Classic Stinkers League

1903 Replay

1948 Replay

1947 Replay

 

1946 Replay Season Screen Caps

ESPN Sports Century's Video

Following is my best stab at compiling a list of the athletes that appeared in the video I posted from ESPN's Sports Century, featuring the best sports footage of the 20th Century.  I think I did a fair job, but there are still a lot of unknowns and uncertainties that I've marked with '?'s.

If anyone can fill in some of those blanks, or correct any errors I've made, I'd greatly appreciate it.

----------------THE LIST-----------------

 

(Countdown)

?; Magic Johnson, Larry Bird; ?; The Gashouse Gang, 1934 Cardinals (?); Jessie Owens

(Soft Music)

Jim Thorpe; Ty Cobb; ?; ?; Babe Didrikson; Joe Louis; Negro League All-Stars (?); ?; James Naismith; Jessie Owens; ?; Bill Russell, Boston Celtics (?); Jack Johnson; ?; Jackie Robinson; ?; Jockeys(?); WTF is this?; Johnny Unitas; ?; Joe Louis, Max Schmeling (?); Maple Leafs, Stanley Cup (?); ?; Joe Louis; Babe Ruth

(Pause)

Murders at the 1972 Summer Olympics; Earthquake at the 1989 World Series; Nancy Kerrigan; Muhammad Ali; Superbowl Shuffle (1985 Bears) (ugh!); John McEnroe; Lou Gehrig's farewell speech;

(Music Start)

Michael Jordan; Steve Yzerman; ?; George Foreman, Joe Frazier; Bobby Thompson (1951);

(First verse)

Jim Brown; Bill Russell; ?; Roger Maris; Pistol Pete Maravich; Len Bais; Florrence Griffith Joyner; Roberto Clemente; ?; Donnie Moore; Wilt Chamberlain; Payne Stewart; Walter Payton (x11); ?; Greg Louganis; Bo Jackson; Barry Sanders; Roberto Alomar spitting on John Hirschbeck John Hirschbeck John HirschbeckJohn Hirschbeck; Dennis Rodman; Mary Decker, Zola Budd (1984 Summer Olympics);George Brett (1983 Pine Tar Incident); John Havlicek (1965 Eastern Conference Finals); Larry Bird, Dennis Johnson, Isiah Thomas, (1987 Eastern Conference Finals);

(2nd Verse)

?; ?; Babe Ruth; ?; [Fools:] Bobby Knight; Woody Hayes; [Sages:]?; Tom Landry; ?; Vince Lombardi; ?; Scotty Bowman; Joe Paterno; Tom Landry; ?; Lance Armstrong; Stephie Graf; Randy Johnson; Carl Lewis; Richard Petty; ?; Isaiah Thomas;

(Chorus)

Joe Montana; Rickey Henderson; Mark Messier; ?; Bjorn Borg; Bill Mazerowski (1960 World series); Tony Hawk; ?; ?; Bart Star; Kirby Puckett; ?; Jerry Rice; ?; Barry Bonds; ?; ?; Gale Sayers; Ernie Banks; ?; ?; Andre Agassi; Bill Buckner (1986 World Series); Rocky Marciano; Mario Lemeux; Cal vs. Stanford, 1982; Jerome Lane (x2);

(2nd Chorus)

?; ?; Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa (1998 All-Star Game); ?; John Elway; Ozzie Smith; ?; ?; ?; Emmett Smith; Reggie Jackson; (?) Blackhawks (?); ?; ?; O.J. Simpson; O.J. Simpson's White Ford Bronco; Mike Tyson; ?; ?; Carlton Fisk (1975 World Series); ?; John Riggins; ?; ?; Michael Johnson; Cynthia Cooper; Willie Mays (1954 World Series); ?; Mike Spitz; ?; Franco Harris; Michael Jordan (x4); jack Nicklaus; Nolan Ryan; Lynn Swan; Mary Lou Retton (1984 Summer Olympics); ?; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Babe Ruth (x4); ?; ? ; ?; Chris Webber; ?; ?; ?, Michael Jordan; Chargers (?); Wade Boggs; ?; ?; Dick Butkis; (Secretariat?); Lou Gehrig; Julius Irving; ?; Marshall Faulk; Dale Earnhart; ?; Brandi Chastain; ?; ?; Wayne Gretsky (x4); Muhammad Ali (x10, 1996 Summer Olympics, George Foreman); Magic Johnson; Joe DiMaggio, Ted Wiliams; ?; ?; Tommie Smith (1968 Summer Olympics); Brett Farve; Pete Rozelle; ?

(Pause)

Doug Flutie; Wayne Gretsky; Kirk Gibson (1988 World Series); Christian Laetner; USA Hockey Team (1980 Winter Olympics)

(3rd Chorus)

Joe Carter (1993 World Series); Don Shula; Larry Bird; Pete Sampras; ?; Tiger Woods; ?; Joe DiMaggio (1941); Joe Namath; Desmond Howard; Wayne Gretsky; ?; ?; Cal Ripken; Mario Lemeux; Don Larsen, Yogi Berra (1956 World Series); ?; Hank Aaron;  Bobby Orr (?); Jim Brown; Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain; Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris; Michael Jordan; Babe Ruth; Muhammad Ali

Best Sports AMV Ever

Wow.

My Dad just emailed this to me.  OMG.  Amazing work, whoever put it all together. 

A MUST watch:

The 13 most lopsided trades of all-time

I'm having some trouble with blogger right now, so I'm doing something fun instead of updating the Dodgers, liked I'd planned.  So for fun, I'd like to put up what I consider to be the 13 worst trades of All-Time.

A couple of rules...

1) The trades are ranked by WAR differential. So to even make the list, you need at least a 30 WAR net difference.

2) Only actual TRADES are allowed. No SALES (so Babe Ruth and Eddie Collins are NOT on the list!)

3) I'm sticking mainly to OLDER trades. So many players these days are traded in the last year of their contract because the team already knows that they will not resign, and the resulting fire-sales are usually not expected to yield much anyway.  So you really can't count those.

4) (Most important) To narrow down the search, each trade involves a Hall of Famer.

#13:

In January of 1923, the Red Sox acquired Norm McMillan, George Murray and Camp Skinner from the Yankees.  McMillan gave Boston a servicible season around the infield, playing Short, Second and Third and hitting .253. No homers, but 42 RBI.  Um... Did I say "serviceable?" Actually, he sucked: -1.1 WAR, which puts his performance at less than that of a minor league replacement.  Murray didn't fair much better. Over two years, he would rack up a 9-20 record with a 5.48 ERA, netting -0.3 WAR.  Skinner played the least, thus doing the least damage, hitting .231 over just 7 Games, netting -0.1 WAR.

So... Even if Boston got these three bums for FREE, they would still have been better off NOT making the trade.

And to think: all they had to give was a Left-Handed junk-baller named HERB PENNOCK.  Pennock would pitch for 10 years in New York, garnering a 162-90 record, including a pair of 20-Win Seasons and a 19-6 performance in 1925 that topped the league in Winning Percentage. He would hurl 19 Shutouts, including 5 in 1928 to lead the league.

LOSERS: BOSTON.
NET LOSS: 31.4 Wins over 10 years.

#12:

In December on 1920, the Red Sox would fill a hole at Second Base, acquiring Del Pratt from New York. (Yeah, there's a pattern forming.)  Unlike the pocket-lint in the previous entry, Pratt actually performed well for Boston over the next two years, hitting .312 with 11 Homers and 188 RBI for 5.9 WAR.  Not bad. They also got two better-than-average seasons out of Muddy Ruel at Catcher, hitting .266 with a homer and 73 RBI. Not great, but good enough to tack on 1 more WAR.  The third part of the trade was also value-added as Hank Thormhalen gave the Sox 96.1 innings of a 4.48 ERA.  This only amounted to a 1-7 record (for a terrible team, don't forget!) but it was good enough for 0.7 WAR.  The only loser in the deal was Sammy Vick, whose .260-0-9 performance over 44 games COST them 0.4 WAR.  But hey: All in all, they got SOME value, right?

Well, they did have to give up Harry Harper, whose 4-3 Record and 3.76 ERA was worth 0.9 WAR before he got hurt.  Also in the mix was Mike McNally, a reserve infielder who hit .252 with 1 homer and 45 RBI over four years in new York off the bench. Nothing special, but worth 0.4 WAR.  The bigger loss so far would be Catcher Wally Schang who manned the backstop for the next five years in New York to the tune of a .297 average, 5 Homer Runs and 213 RBI, for 9.6 WAR.

At this point, I should point out that the deal is ALREADY working out in New York's favor, but there was a FOURTH player involved: A Right Handed Pitcher named WAITE HOYT who, like Pennock, would pitch for 10 years in New York, tallying a 157-98 record and 3.48 ERA.  Also like Pennock, he would notch a pair of 20-Win seasons, including a 22-7 performance in 1927 that led the league in both Wins and Winning Percentage. In 1928, in his second 20-win campaign, he also lead the league with 8 Saves! (WTF?!) Hoyt's decade-long performance was good for 32 WAR.

LOSERS: BOSTON.
NET LOSS: 35.7 Wins over 10 years.

#11

In December of 1948, the Washington Senators would make a deal to acquire All-Star Pitcher Joe Haynes from Cleveland.  Haynes wouldn't work out so well in Washington, however, going 10-21 with a 5.42 ERA over the next four years. (-2.8 WAR.)  Along for the ride was busted-up career relief pitcher Ed Klienman, who would put up an ERA of 18.00 in just 3 innings before they'd unload him on the White Sox.  In just those three innings, he cost the the Senators -0.3 WAR.  There was SOME value, however, in the form of First Baseman Eddie Robinson. For the next year and a half, he would hit .282 with 19 Homers and 91 RBI over 179 games before being also being traded to Chicago, though not with Kleinman.  But this was good enough for 2.3 WAR, so not too bad, right?

Except that Washington GAVE UP First Baseman Mickey Vernon, who hit .245 with 18 Homers and 93 RBI over the next Year and a Half in Cleveland before being shipped out himself.  Not as strong as Robinson with the bat perhaps, but it happened to be one the strongest defensive period of his career, and was worth a net 3.1 WAR overall. So... this trade was already in Cleveland's favor just considering the two First Basemen they swapped, plus the fact that they unloaded two less-than-minor-leaguers...

Oh yeah... AND acquired EARLY WYNN, who would go 163-100 with a 3.27 ERA over the next 10 years in Cleveland, including four 20-win campaigns. three All-Star appearances and an ERA title in 1950.  Total value: 33.6 WAR.

LOSERS: WASHINGTON
NET LOSS: 37.4 Wins over 10 Years  

#10  

To be fair with this one, it should be mentioned that when Connie Mack cleaned house in Philadelphia, he REALLY cleaned house.  So in December of 1935 he agreed to take Minor Leaguer George Savino and Pitcher Gordon Rhodes from the Boston Red Sox.  Savino never played a single game in the majors, which actually made him BETTER that Savino, who went 9-20 with a 5.74 ERA for the A's in 1936 before calling it a career after costing Philly -0.1 WAR.  

For the privilege of taking these warm bodies off of the Red Sox's hands, they sent over Pitcher Johnny Marcum, who'd go 26-30 with a 4.68 ERA over the the next three years for Boston, netting 7.2 WAR.  So this is a terrible, crap deal for Philly already.  

But they also sent Boston their fear-inspiring, slugging First Baseman, THE BEAST: JIMMIE FOXX.  Foxx would stick around for six and a half years in Boston en route to a .320 Average, 222 Home Runs and 788 RBI. In 1938, he'd take home the MVP Award, leading the league in Batting (.349), On-Base (.462), Slugging (.704), OPS (duh!), OPS+ (182), Total Bases (398), Walks (119) and RBI (175) (holy crap!). He'd also hit a club record 50 Home Runs that would stand until 2006.  The following year, he'd win the Home Run Crown with 35, again leading the League in On-Base (.464), Slugging (.694), OPS (duh!) and OPS+ (188.)  (He was the runner-up for the MVP that year.) He'd hit at least 35 Homer Runsin each of his first five years in Boston. For this awesome offensive performance this six-time All-Star (every full year in Beantown) would be credited with 33.2 WAR in Boston.  

LOSERS: PHILADELPIA (A.L.)
NET LOSS: 40.5 Wins over 6+ Years  

#9  

In December of 1971, the Angels were ready to trade their Shortstop Jim Fregosi.  The Mets were interested, but his .233-5-43 performance in 146 over the next two years in New York was worth precisely 0.0 WAR.  In other words: They have done just as well promoting their AAA Shortstop.   But hey, at least they didn't give up all that much, right? I mean...  

Frank Estrada would never play another game in the majors. And Don Rose went 1-4 with a 4.22 ERA out of the 'pen for Cali, costing them 0.7 WAR.  Now Outfielder Leroy Stanton? That might have stung a little. He'd play the far corner for the next 5 years, hitting .247, with 47 Homers and 242 RBI, which was good for 4.2 WAR...  

Oh yeah... AND the Mets through in a hard-throwing Righty with control problems named NOLAN RYAN. Ryan would go 138-121 over his eight years on the West Coast, with a 3.07 ERA and a pair of 20-Win Season to his credit.  He'd also strikeout 200 or more batters in all but one of those years, topping 300 a then-record FIVE Times, including a single-season record 383 in 1973 that stands today.  He'd also toss FOUR No-Hitters before leaving town for Houston in 1980.  

LOSERS: NEW YORK (N.L.)
NET LOSS: 41.1 Wins over 8 years

#8

In June of 1964, the Cubbies were looking for Pitching. So they jumped at their chance to acquire the one-time 20-Game winner, Ernie Broglio from the Cards.  It didn't really work out for them though, as he'd go 7-19 with a 5.40 ERA over the next two and a half years in the Windy City, costing the Cubs 1.7 WAR. Another former 20-Game Winner in the deal, 7-Time Gold Glove Winner, Bobby Shantz, didn't fare much better: 0-1 with a 5.56, costing them 0.1 WAR before finishing the season in Philadelphia.  They DID manage to get an Outfielder thrown in as well, Doug Clemens who would hit .223 with 3 Homer and 27 RBI over his year and a half on the team, costing them 0.2 WAR.

Oh-for-three.

And although things didn't quite work out for the Cubs (when DO they?) at least they didn't lose much. Paul Toth never threw a pitch for St. Louis and Jack Spring gave them just 6 innings of 6.00 ERA ball before being unloaded on Cleveland, costing them 0.4 WAR in the process.

Oh, and uh... LOU BROCK spent the next Sixteen and a half years leading off for the Red-Birds, hitting .297, with 129 Homers, 814 RBI, and 1427 Runs Scored.  He'd score over 100 runs six times, leading the League Twice. He'd also notch thee 200-Hit seasons (on his way to the 3000-Hit club) and lead the league in stolen bases eight times in nine years, setting a then-record (and still National League Record) with 118 in 1974, en route to setting the All-Time (and still National League) Career Stolen-Base record. The six-time All-Star would be worth 39.9 WAR to St. Louis.

LOSERS: CHICAGO (N.L.)
NET LOSS: 41.5 wins over 16 years.

#7

Making the list for the third time is Boston. Who should simply not be allowed to deal with the Yankees at all, and who must have seen something special in Outfield Cedric Durst, who they acquired in May of 1930 from New York.  Durst managed to hit .290 with 1 homer and 24 RBI for Boston before retiring, costing them 0.7 WAR.

And, as I said, they must have expected more, because for their trouble they gifted the Yankees with RED RUFFING, who'd go 231-124 with a 3.47 ERA over the next fourteen and a half seasons in the Big Apple. This would include four straight 20-Win Seasons, and 40 Shutouts, including a league-leading 5 in .1939.  Total value: 41.7 WAR.

LOSERS: BOSTON (AGAIN)
NET LOSS: 42.4 Wins over 14+ years.

#6

Remember how I mentioned that Connie Mack REALLY liked clean house when he got the inkling to?  Well, in October of 1949, he agreed to take backup Catcher Joe Tipton from the White Sox. Tipton would give Philly a .243-12-48 performance over two and a half years before being shipped off to Cleveland.  This performance, while hardly overwhelming,  was good enough for a net-positive 1.7 WAR.

For this serviceable backup Catcher, the sent slick fielding Second Baseman NELLIE FOX to Chicago, where he would hit .291 with 35 Homers, 740 RBI and 1187 Runs Scored over the next Fourteen Years for the White Sox.  He would take home three Golden Gloves, and the 1959 MVP Award, leading Chicago to it's first Division Championship since the 1919 Black Sox scandal.  He'd rack up four 100+ Run Seasons, lead the league in Hits three times, including a 200-Hit season in 1954, and in triples, once, with 10 in 1960.  This future Hall of Famer would be worth 44.5 WAR to Chicago.

LOSER: PHILADELPHIA (A.L.)
NET LOSS: 42.8 Wins over 14 Years

#5

In December of 1981, San Diego was looking to fill the offensive hole they had at Shortstop, and placed their cross-hairs on a Switch Hitting Shortstop with a pair of 200-hit Season already under his belt in the form of Gary Templeton. And for the most part, Templeton worked out, hitting .252 with 43 Homers and 437 RBI over his nine and a half years for the Padres. Not super, but good for 8 WAR.  And that wasn't all... In the deal they managed to snag Outfielder Sixto Lezcano, who hit .267 with 24 Homers and 133 RBI in 235 Games over a year and a half, before getting traded to the Phillies; good enough for 5.7 WAR in a very short time anyway!  They also got Luis DeLeon, who managed to go 17-16 with a 3.06 ERA out of the pen (saving 31 games) over four years for San Diego. This was good for 2.7 WAR.

So San Diego's doing pretty good here, right? Three decent players, giving them16.4 WAR over 9+ years.

And it only cost them Al Olmstead, who never threw a pitch for St. Louis and Steve Mura, who went 17-27, with a 3.94 ERA over four years, good for just 0.2 WAR.

Oh... AND that offensive black hole of a Shortstop they were unhappy with: OZZIE SMITH.  Who would wow St. Louis fans for the next fifteen years at Short, taking home eleven Golden Gloves, the 1984 ALCS MVP Award, making fourteen All-Star appearances and OUTHITTING Templeton, with a .262 Average, 27 Homers, 664 RBI and 991 Runs Scored. In the nine years that Templeton was in San Diego, Smith would net a higher OPS in all but ONE YEAR, and win the Golden Glove award at their shared position EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

LOSERS: SAN DIEGO
NET LOSS: 46.6 Wins over 15 Years

#4

Connie Mack, cleaning house again (third time on the list.)  He's benefit from the service of Second Baseman Rabbit Warstler for the two and a half seasons, following his acquisition from Boston in December of 1933.  Warstler would hit .245 with 5 homer and 119 RBI over 321 Games in Philly, with a slick glove that netted him a whopping 2.3 WAR in that time.  He also agreed to take on Bob Kline, but he wouldn't keep him long as he went 6-2, but with a 6.35 ERA (vulturing wins out of the bullpen, no doubt) and costing them 0.8 WAR before being air-mailed to Washington by season's end, where he'd finish out his career.

For this, Mack sent Tom Yawkey three players: Second Baseman Max Bishop, who [out]hit [Warstler] .251 with 2 Homer and 36 RBI over 157 Games in two years in Boston, good for 1.7 WAR; A once serviceable Lefty named Rube Walberg (what is with LHP's being named "Rube?") who once won 20 games, but who would spend most of his time in the bullpen in Boston, going 21-27, with a 4.44 ERA over four years in Boston before calling it a career. In Fenway in the 1930's however, this was good for 7.7 WAR.

At this point, it should be noted that Philadelphia is already underwater.

But they also threw in another left-handed Pitcher, ROBERT MOSES "LEFTY" GROVE. Grove would anchor the Boston Rotation for the next eight years en route to a 105-62 record, and his 300th win, with a 3.34 ERA. He'd manage only one more 20-win season in Boston, but pick up another FOUR ERA titles, bringing his career total to a record NINE.  This five-time All-Star's hurling would be worth 42.5 WAR for Boston.

LOSERS: PHILADELPHIA (A.L.) (AGAIN)
NET LOSS: 50.4 Wins over 8 years

#3

In February of 1972, the Cardinals picked up a Pitcher of real value: 17-Game Winner Rick Wise of Philadelphia. Wise would go 32-28 with a 3.24 ERA over two years in St. Louis, good for 7.2 WAR, before being traded to Boston in a deal to bring in All-Star Outfielder Reggie Smith.  Not too bad, right?

Except that they gave up left handed Pitcher STEVE CARLTON, who would remain Philadelphia's ace for the next fourteen and a half seasons, going 241-161 with a 3.09 ERA, taking home a then-record (and still N.L. Record) FOUR Cy-Young Awards, notching a total of five 20-Win Seasons (after coming off another 20-win season in St. Louis!) and striking out 200 or more batter seven times, leading the league five times, including 310 in his 1972 campaign, where he was credited with 27 of the Phillies' 59 Wins that year. He'd also pick up 24 wins, with 3 more in the Post-Season, to help Philly to it's first ever World Championship in 1980.  60.5 WAR overall, if you're wondering.

LOSERS: ST. LOUIS
NET LOSS: 53.3 Wins over 14+ years

#2

In April of 1916, the Boston Red Sox (again?!) would pick up Right Handed Pitcher "Sad" Sam Jones from Cleveland.  Jones would go 64-59 with a 3.39 ERA over six years. This would include a 20-Win season in 1921 before being traded to New York (where he would put up another 20-win season two years later. Will Boston NEVER learn?!)  Jones was a net-positive in Boston, howevre, with 9 WAR, as was infielder Fred Thomas, who would hit .257-1-11 in 44 games for Boston, for 0.8 WAR before being traded to the A's at season's end.

For this, they gave up TRIS SPEAKER who would would grace Center Field in Cleveland for the next eleven years, hitting .354 (holy crap!) with 73 Homers, 884 RBI and 1079 Runs Scored. This would include a Batting Title (.386) in his first year, also leading the league in On-Base (.420), Slugging (.502), OPS (duh!), OPS+ (186), Hits (211) and Doubles (41.) Doubles seemed to be his specialty, as he would to the league five more times, passing 50 in a season three times, en route to setting the all-time record. He would also lead the league in OBP two more times. He may have won more Batting titles as well, except... Ty Cobb.  His total WAR? 71.

Oh, and how effed up is this...? Sad Sam Jones was traded to the Yankees in 1921, along with Bullet Joe Bush, who would also win 20 Games for New York, in 1922. (That's two 20-Game winners in two years, from the same trade!) And then New York would later trade Jones to the Browns for Cedric Durst... who, you may recall, the Bronx Bombers then traded to Boston to acquire RED RUFFING (above.)  Boston REALLY should not be allowed to deal with the Yankees! 

LOSERS: BOSTON (again, in more ways than one!)
NET LOSS: 61.2 Wins (in the Speaker trade alone) over 11 years


#1: the WORST trade of ALL-TIME...

In January of 1982, the Cubs and Phillies agreed to swap Shortstops.  Philadelphia got the younger Ivan De Jesus, who hit .249 with 7 homer and 139 RBI over three years in Philly. Although he was their starter all three years, this underwhelming performance was worth a mere 2.2 wins.

Chicago, wouldn't fare much better, getting the older more experienced Larry Bowa. The once Gold Glove/All-Star Bowa was now well past his prime, hitting just .247 with 2 Homers and 102 RBI over three and a half years in the windy city, netting just 0.9 WAR to his credit...

...Except that, to seal the deal, Philadelphia threw in a Second Base prosepct named RYNE SANDBERG, who would be turning double plays in Chicago for the next fifteen years (not including a year off for retirement in 1995).  He'd hit .285 with 282 Homers, 1061 RBI, 1316 Runs Scored and 344 Stolen Basses for the Cubbies, who FINALLY managed to come out ahead of someone.  He'd take home the 1984 National League's MVP Award, going .314-19-84, with 200 hits, whilst leading the league with 19 triples (!) and 114 Runs Scored, helping the Cubs to their first Division Championship in forty years.  He'd add a Home Run crown to his resume in 1990, and lead the league in Runs two more times, topping 100 Runs Scored in a season Seven Times.  He make ten All-Star appearances, win nine Golden Gloves and seven Silver Sluggers.  His Hall of Fame career with the Cubs would be worth a whopping 65 WAR, making this the WORST TRADE IN HISTORY.

LOSERS: PHILADELPHIA (N.L.)
NET LOSS: 63.7 Wins over 15 Years.


For the record:
 The Yankees pulled off three of the BEST trades of All-Time, netting them 109.5 Wins.
Cleveland pulled off two for a gain of 98.6 Wins.
The White Sox lone trade of note got them 42.8 Wins...
...Whilst California's got them 41.1.
St. Louis' two winners to one loser was still worth a positive 34.8 Wins.
The Cubs had one good trade and one bad one, to end up 22.2 Wins ahead of breaking even...
But the Phillies didn't fair as well: their 1-1 split record cost them 10.4 Wins.
The Senators made one big blunder that cost them 37.4 Wins...
...While the Mets' lone fumble lost them 41.1...
...and San Diego's 46.6.
Boston came out ahead twice, but behind four times, for a net loss of 79.8 Wins. (Curse of the Bambino? REALLY?!)
And Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's had three boners resulting in the loss of a whopping 133.7 Wins. (WHY is he in the Hall of Fame again?!)

Braves are done! (sort of)

OK. The All-Time Braves are updated.  Everyone has a picture, and everyone has the stats that I was able to get.  For some reason Chipper Jones and Warren Spahn still weren't working. (Like I said before: Nobody important.)

But I think this will be the format moving forward, warts and all.

Oh, there is one other thing...

There are a LOT of 1800's guys on the team. And that's fine, but there's juts one reliever - Rick Camp. (Who's an asshole.)  I would LOVE to find a way to put Gene Garber on the team, and given my methodology for Relievers, I would have to take Steve Bedrosian as well.  (That's assuming I'm not missing anyone, I'll have to check.)  To add both I'd have to take out Jack Stivetts and Dick Rudolph. 

I think I'm going to do that. Two well-known relievers, one a future Cy young winner (albeit with a different team) and the team's All-Time Saves Leader for 2 (of several) 1800's guys? 

Yeah... I think I'll be changing that. We'll see.

(Let me know what you think.)

Work in Progress; All-Time Braves Updated

Well, I've updated the All-Time Braves to the 2012 All-Time Roster, using the Stats-Sharing tool from Baseball-Reference.com, and their new WAR formula / calculations. Please check out that page and let me know what you think.

Couple things...

1) Only Hank Aaron has a picture. Everyone will eventually, but right now it's just Hammerin' Hank. (I'll try to get at least a few more posted tonight.)

2) Personally I'm not crazy about the look / presentation. BUT it is a HELL of a lot faster than what I was doing before, and updating pages in future seasons will be a snap.  If I can clean up the format a little, make it more consistent looking, I will.

3) This format show Black Ink (Lead League, Lead Majors) but not Grey Ink (top 10.) I'm kind of miffed about that but given how much easier and faster this is, I think the trade off is worth it.

4) There were some bugs, and for some reason it wouldn't let me run a report on Chipper Jones or Warren Spahn. (You know... Nobody important. *rolls eyes* ) I've reported this to Baseball-Reference.com via both comments on their blog and e-mail. I'll update those guys as soon as they fix it.

5) Another bug prevented me from including any post-season stats for anyone who played only one post-season series. So quite a few of those are missing...

6) ...And the way the post season tool works, I can show career total with just one team, if their only Series of a given time was with just that one team. (Does that make sense?)  Basically, if a guy has two WS with the Braves and one with the Cardinals, I can show the two WS individually, but not his TOTALS with just the Braves. I can show the totals for ALL THREE WS, but I don't want to do that. So some guys don't have their Post Seasons TOTALS listed. (Individual series are still shown, of course, assuming the sharing tool worked.)  Again, I'll update that if Baseball-Reference.com adds that feature.

Other than that? I really like this tool. It's a LOT easier, and I think I'll be able to make more frequent updated moving forward using it.

Oh, MAN!

Extremely bummed just now to hear of the passing of All-Time Red Sox Shortstop and Third-Baseman Johnny Pesky.  Pesky was one of the good guys who's contributions to the sport and the team went way beyond what he did on the field, and continued long after his paying days were over, serving the Team in just about every capacity possible.  My Grandmother got her picture taken with him in Spring Trained a couple of years ago, and he was kind enough to sign an autograph for me. (Well, for my DAD, but it was FOR me.)

This leaves Bobby Doerr as the last surviving member of the "four friends."

Man, that sucks. Oh, well. Rest in peace, Johnny.


--------------------------------

On a different note, I've was updating the Braves when I cam across some bugs in Baseball-Reference.com's stats sharing tools. I've reported them and you can see them here.  (Yeah, that link is as much for my own use, so that I can check back if I don;'t hear form them.)

Reformating

Wow. It's been awhile!  I see that there have been a comment or two (TWO, actually, IIRC) and there's a lot of updating needed - new teams based on 2011 stats have been figured out, but the blog is not yet updated and 2012 will be over before you know it!

But I've just discovered a new sharing tool that the good folks over at baseball-reference.com now offer. It should make updating these teams to include stats a snap. Sadly, I'm going to lose the 'grey ink' content, but hey: Better that than not having ANYTHING, right?

They've also re-done how they calculate WAR. So, once I understand it a little better, there may be some changes base don that, IF I feel they're necessary. (Good changes.) (I was fine with the OLD way. LOL)

So I'm going to mess around with it a bit. I should be able to have a TON of stats posted in short order, and then I only need to worry about updating player pictures.

Apologies for being away so long!  I'll see if I can't stick around this time!

Cheers!

R.I.P., the Kid

Very saddened just now to hear about the passing of Hall of Fame Catcher Gary Carter. As a Red Sox fan, I'll admit to having mixed feelings about him (memories of '86 die hard) but their is no denying the unbridled enthusiasm with which he played the game, as few players seem to have as much fun playing it as Carter. (Though Kirby Puckett comes to mind.) And as I was not aware of his cancer diagnosis last May, his passing comes as a great shock to me. Baseball has lost one of the few remaining players who gave it all he had, but managed to remember that it was still all a game.

Can't believe it's almost time...

...for Pitchers and Catchers to report to camp!

Yeah, I know: I've been neglecting this blog for some time now. But I would like to get back into the swing of things, and get rather a few updates done by the time the season starts. I've revised the selection rules a little bit (thanks to the inability of enough Diamondback players to qualify in order to make a full team!) and have corrected a few over sights - some of which were pointed out to me in the comments.

Most importantly, I've got updated rosters for all teams to reflect players' 2011 performances, and adding new players who've climbed their team's all-time WAR rankings high enough to boot some old-timer of the roster. I will focus on getting the individual team pages updated (at this time NONE have been) and getting some more pictures and stats posted. In the meantime, I would like to extend my congratulations to Miguel Cabrera, Chris Campuano, Chris Carpenter, John Danks, Alex Gordon, Jeremy Guthrie, Corey Hart, Chase Headly, Jeremy Hellickson, Tim Hudson, Matthew Joyce, Howie Kendrick, Ian Kennedy, Jon Lester, Tim Lincecum , Nick Markakis, Kazuo Matsui, Dustin Pedroia, Ricky Romero, Justin Verlander, C.J. Wilson and Kevin Youkilis for making their respective 2011 All-Time, All-Star Teams.

Checking in, Jim Thome, Mo Rivera & Rico Petro

Whew. I haven't checked in in a while and it been a pretty eventful couple of months!

I missed an opportunity to congratulate Jim Thome on his 600th Home Run. Thome is one of the last few guys who's still old-school when it comes to the role that athletes should play in the community and he's always been a class act as a teammate on and off the field. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving player. (And given most of the recent 600 clubber's, other than Junior, I'd say it HASN'T since Willie Mays!)

I was saddened to hear about the passing of both Hideki Irabu and Mike Flanagan, both from suicides. Both men saw great highs in their careers, pitching for World Championship teams. Neither should have looked back at their lives with any regrets, but you can never foretell what challenges life will throw at you and how equipped any one person will be to face them. It's a shame that this happened, but I hope that both men have found peace, small consolation as that may be to the loved ones they leave behind. What a shame.

I'd like to congratulate Marino Rivera on breaking the All-Time Save record last night. I'd have been a little sore if the record was still Lee Smith's (who I was a big fan of) but since it was Trevor Hoffman's (who I respect, but... meh, he was a National Leaguer.... LOL) I can tip my hat to guy who beat us (the Red Sox) often enough, even if we had his number more so than any other team. (2004, baby!) Anyway, there are not many Yankees I'll tip my cap to, but Rivera (along with Derek Jeter) is truly deserving. That I cannot deny. Also... It seems that he did to Trevor Hoffman what Smith did to Jeff Reardon a generation ago: Just as it is largely forgotten that Reardon held the All-Time Saves Record for just a single year, few may remember (years from now) that Hoffman also held that title at some point, being that it was also for such a short time. BUT... that's how it goes. I'd put all four of them in the Hall of Fame, but I don't get a vote. (And... that might be a good thing!)

Finally, I had a phone conversation just now that I'm not going to forget for quite awhile. As my father and I were driving beck to his house just now, a friend of his called and asked to speak to me. And when I picked up the phone, Rico Petrocelli was on the other line! No kidding! I was blown away. I was only three years old when he retired, so I never saw him PLAY, of course, but I'm a HUGE fan of Rico from all the history - He was part of the Impossible Dream in '67, in fact he caught the final out of the regular season, the day they clinched the division; in '69 he hit 40 Home Runs as a Shortstop, an American League record that stood until 1998 and (unless I've forgotten someone) remain the A.L. Record for any Shortstops not named "Alex Rodriguez;" in '75 he had a slow regular season, but tagged the Big Red Machine for a .308 Average in the World Series, playing flawless defense at Third along the way; and you know what? He's a hell of a nice guy! So we talked about the Red Sox for a while - how they're doing their best to make a pennant race out things this year, and he told me about his blog: Petrocelli Sports, so, not that he needs my help, there you go, check it out. Anyway, it's not every day you get to talk to one of you childhood idols, so that was... pretty cool.

And here's hoping he was right, and that the Sox will manage to pull it out this year. I'd really like to irritate my co-workers back in Detroit a bit, should there be a Tigers-Red Sox series sometime this October.

Congratulations, Mister November

Though a lifelong Red Sox fan, I wish to extend my congratulations to Derek Jeter on reaching the 3,000 career hit plateau.

And here we though though Craig Biggio would be the last guy to do it with one team!

I've never liked you Derek - you beat us too often! But I've always respected you.

Well done.

RIP, Dick Williams

I am very saddened this evening to hear about the passing of Hall of Fame Manager Dick Williams.

From the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox, to a trio of post-Season appearacne with the 1971-'73 A's (their first since the days of Foxx, Grove, Simmons and Cochrane, I might add!) culminating in a pair of World Chapionships, to bringing the Expos to their first (and as it urned out, last) post-season appearance in 1981 and then bringing the Padres to their first post season appearance in 1984, Williams persistant focus on the development of young talent and on the importance of play samrt, fundamentally strong Baseball brough success and glory to cities that had forgotten what it felt like to win and in some case, never knew. He was a class act with a genuine love for not only the game, but of everything that made the game great. Lie your favorite teacher growing up he was tough, but he molded many a raw talent into bonafide major-leaguers of the years and he will sorely missed.

Tonight their is one less person in the world who insists on playing the game the way it was meant to played, and who truly appreciates all the small things that make it great.

RIP, Harmon Killebrew

I didn't get a chance to post this yesterday, but I was very saddened to hear of the passing of Twins legend, Harmon Killebrew. Over the weekend I read that he was entering hospice and two days later he's gone. There are some great stories, comments and rememberances being shared over at baseball-reference.com. I didn't know that much about Killebrew outside of the baseball diamond, but it is clear from all the fond memories that people have shared that he was a class act and touched many peoples lives.

I don't have anythign to add except for a story that he once told that really stuck with me.

“My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass”; “We’re not raising grass,” Dad would reply. “We’re raising boys” – Harmon Killebrew

I keep that sentiment close to my heart, and I always think of "Killer" when I remember it.

All-Time Reds Updated!

I've completed the pictures and bio information on the All-Time Reds Page. No Stats yet, but I'll be working on them over the next few days / week or so. For some reason I got bit with the 'Big-Red Machine' Bug. Which... is odd, for a Red Sox fan!

RIP, Duke Snider

Saddened just now to read about the passing of Brooklyn Dodgers Great, Duke Snider. An early rival of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays in New York, Snider was at the core of a nucleus of Hall of Famers that lead Brooklyn to its only championship in 1955. The Duke was a copmpetitor of the utmost class and charecter and every time another one of icon liek him passes, I'm reminded of the fact that the game as it stands today continues to look less like a game and more like an industry. There may have been (and will be) better players, but there was ever only one Duke.

Cool Babe Ruth mosaic

I was looking some baseball card pictures to out with some of the teams, iconic ones like the Honus Wagner, or the '52 Mantle, when I found this really cool mosaic of Babe Ruth:

This picture of Ruth is made up entirely of Yankee Baseball Cards. It hangs between the first and second floor of the ESPN Zone in Times Square.

I'm not sure if this was done by the same artist but, as I was looking for more information about it, I came across some stories about Rich Cronin, who had an autistic son who passed away in 2002 (I have two sons with autism myself) and now does artwork like this for various charities to raise awareness and money for autism related research. He's done several of these, though I could only find his version of the same picture of Ruth, though from the youtube video I don't think it's the same piece.

Orioles Pitchers, 1968-1980

I was looking at the 1971 Orioles team a couple days ago. That’s the year they had four 20-Game Winners; which is the only time that’s happened since the 1920 White Sox. Then I started looking at the teams surrounding those years, and I found something that kind of blew me away. Look at how many 20-Game Winners the Orioles had from 1968 to 1980:

1968:
Dave McNally: 22-10, 1.95

1969:
Mike Cuellar: 23-11, 2.38
Dave McNally: 20-7, 3.22

1970:
Mike Cuellar: 24-8, 3.48
Dave McNally: 24-9, 3.22
Jim Palmer: 20-10, 2.71

1971:
Mike Cuellar: 20-9, 3.08
Pat Dobson: 20-8, 2.90
Dave McNally: 21-5, 2.89
Jim Palmer: 20-9, 2.68

1972:
Jim Palmer: 21-10, 2.07

1973:
Jim Palmer: 22-9, 2.40

1974:
Mike Cuellar: 22-10, 3.11

1975:
Jim Palmer: 23-11, 2.09
Mike Torrez: 20-9, 3.06

1976:
Wayne Garland: 20-7, 2.67
Jim Palmer: 22-13, 2.51

1977:
Jim Palmer: 20-11, 2.91

1978:
Jim Palmer: 21-12, 2.46

1979:
Mike Flanagan: 23-9, 3.08

1980:
Scott McGregor: 20-8, 3.32
Steve Stone: 25-7, 3.23

That's thirteen years in a row that the Orioles had at least one 20-Game Winner. In six of those they had more than one and in that time they had twenty-two overall! Nine different guys! From 1968 to 1971 they added another 20-Games winner each year! And the overall streak might have had a chance to go on even a season longer, without the strike: In 1981, Denny Martinez finished in a four-way tie for the league lead in wins with Jack Morris, Steve McCatty and Pete Vuckovich with 14, despite the cancellation of 57 scheduled games.

Now, granted, a 20-Win season was more common then than it is now, with Pitchers typically going only 6 or 7 innings these days, but still… one team, thirteen years in a row? That's astounding. I haven’t looked into it very thoroughly yet, and I will be, but I can't imagine any other team coming even close to that. I’m just going by memory right now, but I’d bet you have to go back the to 1800’s to find something like that, back when teams only HAD 2 or 3 pitchers, and 20 wins didn’t really mean anything.

-----------------------------------

As a side note, the All-Time Yankees and All-Time Dodgers now have pictures posted for every player.

All-Time Red Sox page is completed!

I've finished the All-Time Red Sox page. These first couple pages are going pretty quickly, since I already had 90-some% of the Pictures and Stats collected, from earlier version of the teams. The Yankees are the same way, so I'll be doing them next. It will be the Giants and Dodgers after them. I only have about half of the pictures and stats that I need for those two , so they're next, but they might take a little bit longer. After that, I'll probably alternate by doing whole teams and individual players, we'll see.

Also, I need to update one of the Tigers' depth charts. The Designated Hitter list is incomplete.

All-Time Tigers page is COMPLETED!

*phew*

I've finally finished a team's page, 100%!

If you go to the All-Time Detroit Tigers page, you'll see how I eventually want to have every team's page looking. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom to see the revamped notes section, and reader's comments.

And if you're a Tigers fan, or have a question or suggestion about the team, or an opinion about the Lu Blue - Jim Northrup tie, or if you just want to leave me a message, PLEASE feel free to leave a comment.

Applying the "Candy Maldonado Rule" to dWAR

OK... So first of all: What's the "Candy Maldonado Rule?"

That's just my name for the contradictory philosophy of creating a formula to determine objectively who the best ball players are, but then only accepting the formula if it tells you pretty much what you thought you already knew, subjectively.

In a story I read years ago by Bill James, he described how that was kind of how OPS first came about. Someone came up with the idea of adding OBP and SLG together (which is absurd, mathematically speaking, as each is a fraction with a different denominator, but I guess that's beside the point) and when they looked at who the top 10 were (at the time) they got: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, Rogers Hornsby, Mickey Manlte, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial and Johnny Mize. IOW: Guys who could reasonably end up on ANYONE'S short-list of greatest hitters. And THAT was how they decided the formula was useful: It told them what they already "knew!" So I wondered what would have happened if instead, it ended up telling them that Candy Maldonado was the greatest hitter that ever lived. Well... for one, we probably wouldn't be talking about OPS anymore! LOL

And really... that's kind of stupid, when you think about it. We come up with a formula meant to TEST our judgement, and then we only keep it if it CONFIRMS what we've already prejudged! (And BTW, no offense is intended to Mister Maldonado. He was a fine ball-player, and just happened to be the first name (of a decidedly non-Hall of Famer) that popped into my head, way back during the time I was having this discussion, and it just kind of stuck after that. Really, what the rule means is just to ask the question: DOES THE RESULT MAKE SENSE?

And given some of the rather odd dWAR results I've come accross doing these teams - guys I remember as being anywhere from very good to phenomenal fielders getting little or no (or even negative!) dWAR, in some cases having enough oWAR to make the team, but not enough dWAR - I figured it might be interesting to apply the old "Candy Maldonado rule" to dWAR. On thge high end, all the top 10 players, all-time, by dWAR are: Brooks Robinson (3B), Andruw Jones (CF), Roberto Clemente (RF), Ozzie Smith (SS), Mark Belanger (SS), Carl Yastzremski (LF-1B), Germany Smith (2B), Willie Mays (CF) and Cal Ripken (SS-3B). The highest ranked Catcher, at 12th all-time, was Ivan Rodriguez, and the highest ranked true first baseman, at 36th, was Keith Hernandez.

OK... that might not be perfect, but I'd say it's pretty darned good. It's clear to see that it definitely recognizes greatness when it sees it. Now... how about mediocrity? Let's take a look at the career dWAR of the "Iron Glove" team that I conjured off of the top of my head in my last post about the futility of doing statistical analysis on defense.

C - Ernie "Schnozz" Lombardi (-2.7)
1B - Dick "Dr. Strangeglove" Stuart (-6.1)
2B - Jose "Errors leader of the 1990's" Offerman (-7.4)
3B - Harmon "Killer" Killebrew (-7.5)
SS - Don "E7" Buddin (-4.2)
LF - Dave "Kong" Kingman (-6.2)
RF - Kirk Gibson (0.1)

For the most part? This seems pretty accurate. I'll admit that I didn't think Kirk Gibson was really all that bad... I just couldn't think of ANYONE nearly as bad in the OF as Kong, and I remembered some of the troubles Gibson had early in his career and figured, along with the injuries he had later in his career, that he'd be a reasonable choice. Turns out he rates better than I though, but then... he doesn't really belong on this team anyway, I just couldn't think of anyone else. Also, there's something worth mentioning about Lombardi: He had a CANNON of an arm. His defensive woes come entirely from his having these short, stumpy legs and being so slow, even for a Catcher, that he often turned Sacrifice Bunt attempts into base hits, if the hitter knew to hustle. In any case though, overall I'd say this passes the test on the other end of the spectrum as well.

So why the goofy results with some players? Bob Boone, for example, failing to make the Phillies due to a mere 0.5 dWAR after 10 years on the team? Well... as I pointed out in my last post, there will always be exactly 27 outs in a nine inning game. No matter how bad a team's fielders are, they'll never get less, and no matter how good they are they'll never get more. So as near as I can figure, in the case of Boone, being on the same team with Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Gary Maddox and Steve Carlton, after a point all these great glove-men (along with Carlton's 200-300+ strikeouts a year) start to cancel each other out. So Boone (along with Schmidt and all the others) ends up getting a bit under-rated. And as further evidence of that? In just SEVEN years with California (with aging and over-the-hill guys like Carew, Grich, DeCinces and Jackson in the field) Boone's dWAR was 7.7. IOW: He accomplished over twice as much every year, defensively in Cali as he did in an entire decade in Philly! Unless you think Catchers get better with age (ha!) I'd say it's pretty clear that he was 'cancelled out' a lot less, later in his career.

So... yeah, while dWAR does recognize some extreme cases, it is not perfect. I'd say it seems to suffer from the same deficiency as every other defensive rate stat: Failure to recognize that no matter how good (or bad) a defence is, they can't manage more (or less) than 27 outs per 9-Inning game. I'm still going to use it, but with many of the borderline cases, there may be a case for making some changes in the future. (And I'll certainly make changes if they refine the formula to correct for what I'm talking about here.)

Why any statistical analysis of defense is useless

There are four basic statistics collected for fielders: Putouts, Assists, Errors, Double Plays. And from these, many rate stats can be calculated. These most common of these is Fielding Percentage ([PO+A]/[PO+A+E)) and Range Factor ([PO+A]/Games or Innings played.) These can be compared to yearly league averages for the position, and be used in many other ways, but they’re all useless.

Fielding percentage might be the most useless, and most intelligent fans know why. A guy with no range in the field gets to very few balls. He’ll make very few errors, but also very few plays. A guy with great range will get to many more balls, make many more plays, and make many more errors, by muffing plays that he usually makes look easy, but which would be well beyond the reach of lesser fielders. Thus a high fielding percentage does not necessarily mean you’re good – possibly just too cautious for your team’s own good – and a lower fielding percentage doesn’t mean you’re bad – possibly just to aggressive for your own good, stats-wise.

And this is hardly a new observation, or strictly a modern phenomenon. Check this out. It was written in 1917!

Range factor (plays per game) is also useless. And the problem has to do with the fact that Putouts and Assists mean very different things for Outfielders and Infielders. In the Outfield, a putout means you caught a fly ball. It’s strictly a measure of Range. In the infield, it also means the occasional infield fly, but far more often it comes from a guy STANDING ON THE BASE while SOMEONE ELSE THROWS HIM THE BALL. That the lions share of infield putout and they are largely a measure of nothing at all. (One's ability to stand there a catch a ball being thrown to him by a professional.) They can also slap the tag on a runner, but this is also NOT a measure of range. In the outfield, assists means the Outfielder gunned down a runner. It’s purely a measure of his arm. In the infield, it means the infielder GOT TO A BATTED BALL, and then threw it to the bag. His arm’s involved, but it’s a far greater indicator of his RANGE: To be able to throw out a lot of guys at first, you need the RANGE to get to more of those grounders, dribblers and one-hoppers. Compared to that, the number of fly-balls and line-drive caught are minuscule, and not really indicative of an infielders RANGE anyway. ANY infielder is in range of 90% of the Infield Flies hit, and catching line-drives is more a measure of reflexes than range. And Catchers? Well they’re all messed up. They get Assists for gunning down runners (Arm) but also for fielding bunts (Range). So there’s a little of both going on there, with any good Catcher. (Of course… these days we steal a LOT more than we Bunt, so Catcher is probably the one infield position where Assists are due to Arm more that Range.)

And then you’ve got double plays. To me THIS should be a good way to measure a guys arm. In the Outfield, it’s just an assist, but it one that occurs when a guy challenges the Outfielder and loses. In the infield, a Double play get credited to the every guy involved. Let consider the classic 5-4-3 and 5-6-3 Double plays: The 3rd Baseman HAS to make a GOOD THROW (Arm, OK); the middle infielder needs to turn it, making a GOOD THROW to first, typically while leaping through the air (Arm, OK), the first baseman…. Has to catch it, maybe while leaning forward. YTF should HE get credited with a double play?

Also, while an Outfielder with a GOOD arm might rack up a lot of Assists, gunning down runners foolish enough to underestimate him, an Outfielder with a GREAT Arm might not get many at all… since fewer players would be foolish enough to test him! Same goes for Catchers. Take two Catchers with a 35% Caught Stealing Rate. But one of them faces 4 attempts per game, while the other faces only 1. Same rate, but is there any difference? Why the disparity in attempt rates? Maybe that second catcher is really good, and so only the very best ever even TRY to steal on him – thus his 35% comes against only the leagues elite runners. The other guy’s closer to average, and so half the league in running on him, and HIS 35% comes against a much lower caliber of runner, on average. It’s possible that he didn’t throw out ANY of the top runners that were gunned down 35% of the time by the second Catcher.

Any way, leaving out Catchers and First Basemen, A/G and DP/G could be used to rate the Range and Arms of infielders, respectively while PO/G and A/G could be used to measure the Range and Arms of Outfielders, respectively. That makes a BIT more sense to me that (P+A)/G to measure only Range, but it’s still completely bogus, and here why…

There are only 27 outs per game. Period. If we count Pitchers’ strikeouts, that what you’ll find is that every single team averages the same number of Outs per Nine Innings: TWENTY SEVEN. (They can’t possibly have any more or any less!) And that’s important. Because in a stat like Home Runs, or Hits, there is no limit designed in. So players compete with all players in the league to see who can rack up the most. In the case of OUTS? (PO, A and K) Players are competing only with the other fielders ON THEIR OWN TEAM.

Let’s say you have a team where everyone is AVERAGE. Everyone is going along making X out per game, whatever their fair share is as average fielders. They’re also making Y errors – again, whatever their share Is, as average fielders. Then let’s say the team goes and signs a young Ozzie Smith to play shortstop. Suddenly twice as many balls hit between 2nd and 3rd are being caught, and fewer errors are being made. Many more than the average number of out is being made by the shortstop. But what happens to everyone else’s defensive stats? Remember: There are only 27 outs in a game! All those extra plays being made at Short mean fewer balls being hit everywhere else on a per nine inning (or per 27-out) basis!

Say they then go and sign Brooks Robinson to play 3rd, Roberto Alomar to Play 2nd, Keith Hernandez to play 1st, Johnny Bench to Catch, Roberto Clemente to play right, Willie Mays to play Center and add Bob Feller, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton to the Rotation. What do you think happens to the Left Fielder’s Range Factor? Well, it goes down, of course! WAY down! Did he get worse? No. But a much higher percentage of balls hit elsewhere else that used to go for hits are now being caught for outs. What’s more, all those strikeout t pitchers, fewer balls are even being put in play! And that means fewer chances for a ball to be hit his way. No matter how you cut it, straight up or against a league average, he looks worse, ever though he’s the same guy, playing the same way.

Let’s say instead of doing what they did above, the teams puts Dick Stuart at Fisrt, Harmon Killebrew at Third, Don Buddin at Short, Jose Offerman at 2nd, Dave Kingman in Left, Kirk Gibson in Right, Ernie Lombardi at Catcher and don’t sign any new pitchers. Suddenly, the Centerfielder now looks like a defensive superstar, at least statistically! He didn’t get any better in reality, but no one ELSE is making any plays, and remember: The game doesn’t end until 27 out are made! And with such a low percentage of hits being made everywhere else, lots more balls (on a per 27 outs basis) are now being hit to Center. Even if his actual range doesn’t increase by a single step, the Center Fielder will be making more plays PER GAME. Fans would look at his league-leading range factor and wonder, how does that happen? He’s not even that good! But there’s the rub:

The only thing Range Factor will tell you, is that if a player (say the CF) on ONE TEAM has a higher RF, compared to the league average, than another player (say the SS) on that SAME TEAM does, then that might mean that Player A is a better Centerfielder than Player B is a Shortstop. It says NOTHING AT ALL about how he compares to Centerfielders on OTHER TEAMS, because he’s not competing with any of THEM for his share of 27 outs per game. Even looking at double plays can be misleading because an Outfield of Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente would mean a higher percentage of ball hit to the outfield would be caught and thus fewer ground balls will be hit on a per 27 outs basis. Thus robbing the infielders of Double Play opportunities.

And strikeout takes defensive opportunities away from EVERYONE. So that pitching staff I mentioned earlier? Would make every fielder look lazy, statistically, even that same lineup that went with them, plus Yaz. The fielders and Pitchers start to cancel out each other stats because no matter how good they are, a team simply cannot get more than 27 out per game – it a mathematical impossibility.

I don’t have the answer. I accept, and use, dWAR but I suspect that the flaws I’ve mentioned above are inherent to it as well.