The American League in 1984 featured several great performances by
legendary players. A 23 year-old Cal Ripken, coming off of his
first MVP award the previous season, hit .304/.374/.510 with 27 HR,
37 doubles, and 7 triples while playing all 162 games. His 10.0 WAR
that year was the second highest of his career, following only his
11.5 in 1991. He finished 27th in American League MVP
voting. Ripken's fellow Oriole Eddie Murray was almost as good. He
played all 162 games as well, hitting .306/.410/.509 with 29
homers, 26 doubles, 110 RBI, and a league-leading 107 walks while
winning the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger at first base. He
finished with a career-high 7.1 WAR, and was 4th in MVP
voting. A 24 year old Lloyd Moseby hit .280/.368/.470 with 18
homers, 28 2B, 39 steals, 7.2 WAR, and led the league with 15 triples.
He finished 22nd in MVP voting. The always underrated
Alan Trammell had a great season as well; his 6.7 WAR that year
tied for the second-highest of his career. He hit .314/.382/.468
with 14 home runs, 34 doubles, and 19 steals while finishing with
2.2 dWAR (second among shortstops to Ripken's 3.6) and won the
Gold Glove. There were some great pitching performances in the
American League that year as well. Dave Stieb went 16-8 with a 2.83
ERA, led the MLB in innings pitched (267), ERA+ (146), and pitching
WAR (5.6). He finished 7th in Cy Young voting. His
fellow Blue Jay Doyle Alexander went 17-7 with a 3.13 ERA and 3.8
WAR. He did not receive a single Cy Young vote. Out in Cleveland,
Bert Blyleven was almost as good as Stieb, with a 19-7 record, a
2.87 ERA, 245 innings pitched, 144 ERA+, and 5.1 WAR. He finished
third in Cy Young voting.
Cal Ripken
So who won the 1984 American
League MVP? Was it Ripken, far and away the best player in either
league? His teammate Murray? Allan Trammell, the best player on the
Detroit Tigers, the MLB's best team? The answer: Willie Hernandez.
Hernandez was the closer on the Tigers, and had a pretty good
season. He finished 9-3 with a 1.92 ERA and 32 saves. His 4.8 WAR
put him 9th among all pitchers. He was a solid all-star
player on the league's best team. His season should be remembered
as such, but he won the MVP and Cy Young that year which would
imply that his was one of the greatest seasons of all time.
I have had this Topps card of
Willie Hernandez since I was about 5. When I was that age I just
thought he was a weird-looking player. Years later when I found out he
had won the MVP, I knew something must have gone horribly wrong.
More Hernandez cards. Between the hair, glasses, mustache, and giant wad of tobacco, I don't know if anyone has ever looked this bad on this many baseball cards.
Generally, for a pitcher to win
an MVP they have to be historically great. Here is the list of all
pitchers who have won the MVP award since 1950:
Clayton Kershaw 2014
21-3, 1.77 ERA, 7.1 WAR
Justin Verlander 2011
24-5, 2.40 ERA, 8.4 WAR
Dennis Eckersley 1992
7-1, 1.91 ERA, 51 Saves, 2.9
WAR
Roger Clemens 1986
24-4, 2.48 ERA, 8.9 WAR
Willie Hernandez 1984
9-3, 1.92 ERA, 32 Saves, 4.8
WAR
Rollie Fingers 1981
6-3, 1.04 ERA, 28 Saves, 4.2
WAR
Vida Blue 1971
24-8, 1.82 ERA, 9.0 WAR
Bob Gibson 1968
22-9, 1.12 ERA, 11.2 WAR
Bob Gibson, a deserving MVP
Denny McLain 1968
31-6, 1.96 ERA, 7.4 WAR
Sandy Koufax 1963
25-5, 1.88 ERA, 10.7 WAR
Don Newcomb 1956
27-7, 3.06 ERA, 4.5 WAR
Bobby Shantz 1952
24-7, 2.48 ERA, 9.1 WAR
Jim Konstanty 1950
16-7, 2.66 ERA, 22 Saves, 4.7
WAR
So these MVP-winning pitchers
fall into 3 distinct categories:
2: Great pitchers in seasons
without a dominant hitter (Clemens, Shantz, Fingers, Eckersly).
Clemens and Shantz were the deserving winners in their years. When
Rollie Fingers won he wasn't anywhere near the best player, but it
was a weird strike season where teams only played about 105 games
each and the best players by WAR in the AL were Dwight Evens
(6.6), Rickey Henderson (6.6), and Buddy Bell (6.2). Since there
was no great candidate, they gave it to the dominant closer with
the cool name and cooler mustache who played on the league's best
team. 1992 was a year with several dominant pitchers, with the
American League's top three players by WAR being Clemens (8.8),
Mike Mussina (8.2), and Luke Appier (8.1). So the MVP should have
gone to one of those three, but there wasn't any great hitter in
the American League that year to win the award.
Rollie Fingers
3: They were sick of giving it
to the same couple players every year:
This is just a guess, but I
think it explains Konstanty, Newcomb, and Hernandez. When
Konstanty won in 1950, Jackie Robinson had won the previous year
and Stan Musial had won 2 of the past 5. In
1956, Roy Campanella had won 3 of the last 5 and Willie Mays
had won the previous year. In 1984 Cal Ripken deserved to win but
had won it the previous year.
Of all of these, Hernandez's win
is still the hardest to explain. There was an absolutely dominant
position player that year in Cal Ripken. Hernandez's team was the
best in the league, but he was not their best player; Trammell,
Chet Lemon, and Kirk Gibson finished with a higher WAR than he did,
and Hall of Famer Lou Whittaker was not far behind. He certainly
wasn't as valuable as Stieb or Blyleven. Even if you consider saves
as an important statistical category, he was behind Bruce Sutter,
Dan Quisenberry, Bill Caudill, and Lee Smith in total saves that
year. He doesn't even really compare to the other two times a
relief pitcher won the MVP. Relievers generally are not valuable
enough to win MVP awards, since they do not affect the game
anywhere near as much as a starter or an every-day player. For
both of the other relievers who won MVP it was a bit of a career
achievement award in years without a dominant hitter. When Eckersly
won he was an 18-year vet who was already a sure-thing Hall of Famer, Fingers was a 13-year vet and also a guaranteed HOFer. When
Hernandez won he was in the middle of a career that would mostly be
spent as a pretty good middle reliever; his 4.8 WAR was an outlier
in a career where his second best season was 3.2 WAR and his
career average (including the 4.8) was 1.3 WAR per year. Without that season, his career is basically the same as former Phillies reliever Ryan Madson's (Madson averaged 1.1 WAR/season over 8 years, mostly as a middle reliever; removing his best year, Hernandez would have averaged 1.0 WAR/year over 12 seasons mostly as a middle reliever).
The Ryan Madson card that came in the Phillies team pack I bought in 2006; great card but who knew he would go on to have a career as good as a guy who won both an MVP and a Cy Young?
While he had a pretty good season
in 1984, Willie Hernandez is almost certainly the worst player to
ever win the MVP (and possibly the Cy Young) award. Cal Ripken
should have been a no-brainier to win the AL MVP that year, and
either Dave Stieb or Bert Blyleven should have taken home the Cy
Young. Although the MVP and Cy Young awards, especially in that
era, were pretty subjective and not always based on real evidence,
they are still important and should go to the best player.Willie Hernandez was nowhere near the best player, and for that reason his 1984 American League MVP is the most inexplicable MVP award in MLB history.
Baseball teams make horrible
trades all the time. The master of these trades is current Detroit
Tigers general manager, president, and CEO Dave Dombrowski (he was also the GM of the Marlins and Expos back when they were good). During his time in Detroit,
he has made several absolutely unbelievably lopsided trades in his
favor, including trading Jeff Weaver for Carlos Pena and Jeremy
Bonderman, trading low-level pitchers Juan Gonzalez and Ramon
Santiago for Carlos Guillen, and fleecing the Phillies by giving
them Ramon Martinez and future Venezuelan prisoner Ugueth Urbina
for Placido Polanco. You could also include the times he gave the
Marlins a bunch of prospects who amounted to basically nothing for
Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. Or when he gave up an aging
Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson for a package that included Max
Scherzer and Austin Jackson. Basically, no one should ever trade
with Dave Dombrowski. In honor of Dombrowski's mastery of the art
of trading, I am naming this column where I discuss some of the
most lopsided trades in MLB history Dombrowski of the Week. This
week: the 2002 trade that sent Bartolo Colon to the Expos for half
a season for Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, and Grady Sizemore; all
of whom had yet to be called up to the major leagues.
Bartolo Colon, 12 years and about 100 pounds ago
The first thing that should be
noted: The trade made some sense at the time. The Expos in 2002
were a very talented team that believed that they could make the
playoffs with the addition of an ace pitcher. They already had
several star players, including Jose Vidro, Orlando Cabrera, Javier
Vasquez, and Vlad Guerrerro (who put up 7.0 WAR and finished 4th
in NL MVP voting that year), who were all between the ages of
25-27. To go along with that, Colon (along with being an all-time
Fat Athlete All-Star with such greats as Vince Wilfork, Big Baby Davis, and Jared Lorenzen) was a very good
player. He finished the 2002 season with a 20-8 record as well as
147 ERA+ and 7.1 WAR, both significantly higher than his Cy
Young-winning season in 2005. If all had worked out for the Expos,
he could have been the missing piece on a contender. However,
things did not work out. The Expos finished 83-79, Colon went to
the White Sox the next season and won the Cy Young with the Angels
in 2005, Guerrerro went to the Angels in 2004 and immediately won
the MVP award, and in 2005 the Expos ditched Montreal to become the
Washington Nationals.
The second thing to be noted: The
Indians did not really maximize their end of the deal, because they
are a Cleveland sports team and therefore cannot do anything right.
Phillips only played one 100 game season in his four years in
Cleveland, and totaled -.4 WAR during his time there. Then in 2006,
when Phillips was 25, he was traded to the Reds, where he has been
their starting second baseman for 9 straight seasons, made 3
All-Star games, won 4 Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger, and
averaged 2.9 WAR/season during his time in Cincinnati (3.7 from age
26-31, his best years). From 2006-2011 the Indians had four
different starting second basemen who combined for 4.7 total WAR
over those six seasons. Phillips put up 18.3 WAR during that same
period.
Brandon Phillips
For the most part the Indians did
get the most out of Lee and Sizemore. Lee stayed with the Indians
for his first eight seasons, winning the Cy Young award in his
final full season there in 2008, although his two best seasons by
WAR came later while he was on the Phillies. Sizemore stayed on the
Indians for eight seasons, first coming up in 2004 and put up four
all star level seasons before injuries limited him.
Phillies legend Cliff Lee (he might have also played on Cleveland for a while)
Indians legend Grady Sizemore (he might currently be playing on the Phillies)
So just for the sake of argument,
lets say that Phillips was never traded but Lee, Sizemore, and
Colon had the same career results. Just how lopsided is this trade?
Team
Player
Seasons
Total WAR
Expos
Bartolo Colon
0.5
2.4
Indians
Grady Sizemore
8
27.5
Indians
Cliff Lee
8
17.3
Indians (hypothetically)
Brandon Phillips
13
25.6
Indians (reality)
Brandon Phillips
4
-0.4
Expos
Total
0.5
2.4
Indians
Total
20 (29 if they had kept Phillips)
44.4 (70.4 if they had kept Phillips)
So the Indians traded half a
season of Bartolo Colon for 3 future perennial All-stars who were
at the time age 21 (Phillips), 23 (Lee), and 19 (Sizemore).. They
gave up 2.4 WAR for 44.4, and could have had 70.4 if they hadn't
traded Phillips. That is a true lopsided trade.
Normal human aging makes it so that
most baseball players start declining in their early 30s, with the
average player's peak years coming somewhere around the ages of 26-32
or so. After that, excluding the steroid era, players normally begin
to start slowing down through the combination of injuries and aging,
and generally stop being productive by their mid to late 30s.
However, some players start getting good right around the time when
most players are heading towards retirement. These players are the Anti-Aging stars.
First, some rules:
This list is only for players
who reached their peak in their mid-30s to 40s, or were not far from it. That does not
include players who were still productive at this time, but not at
their best. For example, Derek Jeter had a very good run from age
32-35, averaging 4.7 WAR per year and played until age 40, but his
best 4-year stretch came from age 24-27 where he averaged 6.3 WAR
per year. Same with Ricky Henderson: he played until he was 44,
with 2.4 WAR per year from age 35-39, but seeing as he put up 7.0
WAR/year from age 21-33, that obviously wasn't him at his best.
The list does not include
players who have been accused of steroid use, such as Barry Bonds.
Bonds had the greatest 4-year run by any player ever from age
36-39, winning 4 consecutive MVPs, averaging 10.8 WAR/year, and
somehow having an average season of .349/.559/.809, with 52 HR, 28
2B, 2 3B and 9 SB. Also during this time he was walked a total of
755 times and struck out only 239 times. He was so damn good that
his 43.4 total WAR during that stretch would make him 25th
all time in Career WAR by
a left fielder if you took away his other 18 seasons. Obviously,
he is the greatest player ever, and that is the best 4-year run by
any player ever. However, this list is for players who did not
have the artificial-aging help of PEDs.
So with that said, here is the team:
Catcher:
Carlton Fisk
One of very few to play in 4
different decades. His first at-bat came in 1969, and his final
came in 1993. He only played for two teams, the Red and White Sox.
His longevity was remarkable. His peak came from age 24-30, where
he averaged 4.9 WAR/year, despite missing most of his age 26 and
27 seasons. His WAR/650 plate appearances was an excellent 7.0.
Then, after he went to the White Sox at 33, he just kept being
good. Despite playing the most demanding position in the game, he
remained an all-star level player into his early 40s. From age
33-43 he averaged 2.5 WAR/year (4.1/650 PA). But if you take out
an outlier season at age 38 with -1.7 WAR (his only negative-WAR
season where he played more than 25 games), that improves to 3.1
WAR/season. He also hit a career high in home runs at age 37 (he
homered his age with 37 dingers), his only 30+ home run season.
Even his speed didn't decline, as he recorded a career-high 17
steals at 34 and then matched that again at 37.
Carlton Fisk
First Base:
Darell Evens
Evens was a pretty good player
in his 20s, with 9.0 and 7.2 WAR seasons at age 26 and 27, leading
the league in walks both years. He also hit 41 home runs in his
age 26 season, a career high. From age 24-35 he averaged
.261/.364/.420 with 3.5 WAR, 19 HR, 18 2B, and a very good 86-70
walks-strikeout rate. That's pretty good, but if you take out his
age 26 and 27 seasons that drops to .249/.358/.407 with 2.5 WAR,
17 HR, 18 2B, and a 79-65 BB-SO rate. Still decent, but obviously
not the same level. But then from 36-40 he had 3 of his 5 best
seasons by WAR (other than the 26 and 27 seasons), averaging 3.5
WAR per year. He had a .262/.365/.476 line, with 30 HR, 18 2B, and
an 87-85 BB-SO rate. He even led the league with 40 HR in 1985 at
age 38. Up to age 35, he seemed to have a pretty typical aging
curve, peaking at age 26-27 and then slowing down as he entered
his mid-30s. But then he started trending upwards again with a
great 5-year run before he finally hit his decline at age 41 and
then retired at 42 years old.
Darell Evens
Second Base:
Mark Grudzielanek
Second base is not a position
that tends to age well. The majority of second basemen are
low-power guys who rely on speed and reaction time, traits that
tend to decline fairly quickly. But Grudzielanek is an exception.
He actually had his best 4-year stretch from age 35-38, with 3.1
WAR/season. He had only had one 3+ WAR season before he turned 35.
He had always been an above-average player, but he did not hit his
peak until he was 33. From age 33-38 he hit over .290 every year,
and slugged over .400 every year as well (OK, he only had a .399
slg at 38, but I am including it). He had only topped a .290 avg
twice and a .400 slg once in his career before that. He also
really stepped up his defense during this time. He averaged 1.4
dWAR from 35-38, including a career high 2.7 dWAR season at age
35, and he won a gold glove in 2006 at age 36. Before that, his
career dWAR seasonal average was 0.3 with a high of 1.3.
Mark Grudzielanek
Third Base
Chipper Jones
Chipper Jones had always been
good. By the time he was 34 he already had 60.1 career WAR and 357
career home runs, which if he had retired at 34 would have put him
at 14th and 9th respectively all time among
3rd basemen. He was the first overall pick in the 1990
draft, played his first full season at 23 and averaged 5.9
WAR/year from age 24-30. After that, he seemed to be aging
normally as he averaged 4.0 WAR from age 31-34. But then, at age
35 and 36 he put up his two best career seasons by WAR, with 7.6
in 2007 at age 35, and 7.3 in 2008. He hit a career-best 42
doubles at 35, and his 35 and 36 year old seasons were his two
best by both batting average and on-base percentage. He began to
decline after that, but remained a productive player until his
retirement in 2012 at age 40. He averaged 2.5 WAR/year from ages
37-40, never dropping below 2.3 WAR even in his 95 game age 38
season.
Chipper Jones
Shortstop
Ozzie Smith
Ozzie Smith could not hit until
he turned 30. His career highs in batting average and OBP in his
20s were .257 and .347, both coming at age 29. His career highs in
batting average and OBP in his 30s were .303 and .392, both at age
32. For a quick comparison:
Average hitting season in his 20s:
.238/.311/.298.
Average season from age 30-38:
.281/.358/.350
That is a
radical difference. He still managed 3.5 WAR/year in his 20s because of his
historically amazing defense and base running, but his WAR improved to 5.4/year in his 30s after he learned how to hit. He made the
all-star team 4 times in his 20s, 8 in his 30s, and twice in his
40s.
Ozzie Smith and his signature back flip
Right field
Tony Gwynn
Tony Gwynn didn't peak in his
30s; his best years, like most players', came from age 24-27.
However, unlike most players, Tony Gwynn never stopped being good.
His average season
from age 34-37 had him batting .371 with 26 doubles and 10 homers.
His defense, speed, and power declined a bit as he aged, but his
career highs in batting average (.394, age 34), doubles (49, age 37),
hits (220, age 37) OBP (.454, age 34), and SLG (.568, age 34), all came in his
mid 30s.
Tony Gwynn
Center Field
Willie Mays
Willie Mays was so damn good
that his career-low single season WAR from age 23-35 was 7.6, when
he was 28. 7.6 is still MVP-level high. He started declining after
a 9 WAR season at age 35, but from age 36-40 he still averaged 5.0
WAR/year with a .280/.377/.474, 21 HR, 20 2B, 3 3B, 10 steal stat
line. As he lost athleticism, his other qualities improved; he set
career-best marks in OBP (.425) and walks (112) at age 40.
Willie Mays
Left Field
Tony Phillips
During his 20s, Tony Phillips
was a speedy, light-hitting utility player who got most of his
value from defense and base running. Then, in the 90s, as he
entered his mid-30s, he started cranking out double-digit home
run, 20+double, 100 walk seasons... wait a minute...
Phillips in 1989 (30 years old, 4 HR, 15 2B)
Phillips in 1995 (36 years old, 27 Hr, 21 2B)
Ok, he might have been on the
juice.
Left field: part 2
Raul Ibanez
Ibanez kind of sucked in his
20s. He never played 100 games in a season until he was 29, and he
put up only 1.1 WAR that year. From age 27-29 he averaged .261/.328/.433,
with 8 HR, 9 2B, and 2 3B per year. From 30-36 that went up to
.292/.352/.481, 22 HR, 35 2B, and 4 3B. From 37-41 (his 3 years on
the Phillies, plus one year each on the Yankees and Mariners) he
dropped a bit, but was still a good hitter, with a .256/.321/.470,
24 HR, 28 2B, 3 3B stat line.
Raul Ibanez
Pitcher
Jamie Moyer
Who else could it be? The
captain of the anti-aging all stars, using his absolute mastery of
the art of pitching to make up for his 80 MPH (at best) fastball.
Moyer didn't age because his game did not rely on throwing hard
fastballs or insane breaking stuff. He just kept hitters off
balance, changing speed and break and using his pinpoint accuracy. Along with Carlton Fisk, he is one of two players on the anti-aging all stars to play in 4 different decades.
He was called up in 1986 at age 23, but from 23-29 he only had one
good season, his age 25 year when he went 9-15, 3.48 ERA, 105
ERA+, and 3.4 WAR. At 24 he led the league in earned runs allowed, from 26-28 he never had a positive WAR season, and he didn't even
play in the major leagues at 29. He came back at age 30 and had
three good years for the Orioles, averaging 2.0 WAR/year from age
30-33. Then he was traded to the Mariners and suddenly became an
ace. From 34-40 he averaged 4.2 WAR/year (that becomes 5.0 if you
remove an outlier -.1 in 2000). His average season during his
Mariners career was 16-8 with 119 ERA+. He had another couple of
productive seasons for the Mariners at age 41 and 42 before being
traded to the Phillies at 43. For the entirety of his Phillies
career, he remained a solid mid-rotation starter, with an average
season of 12-10, 97 ERA+, and 1.1 WAR, to go along with winning a
World Series ring in his hometown Philadelphia. For most players,
remaining productive through their 30s is remarkable. Jamie Moyer
was a star in his late 30s, and productive through his late 40s.
Chase Utley, with one of the most perfect swings the league has ever seen
In my opinion, the greatest stat
in baseball is wins above replacement. The point of baseball is to
win games, so the best way to measure greatness in a player is to
see how much they contribute to winning games. If WAR is the best
indicator of how great a player is, then Chase Utley (who is still
an all-star level player, and should be for at least the next two
or three years) is one of the greatest to ever play.
It is difficult to measure
Utley's career impact in traditional counting stats for two
reasons: 1: he was not called up for a full season in the majors
until he was 26, due to the Phillies already having a very good
second baseman in Placido Polanco (who was second only to Utley in WAR by a second basemen in the 2000-2009 decade), and 2: he missed significant
time in three of his prime seasons due to injuries. However,
despite his relatively short career so far, he still stacks up
pretty well next to other second basemen in career stats. In terms
of counting stats, he has hit 228 home runs, 10th all
time among second basemen, has a career .285/.370/.488 line
through 12 seasons, and has over 1500 hits, 300 doubles, and 130
steals. He has 61.5
career WAR, good for 97th all time, 13th
among second basemen. That's pretty good. But when you consider
that he has only seven seasons in which he has played 130 or more games, that
becomes downright astonishing. Measuring career WAR per career games played, he
is among the all time greats. Out of the top 200 leaders in career
WAR, Utley measures 22nd all time in WAR per games played (10th since integration in 1947). Whatever anyone thinks of WAR, there are no outliers on this list. Everybody above Utley is currently in the Hall of Fame or is Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, or Albert Pujols. In fact, of the top 75, there are only 19 (including Utley) who are not current Hall of Famers, and of those 10 are not eligible yet.
So based on WAR, Chase Utley
through his first 12 seasons is a Hall of Fame level
player. But based on his 5-year injury free peak (2005-2009, ages
26-30) he is one of the absolute best players ever. Utley is 13th
all time in WAR by a player in their age 26-30 seasons. He is 6th
among infielders, and second among second basemen (only trailing
Rogers Hornsby, who played almost 100 years ago). Here is the list of
players #10-20 in WAR ages 26-30. Every single player other than
Utley is a top-tier Hall of Famer
Barry Bonds
Wade Boggs
Mike Schmidt
Chase
Utley
Eddie Collins
Duke Snider
Tris Speaker
Alex Rodriguez
Ernie Banks
Ted Williams
Mickey Mantle
In Utley's 5-year peak he
averaged 301/388/535, with 29 HR, 39 2B, 5 3B, 15 SB, and 7.9 WAR
per year. I put together this list that shows the best 5-year
stretches by any second baseman since integration in 1947, ranked
by WAR:
Joe Morgan 1972-1976:
303/431/499, 22 HR, 29 2B, 4
3B, 62 SB, 9.5 WAR
Jackie Robinson 1949-1953
329/430/505, 16 HR, 32 2B, 7
3B, 29 SB, 8.4 WAR
Chase Utley, 2005-2009:
301/388/535, 29 HR, 39 2B, 5
3B, 15 SB, 7.9 WAR
Robinson Cano 2010-2014
312/375/518, 26 HR, 43 2b, 3
3B, 6 SB, 7.2 WAR
Bobby Grich 1972-1976
263/374/410, 14 HR, 27 2B, 5
3B, 15 SB, 7.0 WAR
Ryne Sandberg 1988-1992
291/357/494, 28 HR, 28 2B, 5
3B, 21 SB, 6.5 WAR
Ben Zobrist 2009-2013
269/366/446, 18 HR, 35 2B, 5
3B, 17 SB, 6.5 WAR
Craig Biggio 1994-1998
308/404/477, 17 HR, 37 2B, 4
3b, 39 sb, 6.4 WAR
Dustin Pedroia 2008-2012
303/371/470, 16 HR, 40 2B, 2
3B, 19 SB, 5.7 WAR
(Tie)
Roberto Alomar 1997-2001
316/391/492, 18 HR, 35 2B, 4
3B, 27 SB, 5.5 WAR
Jeff Kent 1998-2002
307/378/548, 29 HR, 42 2B, 4
3B, 9 SB, 5.5 WAR
So that 5-year stretch is the
third best by a second baseman ever, only behind Joe Morgan, who is
popularly acknowledged as the greatest second baseman of all time,
and Jackie Robinson, another all-time great. To show how insane it
is that he averaged 7.9WAR per season over a 5-year
period, these current Hall of Famers never once in their careers
had a single season with 7.9 WAR or higher: Richie Ashburn, Roberto
Alomar, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Lou Brock, Roy Campanella, Orlando
Cepeda, Bobby Doerr, Carlton Fisk, Hank Greenberg, Harmon
Killebrew, Barry Larkin, Eddie Murray, Tony Perez, Kirby Puckett,
Jim Rice, Phil Rizzuto, and Frank Thomas. These are all baseball
legends, deserving Hall of Famers, who never had a season as good
as Chase Utley's average for 5 years.
Utley never won a Gold Glove, but he is 10th in career defensive WAR among second basemen, and third among all active players
During Utley's peak from
2005-2009, he was the best player on a dominant Phillies team that
won the NL East three times and went to the World Series twice,
winning once. He finished top five in the league in WAR every
single year, made 4 All Star teams, and won the Silver Slugger 4
times. However, he was often overshadowed by his outstanding
teammates. In 2006 Utley hit .309/.379/.527, 32 HR, 40 2B, 4 3B, 15
steals, led the NL with 131 runs scored, and put up 7.3 WAR. But
Ryan Howard had one of the greatest power hitting seasons ever,
batting .313/.425/.659, leading the MLB with 58 home runs and 149
RBI and won the MVP. The next year Utley was even better, hitting
.332/.410/.566, with 22 HR, 48 2B, 5 3B, 9 Sb, and 7.8 WAR. He also
led the league in hit by pitches for the first time, which he would
repeat for three straight years (he is 11th all time in
total career HBP). But once again one of his brilliant fellow
Phillie infielders won the MVP, this time Jimmy Rollins, with a
legendary season where he hit .296/.344/.531, 30 HR, 38 2B, 20 3B,
and 41 steals while also winning the Gold Glove at shortstop and
being the vocal leader of the Phillies. Utley's two best seasons
came in the Phillies' two World Series years in 2008 and 2009, where his combined average season
was.287/.388/.522, 32 HR, 34 2B, 4 3B, and 18 SB with 8.6 WAR. But
there was no chance of him winning the MVP (or deserving to) during
those years with one of the greatest players ever, Albert Pujols in
his prime at the same time in the same league.
Because the Phillies only won the
World Series once, Utley is often forgotten as one of the greatest
postseason players ever. He is possibly the best home run hitter in
the history of the World Series. This is the list of all the
players with more World Series home runs than him: Mickey Mantle,
Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider, Lou Gehrig, Reggie Jackson, Joe
DiMaggio, Bill Skowron, and Frank Robinson. He is tied with Gil
McDougald, Hank Bauer, and Goose Goslin. As with most things in
Utley's career, this stat is actually much more impressive than it appears to be.
Of all the players on this list, Chase Utley had the fewest plate
appearances with 49. The next fewest is Frank Robinson with 106.
Utley had less than half the total plate appearances of any other
player on that list! Rearranging this list to see who had the most
home runs per plate appearance on that list, the order looks a bit
different:
Utley: .14
Ruth: .09
Jackson: .09
Robinson: .08
Mantle, .07
Snider: .07
Gehrig: .07
Skowron: .06
Goslin: .05
Berra: .04
DiMaggio: .04
Bauer: .04
McDougald: .03
Chase Utley hit a home run on 14%
of his career world series plate appearances. The next best (Mr.
October himself and Babe freaking Ruth) only managed to do so on 9%
of theirs. Utley's 5 home runs in the 2009 World Series is tied
with Reggie Jackson in 1977 for the most ever in a world series.
But because the Phillies lost to the Yankees that year Utley is not
remembered quite as highly as he should be in the postseason.
It seems likely that Chase Utley
will play another 3-5 years at a high level (since his first full
season in 2005, he has had at least 3 WAR every year, even in his
83 game 2012). If he does so he should be an obvious Hall of Fame
player. Some could say his years missed due to injury is an issue,
however he still has had as many great seasons as almost anyone. There are only 40 players ever with 4 or more seasons with
7 or higher WAR. Utley had 5, making tied for 19th all
time with Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Mickey Mantle, Shoeless Joe
Jackson, Charlie Gehringer, and Joe DiMaggio. Of the 29 other
players to have at least 5 such seasons, only Barry Bonds (the all
time leader with 14), Alex Rodriguez (9), Albert Pujols (8),
Shoeless Joe (5), and Utley are not currently in the Hall of Fame.
Of the players with 4 seasons, only Adrian Beltre, Jeff Bagwell,
and Ken Griffey Jr. are not in the HOF (yet). So basically the
members of the 5 7+ WAR club include 24 of the very top Hall of Fame hitters, 2 guys who would be in except for scandals (Bonds and Shoeless Joe), and 3 active players: Pujols, who will be in the Hall of
Fame as soon as he is eligible; ARod, who is another obvious future
Hall of Famer except for a PED scandal, and Chase Utley. Utley has
had a criminally underrated career, but in the end, he should be
remembered as one of the absolute greatest players of all time.
All statistics in this article are from Baseball-Reference.com
