Good/great forgotten players of yesteryear

[thedddd]

Johnnie LeMaster...First career AB/Hit was an in the park HR and it was all down hill from there.

 

[Cedrique]

This is an old thread so maybe I'm duplicating but Tom Herr was a good hitter. He had zero power but he still managed to get on base at a .347 clip. Never hit double digits in homers but one year he somehow had 110 Ribbies. Needless to say he hit better with men on base that year.

Also from Lancaster, PA so may have been an heir to the Herr's potato chip fortune.

 

[thedddd]

Buddy Biancalana famous for two things:
1. 85 World Series
2. David Letterman

 

[thedddd]

This is an old thread so maybe I'm duplicating but Tom Herr was a good hitter. He had zero power but he still managed to get on base at a .347 clip. Never hit double digits in homers but one year he somehow had 110 Ribbies. Needless to say he hit better with men on base that year.

Also from Lancaster, PA so may have been an heir to the Herr's potato chip fortune.

2B During that era reminded me of Johnny Ray. Another guy without much power but knew how to hit.

 

[DragonfromTO]

This is an old thread so maybe I'm duplicating but Tom Herr was a good hitter. He had zero power but he still managed to get on base at a .347 clip. Never hit double digits in homers but one year he somehow had 110 Ribbies. Needless to say he hit better with men on base that year.

Also from Lancaster, PA so may have been an heir to the Herr's potato chip fortune.

Another one from Whitey's book! I'm starting to think I wasted my time reading anything else about baseball, seems like everyone in this thread is in there

 

[Cedrique]

2B During that era reminded me of Johnny Ray. Another guy without much power but knew how to hit.

Yeah that was right before they built all the new, smaller stadiums so you could still win without as much power. A lot of Astro turf still around back then

 

[Cedrique]

Another one from Whitey's book! I'm starting to think I wasted my time reading anything else about baseball, seems like everyone in this thread is in there

I guess I gotta get Whitey's book

 

[DragonfromTO]

2B During that era reminded me of Johnny Ray. Another guy without much power but knew how to hit.

Bill Doran is another underrated one. Lots of his value is in the BBs though so I understand how it happened.

 

[DragonfromTO]

I guess I gotta get Whitey's book

Haha I was actually talking about his very first one, "White Rat". I think it was published in 86' or '87, and if I know my old man I'm pretty sure it was only a buck But Whitey is a really good storyteller and he was still pretty young then.

 

[thedddd]

Yeah that was right before they built all the new, smaller stadiums so you could still win without as much power. A lot of Astro turf still around back then

Great point. Just imagine if someone like Billy Hamilton played in that era he would have lead the league in hitting every year with that speed.

Guys like Otis Nixon, Omar Moreno, Gary Pettis and for that matter Vince Coleman and Willie McGee had longer careers than they would have in any other era.

 

[HammerDown]

RIP Ken Caminiti

 

[msgkings322]

I worshipped Chet Lemon back in 1978

 

[Cedrique]

Howard Johnson had a good 4 or 5 year run in the late 80's. He did the 30 HR 30 SB thing a few times

 

[navamind]

Howard Johnson had a good 4 or 5 year run in the late 80's. He did the 30 HR 30 SB thing a few times

his 1989 season is pretty spectacular:

.287/.369/.559, 169 OPS+, 41 doubles, 3 triples, 36 home runs, 41 steals (caught 8 times), 104 runs scored (led NL), 6.9 WAR

and speaking of 1989, what a season from Lonnie Smith (.315/.415/.533, 168 OPS+. 8.8 WAR). he destroyed the baseball in the 1st half (.343/.453/.610)

 

[Cedrique]

his 1989 season is pretty spectacular:

.287/.369/.559, 169 OPS+, 41 doubles, 3 triples, 36 home runs, 41 steals (caught 8 times), 104 runs scored (led NL), 6.9 WAR

and speaking of 1989, what a season from Lonnie Smith (.315/.415/.533, 168 OPS+. 8.8 WAR). he destroyed the baseball in the 1st half (.343/.453/.610)

Yeah, Lonnie Smith was kind of underrated. He was the kind of guy who could trip on a blade of grass in the outfield or make a crazy base running blunder but overall he was a very good offensive player that was on some very good teams.

 

[wazzu31]

Tino Martinez. The heart and soul of the 90’s Yankees dynasty.

 

[rsw626]

One that is forgotten as a player is Billy Martin. Everyone remembers him as a manager, but most forget him as a player, mostly because he was on the same Yankees team as Mantle, Berra, Ford, Rizzuto, et al. Not only was he a solid 2B players, , he saved the 1952 series for the Yankees by making an amazing catch of a Jackie Robinson fly ball, but he was the World Series MVP in 1953.

In the 1953 World Series, Martin dominated, collecting 12 hits (tying a series record) with 23 Total bases (breaking Babe Ruth's record of 19) as the Yankees beat the Dodgers in six games; Martin's hit in the ninth inning of Game Six scored the winning run. He was elected the Series' Most Valuable Player. Manager Casey Stengel exulted, "Look at him. He doesn’t look like a great player—but he is a helluva player. Try to find something he can't do. You can't."

 

[kburjr]

Ted Kluszewski - had a helluva run in the early-mid 50s.

"Big Klu" enjoyed his most productive years from 1953 through 1956, with home run totals of 40, 49, 47 and 35. He had more home runs than strikeouts each of those years, the only player in major league history to hit 35 or more homers in four seasons in which he had fewer strikeouts than home runs.[2] Only three other major league ballplayers have done this even twice: Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Johnny Mize. He also drove in over 100 base runners each year in that four-year span, including a league-leading 141 RBIs in 1954.

Ted Kluszewski - Wikipedia

 

[DragonfromTO]

Yeah, Lonnie Smith was kind of underrated. He was the kind of guy who could trip on a blade of grass in the outfield or make a crazy base running blunder but overall he was a very good offensive player that was on some very good teams.

Would have been interesting to see what "Skates" would have put up for his career without his yayo problem interrupting it. He had some excellent seasons but his "prime" years look so out of place.

 

[Cedrique]

Would have been interesting to see what "Skates" would have put up for his career without his yayo problem interrupting it. He had some excellent seasons but his "prime" years look so out of place.

I forgot he was involved in that (although not surprised at all). It's hard to guess what the effects of the "yayo" epidemic of the 80's had on players. I'm sure it was performance enhancing for some but with others it ended up destroying their lives. At least it didn't completely derail his career like it seemed to do with Gooden and Strawberry.


Luckily today if players just want the performance enhancing qualities they can file for an exemption and get a prescription for adderrall, or whatever the current drug of choice is.