57 Responses to “5000+ PA After 1932 With OPS+ 100+ & Never An All-Star”

1. Neil L. Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 8:54 pm

   What an interesting list. Kirk Gibson never an all-star.... really?!!?

2. Regan Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 8:58 pm

   I was thinking the same thing, Neil. Has anyone else won an MVP and never been and All Star since 1933 or so?

3. Jacob Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 9:03 pm

   Gibby definitely stands out here. I already knew about Salmon. Chavez kinda surprised me too.

4. Neil L. Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 9:11 pm

   Just off the top of my head... most of these players have to be outfielders. All-star ballots are always crowded at the OF position, even before fan voting.

   So despite good productivity and longevity, the lack of a monster year at the plate hurt them and they neve got all-star consideration.

5. Tim L Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 9:11 pm

   Chipper Jones in 1999 was the MVP but did not make the All-Star team. If you recall, he got a lot of credit for a great second half (.324 BA, 24 HRs), and his team went 18-9 in September while he hit 10 HR and drove in 23 runs.

6. Gonzo Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 9:21 pm

   @TIm L: The list is never EVER an all-star. Not just one particular year.

7. Dave Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 9:28 pm

   Is OPS+ one of those stupid Bill James things that make no sense and are totally pointless and useless?

8. josh blue Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 9:37 pm

   obvious troll is obvious

9. brinjal Says:
   April 10th, 2011 at 9:37 pm

   Aubrey Huff.. Surely this year??

10. Drew Cobb Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 9:43 pm

    Does anyone know, is Kirk Gibson the only player to ever win the MVP, (win a World Series) and not be an all-star? Incredible.

11. Jeff Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 10:00 pm

    Todd Zeile wasn't considered a great player and he did play for everybody in both leagues. But 8649 PA in just 16 seasons? Wow! The All-Star voters didn't like him, but clearly his managers did.

    Also I'd have bet the David Segui made the All-Star team at least once. And I'm surprised to see Kevin McReynolds on this list.

12. Paul Drye Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    The closest anybody seems to have got to winning the MVP here besides Gibson was Deron Johnson. He came fourth in 1965.

    I was amazed to see that Hal Trosky never came in higher than 7th. I was under the impression that he was up there with DiMaggio and Foxx for hitting until he retired early, but it seems his contemporaries were less impressed.

13. Neil L. Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 10:13 pm

    @9
    Brinijal, Aubrey did have an OPS+ of 138 last year and didn't get a sniff of all-star. Has he been hurt by not having a single position?

    @7
    Dave, why do you have an axe to grind with Bill James? He was/is creative and way ahead of his time in crunching numbers to dispel myths about baseball and its players.

    Steve, the list is such a polyglot of players it is hard to make sense of it. Just curious about what made you think of generating it. Did you have a particular player in mind to see if they would come up on the list?

14. DavidRF Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    Is there an All-Star Starters grid like there is for each teams "Opening Day Starters" pages? If not, that would be a nice feature.

    Gibson had injury issues much of his career. Many years, he likely didn't have enough playing time to warrant serious consideration as a reserve. That said, he probably deserved to be selected in both 1985 and 1988. He had excellent first halves both years.

    In 1985, he was much better than Gary Ward but the Rangers needed a representative. He may have been better than Brunansky as well (but Bruno had one extra HR) but the Twins needed a representative.

    In 1988, it looks like he lost out on batting average. Gerald Perry had a hot first half (.337/.380./.443) and the Braves needed a representative. The Cubs had several other representatives but Palmeiro's (.311/.349/.445) and McGee's (.312/.347/.384) relatively empty batting averages looked more impressive than Gibson's line (.299/.384/.517) in a pitchers park.

15. Anon Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    RE: Gibson - Had this come up on another board. Gibson apparently was named to the AS team twice but declined the invote both times: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Gibson

    As for MVPs never on the AS team, I believe you can find a few that were only named once (Don Baylor) but none that failed to make an AS team. . . . .

16. John Autin Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 10:38 pm

    Hal Trosky simply picked a bad era to try to be an All-Star first baseman in the AL. His All-Star-caliber years were 1934 and 1936-40, but the field was crowded by Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg.

    Somehow, though, George McQuinn managed to make the A-S team in 1939 and '40 with numbers clearly inferior to Trosky's. McQuinn was also an All-Star in 1942, '44, '47 and '48, with quite modest numbers every year but '47. In 4 of his 6 All-Star seasons, McQuinn's OPS+ was 105 or less.

17. John Autin Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 10:51 pm

    Pop quiz: In the All-Star Game era, name the player with the highest qualifying single-season OPS+ among those who never made an All-Star team. He also owns the 2nd- and 7th-highest OPS+ seasons among never-All-Stars.

    This guy played (or has played) in at least 10 MLB seasons and twice led his league in OPS+. His career OPS+ is well above everyone on the list above. He has not been mentioned in this thread.

18. DoubleDiamond Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 10:53 pm

    I knew that Pat Burrell has never been an All-Star, but I didn't know if he had the qualifying OPS+ number. I see that he is on this list.

19. John Autin Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 11:01 pm

    The letters in the answer to my question @17 can be anagrammed as FRESH VARIANT.

20. Anon Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 11:03 pm

    @17 - Travis Hafner?

21. Larry Hartzell Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 11:26 pm

    Surprised that Driessen's OPS+ is so high (and I'm a lifelong Reds fan!), and a little surprised that Cruz was never an All-Star. Very cool list -- thanks!

22. TapDancingTeddy Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 11:30 pm

    I guess it figures when good lefty platoon players don't make the All-Star team. A few of the guys towards the top fit that bill: Oscar Gamble and Richie Hebner and Matt Stairs.

    Of those guys I think it's Hebner who had the most seasons where he came close to full time play.

23. Johnny Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    I am a bit surprised that Chavez was never an all star. I always figured he was based on his triple crown stats and gold gloves in the early 2000s.

    He had 4 seasons of 5.5 or more WAR with a high of 6.4 in 2001.

24. John Autin Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 11:47 pm

    We have a winner!

    Hafner had three big years, 2004 to '06. But his All-Star chances suffered mainly from (a) being a pure DH (just 16 games in the field in those 3 years combined) and (b) not playing quite enough to translate his big rate stats into big raw numbers; he didn't reach 580 PAs or 490 AB in any of those years.

    BTW, Hafner has not played in the field since 2007; his last 358 games played have been as a DH or PH. I don't know what the record is for that sort of thing, but Harold Baines (who holds the career DH games record at 1,560) had a streak of 487 games without wearing a glove. Edgar Martinez's longest streak was 454 games. Frank Thomas played his last 393 games without using leather. Neither Paul Molitor nor David Ortiz ever had a non-fielding streak as long as Hafner's.

25. John Autin Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    Pop quiz #2: In the All-Star era, what non-pitcher has the most career WAR of any never-an-All-Star? It's not even close, by the way; his career WAR is 28% higher than the #2 man. His name is on the list above, but he has not been mentioned in the thread. He had an 8-year stretch averaging 100+ runs and 100+ walks (which I may have mentioned in these blogs before). He also leads the non-All-Stars in both walks and hits.

    A very appropriate anagram for his name is HINT SLOPPILY.

26. Jeff Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 12:03 am

    #25: Tony Phillips

27. Anon Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 12:04 am

    @24 - Chili Davis finished his career with 583 straight appearances at DH after his last appearance in the field in 1994
    - Similarly, Brian Downing finished his career with 547 straight starts at DH
    - Jim Thome is working on 409 straight right now

    (Oops, just realized none of those numbers include PH appearances - I was just looking under the fielding section, so each is probably a little longer than the numbers listed)

28. Richard Chester Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 12:06 am

    @16

    Not that it matters but George McQuinn is the only St. Louis Brown to hit a World Series home run.

    He played a key role for the Yankees in 1947.

29. DavidRF Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 12:10 am

    @24

    Jim Thome is at 478 gloveless games and counting (including today).

    McQuinn played for the Browns. One of those years, he was their only representative. The Indians usually had Averill, Harder or Feller in the game which didn't give Trosky a free pass.

    Hafner's lack of all-star selection is a bit puzzling. Its not the best year that gets you selected as a reserve, its the best years as of late June which gets you selected as a reserve. Still Hafner had strong first halves those three seasons. In 2004, it was in an NL park, so no DH. Giambi started while Ortiz and Ken Harvey (only Royal) backed up. In 2005, Teixeira & Ortiz started while Konerko, Sweeney (only Royal) and Hillebrand (?) backed up. In 2006, it was in the NL park again so Ortiz started with Konerko and Thome backing up.

    The each-team-needs-a-player rule adds more complications in larger leagues than it used to in the 8-team leagues. Even accounting for first half splits, some of these decisions are head scratchers.

30. John Q Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 1:08 am

    @10 Drew Cobb, Gibson actually won two WS, '84 & '88 Dodgers and he was the 1984 ALCS MVP to go along with his 1988 NL MVP award.

    @12 Paul Drye, Kevin Mcreynolds actually came in 3rd in the 1988 NL MVP so he would be the next closest to winning an MVP award.

    Tim Salmon & Eric Karros won both won the 1992 ROY award.

    There's plenty of guys on this list that have WS rings.

    Jay Johnstone has 3 and from 3 separate teams no less. Lopez, Burrell, and Driessen each have two rings.

    Stairs, Salmon, Hebner, Northrup, Clendenon, Huff, Bailey, Millar, Phillips, Lacy, Doran, Herndon, Moreland, Mcmullen, D. Johnson, and Maddox each have 1 ring.

31. Doug Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 2:18 am

    Just from my memory of seeing him play, I never would have guessed that Oscar Gamble's OPS+ would be so high, and certainly would never have picked him to be higher than Kirk Gibson, for example. But, the numbers don't lie - their slash lines are virtually identical.

    But, that's what happens when your subjective assessments are based on seeing a guy play for only the tiniest fraction of his playing time.

32. MikeD Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 2:28 am

    The legend around Kirk Gibson was always greater than the player. Not saying he wasn't a good player as at his peak he could generate a nice 130+ OPS+ season, but he was also an OFer and was so injury prone he would miss lots of games. Even his MVP season game in at .290, 25 HRs and 76 RBIs, and that was in a season where he actually did play reguarly. I know RBIs are situational, but voters back then didn't view things that way, so it's a bit surprising he won the MVP, and certainly not a surprise he wasn't voted onto the All-Star team.

    His legend after his career is even larger because of his HR off of Eck, and then another off of Gossage, which was probably the most surprising. I can certainly understand why Gossage would want to pitch to him. There was a point where Gossage owned Gibson, but there was always the chance his bat might run into a fastball.

33. Mr. Dave Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 5:59 am

    Salmon, Karros, and Gibson surprised me. I would have bet that Salmon made an All-Star team at some point in time.

34. Thomas Court Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 7:39 am

    I remember thinking that Eric Chavez had a chance to achieve something seemingly impossible: A Hall of Fame career without an All-Star appearance.

    From 2000-2006 he averaged 28hr, 88r, 94rbi and a .273avg to go along with his 6 Gold Gloves. He was only 28 years old at the time. His counting numbers were always below other boppers at the position and he was a slow starter.

    I think if he had maintained that pace for another 4 years it would have gotten a lot of attention that a 10 time GG winner had never played on an All-Star team and he would have either been voted in by the fans, or named as an injury replacement.

35. Dave Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 7:51 am

    Whatever happened to "hits divided by at-bats" for a stat?
    Why do we need a NASA computer to determine a stat these days?

36. Zachary Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 8:41 am

    @35

    On the off chance you aren't a troll, being on perhaps the web's most prominent sabermetrics site...

    Batting average is a stat that is still used and is still useful. It's just not all encompassing. After all, Mike Schmidt only hit .267 for his career and only once topped .300, but he's the best third baseman ever because he did things that simply aren't tracked by BA. The same could be said of almost any stat - very few tell you more than one specific detail.

37. Scott V. Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 8:53 am

    Seems like any time there's discussion around here of lists including non All-Stars, Kirk Gibson's name ends up in there since he never made it but won an MVP. No sense in me going over what's been said in the first 36 comments, just one question the referenced Wikipedia article doesn't touch on ... does anyone know why he declined the invitations in 1985 and 1988?

38. dukeofflatbush Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 9:31 am

    @37
    Hunting?

39. deal Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 9:33 am

    Is Pat Burrell the Highest Paid position player to never make an all-star team (both Career and Single-Season).

40. ctorg Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 9:36 am

    The vast majority here are 1B and corner OF. That's not surprising, given that those are considered more offensive positions. There are a few 3B and a couple of 2B, though. Bill Doran is the only 2B who was really a starting 2B, and it's mildly surprising that he wasn't an all-star at some point, though he was really only a full-time starter for 7-8 years and he never had a really standout year (just several consistently good ones). Tony Phillips is the other guy who played a lot of 2B, but he was really a multi-position player.

41. Detroit Michael Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 9:39 am

    As another poster pointed out, Gibson didn't want to be on the all-star team and sent word through his manager Sparky Anderson to discourage his selection.

42. John Q Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 11:01 am

    @32 Mike D,

    1988 was a very low offensive environment so you have to put Gibson's season in that context and he was playing in the one of the worst hitter's parks in baseball. The National league only averaged 3.88 runs per game that year which is 4th lowest in the NL from 1920-2010. Only '63, '67, and '68 were lower in run scoring.

    Their was a backlash to the huge offensive of 1987 so the strike zone was expanded and rumor has it that they switched to a less lively ball in 1988.

    As I remember it Strawberry & McReynolds split the Mets vote that year so that helped Gibson. Strawberry was stuck in a pitcher's park as well or he might have won had he played in a hitter's park or at least a neutral park. I think the writers were put off by Strawberry's .269 BA.

    Will Clark had a great season but was stuck in Candlestick Park. He may have won it had he played in a neutral or hitter's park.

    @40 Ctorg, Tony Phillips might be the most underrated player of the last 50 years. He played he played a lot of different positions plus his great skill was on base percentage. It also didn't help that he played in Oakland during a terrible offensive environment of the late 80's early 90's. He has a 48.2 career WAR which is fantastic. He ranks among the top 200 position players of all time in WAR.

43. ctorg Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 11:45 am

    @42 John Q: I agree. I'm a Mets fan (poor me) and I remember when he came to the Mets, I looked at his stats and were surprised by their relative similarity to Rickey Henderson's, albeit without Rickey's longevity and peak.

    I remember 1988 well. It was the first full year that I followed baseball intently and understood the details of it. I was pretty sure Strawberry was going to win the MVP, though I was a McReynolds fan at the time. When Gibson won, I thought it was a travesty. It looks like less of one in retrospect, though still not the best choice.

44. John Autin Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 1:15 pm

    For those who doubt Gibson deserved the '88 NL MVP, note that he led the league in WAR (including pitchers). He was a close 2nd in offensive WAR, and placed 10th in defensive WAR. He had 31 SB and just 4 CS.

    As for his 76 RBI, it's true that he didn't hit especially well with RISP that year. But LA's #1-2 hitters had a combined .304 OBP, and their #9 hitters had a typical .203 OBP. There weren't a whole lot of ducks on the pond for Gibby.

45. Artie Z Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    As others have mentioned, Chavez and Doran stand out since they are non-1B infielders who have a 100+ OPS+ (there are others like Ken McMullen but Chavez and Doran are players I have seen). I looked a little at Chavez and he seemed blocked by Ripken at first (in 2001) and then by A-Rod (2004 and beyond). He had a 2-year window (2002-2003) in which he probably should have been an all-star in at least one of those years but was not. His 2002 mid-season numbers are nearly identical to Tony Batista's (Chavez had 20 HR and 58 RBI with a .271/.341/.542 line before the break), and I can't imagine Batista played a better third base than Chavez.

    The 2002 AL All-Star third basemen were Robin Ventura (19 HR and 62 RBI, .263/.367/.511), the aforementioned Batista (19 HR and 53 RBI, .269/.340/.522) and the starter, Shea Hillenbrand (13 HR and 51 RBI, .298/.331/.490). But the AL roster had 4 reserve shortstops (Jeter, Nomar, Tejada, and Vizquel) and included reserve OFers Robert Fick and Randy Winn (who I believe were there teams only representatives, along with Batista being the Orioles representative). Given the lone representatives from some teams and that Chavez had All-Star teammates throughout his career (Giambi, Tejada, Hudson, Mulder, Zito, probably a closer or two) it's possible to see why he wasn't an All-Star.

    Had Chavez ever put up his 2001 second half numbers in the first half of a season (21 HR and 68 RBI, .340/.382/.664) he almost certainly would have made it.

    As for Doran, he would have had to have been a reserve as Sandberg was a virtual lock to start for the NL in the All-Star game throughout Doran's career.

46. John Autin Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Gibson also had the advantage of getting established as a "story" early in the year. During spring training, some of his new teammates pulled a prank on him (I think they put eye-black on his cap), and he went ballistic about them not showing a "winning attitude." Since there aren't a lot of real stories to report during spring training, this one got a lot of play. Also, Gibson was bound to get extra attention as one of a handful of "second-chance" free agents who were allowed to shop themselves (at no risk to their current contract) as a penalty for the owners' collusion. And finally, the Dodgers had been under .500 for 2 years before he signed; when they got off to a hot start (they were in 1st place almost the whole season), Gibby was credited for "changing the attitude."

    I don't put a lot of stock in that particular analysis, and I generally deplore the impact that "early story factor" has on the MVP race. But in this case, the anecdotal crap happened to coincide with who had the most on-field impact on his team.

47. Artie Z Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    @44 and others regarding Gibson's 1988 MVP award. Don't forget the shoe polish incident in spring training. I believe it was Orosco who put shoe polish in Gibson's cap in spring training and Gibson was none too pleased with it and is given credit for setting the tone for the season. Add to it that the Dodgers were a 4th place team in 1987 and I can see why Gibson won the MVP.

    The fact that Gibson actually led the NL in WAR in 1988 is, in my mind, mere coincidence. Even if Strawberry had a monster year and hit .300/.400/.600 with 45 HR and 130 RBI I don't think he would have won NL MVP given all the "intangibles" that Gibson brought to the team. The Gibson story is just too good of a story ... and then he capped it off with that ridiculous HR versus Eckersley.

48. Detroit Michael Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    It was Jesse Orosco who put the eye black on Gibson's cap in spring training, if I recall correctly. Of course the homer off Eckersley in the World Series came after the 1988 MVP ballots were submitted (unless one believes that those who tallied the votes cheated).

49. Kelly Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    @7 Dave, OPS+ is not stupid. It does tell a story of an offensive player, not the whole story, but a story. The hopeless flaw that no one wants to acknowledge (because it affects so many esteemed statistics) is that it applies the same park effect to all players on a team, whether you're David Ortiz or Jacoby Ellsbury. Everyone wants the easy answer (park effects) but there's no easy answer to this problem. I personally consider Road OPS a much less distorted indicator of a player's ability although you're still going to have distortions, e.g., if you play for Baltimore and get most of your road games in Yankee, Fenway and Rogers all year, you're going to have statistical advantages.

50. Neil L. Says:
    April 11th, 2011 at 9:20 pm

    @49
    Thoughtful post, Kelly, and I agree with most of it. However, the much-maligned Rogers Centre is hitter-neutral over its lifespan with a park factor of 100. Bautista almost single-handedly raised it to 105 last year.

    Not disagreeing with your main point though.

51. John Q Says:
    April 12th, 2011 at 12:50 am

    @43 Ctorg,

    I've been a Mets fan since '73 so I know what you mean.

    John A and Artie Z brought up some good points about Orosco and Gibson. I totally forgot about that eye black incident. I kind of forgot that Orosco was on that '88 Dodger team.

    McReynolds was never a good fit for those teams. He was a good/very good player for a few years but he was never great and the fans never endeared themselves to his somewhat nonchalant demeanor. Then on top of that they traded a lot of players to get him and one of the players won an MVP award (Kevin Mitchell) and he ended up having a career 142 ops+.

    It's ironic they traded away Mitchell because they feared he would corrupt Strawberry and Gooden and those two guys ended up corrupting themselves.

    Those Late 80's Early 90's Mets were a strangely built team. Carter was shot after his injury in the '86 season. He couldn't catch anymore and he couldn't hit either yet he was their starter in '87-88. I went back and checked an I was shocked. From '87-89 he had 1242 Plate appearance and hit .231/.288/.363.

    Hernandez was no longer an impact player after 1986.

    Overall they were a historically horrible defensive group. It's odd, they played in a pitcher's park and had a very good pitching staff, Yet they tended to develop or acquire a ton of players who were good hitters but were horrible in the field: HO-JO, Samuel, Jefferies, Magadan, Carreon, Miller, Sasser, Boston, Marshall, Herr, Hundley, Coleman, H. Brooks, Bonilla, Kent and Burnitz.

    Then they did dumb things like trade Wally Backman so Greg Jefferies could be there full-time second basemen without knowing whether he could play the position or not.

    Then they traded BOTH of their Center Fielders (Dykstra & Wilson) for poor fielding second basemen to play Center??? Yeah that makes sense.

    Then they did things like have a 36 & 37 year old Eddie Murray and Willie Randolph be their full time 1b & 2b.

    Then they did crazy things like make HO-JO their full time Center Fielder with Daryl Boson in Left and Bonilla in Right???? Good Lord that's probably the worst defensive outfield I've ever seen in my life.

    Then they would do things like make a 31 year old Joe Orsulak their starting right fielder in 1993???

52. Scoop Says:
    April 12th, 2011 at 8:15 am

    @2 I know Rollins wasn't an all-star when he won the MVP in 2007.

53. ctorg Says:
    April 12th, 2011 at 11:07 am

    @51 John Q

    For me, all that stuff was going on just as I was getting into the game. I turned 12 right after the Mets won the Series in '86 and that got me interested, so I followed in 1987, got myself into Strat-O-Matic, which led to more insight into stats and such, etc. 1988 looked like it was going to be magical, but the Dodgers' magic was too much for the Mets'.

    When you list all of those dumb moves, I remember them all. I remember actually being excited when they announced that the Mets had made a major trade during the 1989 season. When I found out we were losing both Lenny and Roger for Juan Samuel, even then, I was totally baffled.

    Of course, as you've pointed out, it was just one in a series of baffling botched trades that sent the Mets spiraling downwards in the early 90s.

    I'd never really noticed about the poor fielding teams back then, but it's true. There were a few good fielders like Elster in there, but to use Strat-O-Matic parlance, they were mostly 3s and 4s.

54. John Q Says:
    April 12th, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    @CTorg,

    Yeah the '88 team was very interesting and it was a complete shock that they lost to the Dodgers. It basically came down to the 9th inning of game 4 with the Mets up 4-2 on the verge of going up 3 games to 1. The thing that's kind of shocking in retrospect is that Gooden was still in the game after pitching 117 pitches. There's no way that would ever happen in today's game. Gooden gave up an 8 pitch walk to John Shelby and he was still in the game even though he pitched 125 pitches. The next pitch Sciocia hit a 2 run HR to tie the game. What's even more shocking he STAYED in the game and faced two more batters, 133 total pitches.

    The Mets had a chance to win it in the 10th when Wilson led off with a walk, but Jefferies popped up a bunt and then Hernandez struck out and Wison got caught stealing with Strawberry up at bat.

    In the 12th the Mets had the bases loaded with one out and Hershiser got Strawberry to pop up to the 2b and then the game ended with a McReynolds fly out.

    David Cone was also rattled when Lasorda used a column Cone had written as a rallying call to the Dodgers.

    Another odd thing was why Mazzilli was never released on that '88 team. He had a line of .147/.227/.164 in 132 PA as a bench player??? Carter was shot hitting: .242/.301/.388 and on top of that he could barely catch anymore. The Mets never really had a plan B to replace Carter, Sasser couldn't catch and Lyons couldn't hit or catch.

55. John Q Says:
    April 12th, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    @Ctorg,

    The Samuel-Dykstra/McDowell trade was definitely an odd move. From what I've read that was basically because McDowell/Dykstra hated Jefferies and were constantly going after him. The Mets had decided that Jefferies was their future and they would protect him no matter what.

    Then they traded Samuel for Mike Marshall and Alejandro Pena. Again why acquire Marshall?? They had Magadan to play 1b which he eventually did.

    In retrospect, I don't know if Elster was that good a fielder. Most of the modern metrics have him as kind of an average fielder during his time with the Mets.

    The Vince Coleman signing was another horrible move. I think they gave him about $12 million which was a lot of money back then, He couldn't hit and he couldn't field so they put him in CF??? And then he couldn't even steal bases any more?

    Another odd move was giving a 36 year old Eddie Murray a $7 million two year contract for '92-93 which was a lot of money back then. It's not that Murray was bad but at 36 years old he was essentially what they had with Dave Magadan.

    And then making defensively challenged Bobby Bonilla the highest paid player in baseball was another panicky odd move that was a franchise back breaker. In an odd twist, I think they still owe money to Bonilla for 10 years.

56. Johnny Twisto Says:
    April 12th, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    The hopeless flaw that no one wants to acknowledge (because it affects so many esteemed statistics) is that [OPS+] applies the same park effect to all players on a team

    It's not a flaw, it's a feature, and it's been acknowledged and explained many times just on this blog.

57. Wednesday Links (13 Apr 11) | Ducksnorts Says:
    April 13th, 2011 at 9:37 am

    [...] 5000+ PA After 1932 With OPS+ 100+ & Never An All-Star (Baseball-Reference). Former Padres Matt Stairs, Kevin McReynolds, Tony Gonzalez, Tony Phillips (sort of), Doug Rader, Keith Moreland, and Jose Cruz Jr. appear on this list. [...]