edmonds
of curt flood
of hunter pence

p tim hudson
p david wells
p dave stewart
p billy pierce
p jimmy key
p eric show

su scott shields
su alan embree
bp quizenberry
lhc bily wagner
rhc percival

skiper marse joe

MJD

[GaryPassamonte]

We can't forget Ross Barnes in 1876.

[bcbgcbrcb]

I like Eric Davis of the Reds in 1987, one of the best all around seasons ever. 37 HR’s, 50 SB’s, 100 RBI, 120 R’s and more over the wall catches in centerfield than you can count.

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by BigBeerGut

Around Horn

1b gil hodges
2b jeffkent
ss jim fregosi
3b matt williams
c any molina
of jim edmonds
of curt flood
of hunter pence

p tim hudson
p david wells
p dave stewart
p billy pierce
p jimmy key
p eric show

su scott shields
su alan embree
bp quizenberry
lhc bily wagner
rhc percival

skiper marse joe

MJD

That’s a pretty good list of CAREER underrated players by position.

But I’d go with Dave Concepcion at SS and Ted Simmons at Catcher. I’d also consider Al Oliver, probably in place of Hunter Pence. That guy could rake, and doesn’t get anywhere near the credit he was due.

Lastly, there are lots of pitchers I’d put ahead of Eric Show (RIP). Too many to name, but Tommy John is probably first and foremost. Jamie Moyer and David Cone would also be ahead of Show. Too busy/lazy to think of others right now, but could probably name off a bunch if time allowed. Just my meager contribution.

[brianp-beme]

Maybe not the greatest under the radar year, but it is worth noting that in 1925 Bob Meusel of the Yankees led the league in homers and rbi's (33/134) and had a very decent .290 BA and .548 SP, picking up the slack from less than impressive Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig seasons, but only finished 18th in MVP balloting, probably due to the Yankees lowly finish that year.

Brian

[robw1959]

That qualifier, "way under the radar" limits my thought to exclude HOFers from the list. Therefore, the first one that comes to my mind is Zack Britton's 2016 pitching campaign. As the Orioles closer, he posted an historic 0.54 E.R.A. on route to earning 47 saves and ZERO blown saves! In that year, Britton only gave up 4 earned runs all year long. Yet he didn't get any award recognition whatsoever. By the way, whatever happened to the "Fireman-Of-The-Year" award for relief pitchers, huh?

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by robw1959

That qualifier, "way under the radar" limits my thought to exclude HOFers from the list. Therefore, the first one that comes to my mind is Zack Britton's 2016 pitching campaign. As the Orioles closer, he posted an historic 0.54 E.R.A. on route to earning 47 saves and ZERO blown saves! In that year, Britton only gave up 4 earned runs all year long. Yet he didn't get any award recognition whatsoever. By the way, whatever happened to the "Fireman-Of-The-Year" award for relief pitchers, huh?

They still give it out. Josh Hader and Aroldis Chapman won it this year. They did the award ceremony during the World Series.

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by robw1959

That qualifier, "way under the radar" limits my thought to exclude HOFers from the list. Therefore, the first one that comes to my mind is Zack Britton's 2016 pitching campaign. As the Orioles closer, he posted an historic 0.54 E.R.A. on route to earning 47 saves and ZERO blown saves! In that year, Britton only gave up 4 earned runs all year long. Yet he didn't get any award recognition whatsoever. By the way, whatever happened to the "Fireman-Of-The-Year" award for relief pitchers, huh?

Now it is called the Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman Award for the respective relievers in the AL and NL.

I miss the Rolaids Relief Award however I tend to live in the past when it comes to baseball.

[packs]

Here's a name that probably won't ever be uttered again on this board: Darrell Porter.

In 1979 Darrell Porter became only the second catcher ever to score 100 runs, drive in 100 runs, and walk 100 times in a season.

His stat line: 101 runs, 20 homers, 112 rbis, 121 walks, hit 291 with 421 OBP and a 905 OPS.

[robw1959]

I deleted this double-post.