Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Why Alan Trammell but not Lou Whitaker for the Hall of Fame?

I was watching MLB Network and Alan Trammell was mentioned for the Hall of Fame yet again.  So I did my usual and ignored fielding numbers and WAR, which is a total and favors long careers, and looked at OPS+ for shortstops.  Trammell was tenth and that impressed me but I thought the list was short so I ran it again for both shortstops and second basemen.  Wow.  16 more players appeared including Trammell's old teammate Lou Whitaker who was ranked higher than Trammell.

I had often wondered about Whitaker and the Hall but had been too lazy to check.  Also, I was surprised at how low Trammell was in home runs, even behind Barry Larkin whom I had not thought of as a home run hitter.  It didn't help Trammell that he was right behind Ripken on OPS+ among shortstops but that Ripken had hit about two and half times more homers.

Check the numbers below and see what you think.

From 1901 to 2012, Played 75% of games at 2B or SS, (requiring onbase_plus_slugging_plus>=110 and At least 7000 plate appearances), sorted by greatest Adjusted OPS+

Rk Player OPS+ PA From To Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Pos Tm
1 Rogers Hornsby 175 9481 1915 1937 19-41 2259 8173 1579 2930 541 169 301 1584 1038 679 48 216 3 135 64 .358 .434 .577 1.010 *465/3978 STL-NYG-BSN-CHC-TOT-SLB
2 Honus Wagner 153 9640 1901 1917 27-43 2298 8507 1414 2766 506 210 78 1375 836 648 99 198 601 26 .325 .392 .462 .853 *63/957481 PIT
3 Nap Lajoie 151 8256 1901 1916 26-41 1988 7498 1083 2521 510 101 50 1141 457 272 97 204 293 26 .336 .382 .451 .833 *43/657 PHA-TOT-CLE
4 Eddie Collins 142 12040 1906 1930 19-43 2825 9949 1821 3315 438 187 47 1300 1499 468 77 512 741 195 .333 .424 .429 .853 *4/69875 PHA-CHW
5 Arky Vaughan 136 7722 1932 1948 20-36 1817 6622 1173 2103 356 128 96 926 937 276 46 116 70 118 .318 .406 .453 .859 *65/74 PIT-BRO
6 Joe Morgan 132 11329 1963 1984 19-40 2649 9277 1650 2517 449 96 268 1133 1865 76 1015 40 51 96 105 689 162 .271 .392 .427 .819 *4/7D58 HOU-CIN-SFG-PHI-OAK
7 Larry Doyle 126 7381 1907 1920 20-33 1766 6509 960 1887 299 123 74 793 625 376 53 195 298 41 .290 .357 .408 .765 *4 NYG-TOT-CHC
8 Bobby Grich 125 8220 1970 1986 21-37 2008 6890 1033 1833 320 47 224 864 1087 50 1278 86 107 50 157 104 83 .266 .371 .424 .794 *46/35D BAL-CAL
9 Charlie Gehringer 124 10244 1924 1942 21-39 2323 8860 1774 2839 574 146 184 1427 1186 372 50 141 27 181 90 .320 .404 .480 .884 *4/35 DET
10 Jeff Kent 123 9537 1992 2008 24-40 2298 8498 1320 2461 560 47 377 1518 801 61 1522 125 10 103 224 94 60 .290 .356 .500 .855 *453/D6 TOT-NYM-SFG-HOU-LAD
11 Tony Lazzeri 121 7314 1926 1939 22-35 1740 6297 986 1840 334 115 178 1191 869 864 21 116 8 148 79 .292 .380 .467 .846 *45/673 NYY-CHC-TOT
12 Lou Boudreau 120 7024 1938 1952 20-34 1646 6029 861 1779 385 66 68 789 796 309 34 164 155 51 50 .295 .380 .415 .795 *6/5342 CLE-BOS
13 Vern Stephens 119 7241 1941 1955 20-34 1720 6497 1001 1859 307 42 247 1174 692 0 685 6 37 8 169 25 22 .286 .355 .460 .815 *65/79 SLB-BOS-TOT-BAL
14 Joe Cronin 119 8840 1926 1945 19-38 2124 7579 1233 2285 515 118 170 1424 1059 700 34 166 57 87 71 .301 .390 .468 .857 *6/5347 PIT-WSH-BOS
15 Derek Jeter 117 11895 1995 2012 21-38 2585 10551 1868 3304 524 65 255 1254 1039 38 1743 163 89 53 269 348 95 .313 .382 .448 .829 *6/D NYY
16 Lou Whitaker 117 9967 1977 1995 20-38 2390 8570 1386 2369 420 65 244 1084 1197 79 1099 20 89 91 143 143 75 .276 .363 .426 .789 *4/D DET
17 Roberto Alomar 116 10400 1988 2004 20-36 2379 9073 1508 2724 504 80 210 1134 1032 62 1140 50 148 97 206 474 114 .300 .371 .443 .814 *4/D6 SDP-TOR-BAL-CLE-NYM-TOT
18 Barry Larkin 116 9057 1986 2004 22-40 2180 7937 1329 2340 441 76 198 960 939 66 817 55 59 67 178 379 77 .295 .371 .444 .815 *6/4D CIN
19 Bobby Doerr 115 8028 1937 1951 19-33 1865 7093 1094 2042 381 89 223 1247 809 608 11 115 187 54 64 .288 .362 .461 .823 *4 BOS
20 Ryne Sandberg 114 9282 1981 1997 21-37 2164 8385 1318 2386 403 76 282 1061 761 59 1260 34 31 71 139 344 107 .285 .344 .452 .795 *45/6D PHI-CHC
21 Luke Appling 113 10254 1930 1950 23-43 2422 8856 1319 2749 440 102 45 1116 1302 528 11 74 129 179 108 .310 .399 .398 .798 *6/543 CHW
22 Cal Ripken 112 12883 1981 2001 20-40 3001 11551 1647 3184 603 44 431 1695 1129 107 1305 66 10 127 350 36 39 .276 .340 .447 .788 *65/D BAL
23 Billy Herman 112 8639 1931 1947 21-37 1922 7707 1163 2345 486 82 47 839 737 428 26 171 191 67 .304 .367 .407 .774 *4/53 CHC-TOT-BRO-PIT
24 Del Pratt 112 7608 1912 1924 24-36 1836 6826 856 1996 392 117 43 968 513 430 37 233 247 138 .292 .345 .403 .748 *4/365987 SLB-NYY-BOS-DET
25 Alan Trammell 110 9376 1977 1996 19-38 2293 8288 1231 2365 412 55 185 1003 850 48 874 37 124 76 156 236 109 .285 .352 .415 .767 *6/D5478 DET
Rk Player OPS+ PA From To Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Pos Tm
26 Frankie Frisch 110 10099 1919 1937 20-38 2311 9112 1532 2880 466 138 105 1244 728 272 31 229 55 419 74 .316 .369 .432 .801 *45/6 NYG-STL
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/22/2013.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What's even more amazing is that your research shows Larry Doyle and Bobby Grich have really been neglected! I never realized they ranked so high in OPS, yet neither is in the HoF.