By Paul Casey Gotham
****Remember, try this without research. Make like Wally, and release your inner James Joyce. Show us your stream of consciousness as you try to decipher the answer.
I was happy to hear my name mentioned during baseball broadcasts this summer. It’s been a while – almost three decades. It was nice even if it was because of someone else’s accomplishments. Yeah, it takes that to get mentioned. History has done me no favors. I’ve been kinda forgotten. It took a guy hitting 30 home runs this year to get my name spoken again. Well, unless you count the times they said my name because of my son. Not until this summer had a first baseman in a former organization of mine hit 30 home runs or more. Ironic considering the guy who took my place is in the hall of fame. Yeah, they shipped me out-of-town and got some pretty valuable pieces in return. In fact, three of the guys who went in the opposite direction played big roles in that team winning consecutive World Series titles. What gets lost in the mix is that I hit 20 or more home runs for 11 consecutive seasons. That may not look like much because of the inflated/ artificial numbers of the 90s and early in the 21st century, but I finished in the top ten seven of those years. I led the AL in RBI one year and drove in 100 runs in three different jerseys. To be honest, though, I did fan quite a bit. To be exact, I struck out 1,570 times.
Who am I?
OK. 1970s vintage power hitting first baseman in the AL. Stopped playing around 1980ish and was replaced on one if his teams by a future Hall of Famer. I’m thinking the HoFer is Eddie Murray and the team in question is Baltimore. So that leaves 1b predecessors … Lee May and Boog Powell … both were sluggers. But Lee May the more prolific and consistent hitter, plus May played after Powell. And the famous May family (Carlos played for the ChiSox) also has players in this generation. My guess is Lee May.
Bobby Bonds?
Never mind. I’ll go with wally’s guess – not really a guess, wally knows.
Mickey Welch. Final answer.
Wally! You da man! YOu took a detour and still ended at the correct spot. After reading your response, I see a missed opportunity on my part. Lee May played second fiddle to a pair of hall of famers. He was traded from the Reds and Tony Perez took 1b. Then at Baltimore, he was there while Eddie Murray began his career.
Boog – Mickey Welch?
Casey —
You just triggered an old debate I’ve had with others when you mentioned “Hall of Famer” Tony Perez. Is he REALLY HoF material? I know he’s been inducted, so obviously enough voters thought he earned it, but is this REALLY the case of a “good player” on a GREAT team reaping more benefits than he actually deserved?? Here are Perez’s stats from his ~22 year career as a first baseman: Batting average .279; Hits 2,732; Home runs 379; RBI 1,652.
Perez was known primarily as a “clutch hitter” … and RBI guy. Well … 1,652 RBI over 22 years is only an average of 75 per season. And his other stats seem rather pedestrian, especially for a first baseman. Anyway, just wondering how others might think about Perez and his presence on the HoF. Playing on that BIG RED MACHINE dynasty really helped him out … I’m surprised we’re not seeing Davie Concepcion and Cesar Geronimo in the Hall, too 😉
I agree with Wally that Tony Perez is kind of a borderline Hall of Famer, similar to Billy Williams and Andre Dawson, and probably a little less deserving than both of those guys. But, a lot of people believe he was such an important part of the Big Red Machine, and that probably got him over the hump.
Dave Concepcion making the Hall of Fame is not as laughable as you think. I wouldn’t vote for him, but there are a lot of people who think he deserved more consideration than he got.
Is there any possibility (and I am being sincere) that Perez’s spot in the hall has something to do with Pete Rose? Did Perez get votes because Rose could not?
That’s an interesting theory, Casey, but I’m more inclined to think his progression of vote totals from year-to-year is similar to players such as Dawson and Jim Rice, who just needed to wait for more and more voters to be convinced of their candidacies.
1992 BBWAA (50.0%)
1993 BBWAA (55.1%)
1994 BBWAA (57.7%)
1995 BBWAA (56.3%)
1996 BBWAA (65.7%)
1997 BBWAA (66.0%)
1998 BBWAA (67.9%)
1999 BBWAA (60.8%)
2000 BBWAA (77.2%)
The dip in support in 1999 is due to the fact that was the Ryan/Brett/Yount/Fisk year. Well, Fisk didn’t get in, but only because he was on the ballot with three other big name first-timers. Gary Carter, Jim Rice and Bruce Sutter were also on that ballot, all receiving considerably less support than Perez.
I think Perez should give Rose most of his HoF votes because Petey was probably on base for 50% of Tony’s RBIs 🙂
Out of curiosity – if we were to look at the decade of the 80s – just 1980-1989 – who was the best position player for those years?
Casey,
You’re curiosity definitely killed a couple of cats. I don’t liked the question in the form that it was asked. I don’t think that all position players should be grouped together. Like Mattingly and Henderson should not be compared against eachother.
Oh and best player is Mike Schmidt, 3 mvp awards and a myriad of other stuff.
Casey … at each distinct position? Or simply the single best player who wasn’t a pitcher??
Anyway, Gino sure nominated a GREAT one … in Mr. Schmidt. But I would have to give it some more thought.
Gino – you’re right. I didn’t word that question very well.
Let me try again, because Schmidt is pretty obvious, if you were to generate a short list (3-5) of players from 1980-89 that you would throw into the discussion of the decade’s best – who would they be?
In the Cathedral of Greatest ’80s Players … Eddie Murray and Robin Yount are probably in the first pew with Michael Jack Schmidt. (Trying to balance GREAT offense with good/great defense and/or at least play a challenging position).
George Brett, Dale Murphy, Dwight Evans, Dave Winfield, Andre Dawson, Gary Carter, Cal Ripken are all in the 2nd row. Ryne Sandburg had a great decade, but actually peaked just past the ’80s … he’s a 3rd row guy for the ’80s with Jim Rice and several others.
I’m sorry … I forgot to put Ricky Henderson squarely in the first pew. He was hiding in the confessional … caught him stealing some holy water. 😉
Mickey Welch, 1570 strikeouts for the Giants. Google is great.
Boog … You’re not supposed to use Google! If you keep doing this, we’re gonna have to call it Boogle.
Ha!