Comments on: Alomar, Larkin, Martinez and McGriff among 2010 Hall of Fame Hopefuls

By: Captain Kirk

Captain Kirk — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:35:50 +0000

Some great debates from all sides. And Jeff hit it head on that its too hard to compare players from the different eras off numbers alone. But the 2nd base discussion has to be down to Alomar, Sandberg and Morgan. Being a Reds fan, i’m obviously gonna say Morgan. But Sandberg put up great numbers, and was phenominal on the field with not even close to as good of a team surrounding him as Morgan had. As far as some other names on that list, i gotta say Dale Murphy, Harold Baines, Andre Dawson should all be in there. I wanna say Robin Ventura too, but only put one thing of him in the Hall, and make it the video of him charging the mound, and then getting beat down by Nolan Ryan, still an all time favorite clip of mine!

By: Jeff Walter

Jeff Walter — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:41:32 +0000

TCP- I understand what you’re saying about the BRM, but once you start looking deeply there are a thousand reasons why we can’t accurately compare the two due to the eras they live in.

~It was harder for Morgan because there were less teams and therefore the quality of pitching he faced daily was better.
~It was harder for Alomar because there were more international players playing and therefore more talent in the league.
~It was harder for Morgan because he played in bigger ballparks. Alomar played in an era with inflated offensive numbers.

So many variables make it very tough to judge players just based on numbers. But I suppose it is the best we can do.

I agree Sandberg belongs in the discussion. I just have a huge prejudice against him because I hated the Cubs growing up and he and Harry Carey WERE the Cubs at that point. But prejudices aside the discussion of best 2nd basemen of the past 50 years includes those three players.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:41:49 +0000

Sandberg lacked ranged? I feel that is the wierdest argument when it comes to Sandberg. I hear a lot of “Sandberg didn’t dive for balls, Sandberg never got dirty, etc…” That is because he played the position so well he didn’t have to. Before he got chubby, Andruw Jones could chase anything down and made it look easy because he played the position so well. He didn’t have to dive as much as a Torii Hunter and it may have appeared that he didn’t have as much range because it came easier. I look at Sandberg in the same light and will take him defensively at second base over anyone.

By: TCP

TCP — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:51:47 +0000

Ryne should be classified as a 3rd baseman. Although he was a great pivot man while turning 2 and he was an intelligent ball player but his lack of range drives me up a wall.

By: Ryan Oleniczak

Ryan Oleniczak — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:50:28 +0000

To expand on Jeff’s post here is how Sandberg compares to Morgan and Alomar over his career:
MVPs: 1 (Morgan)
Gold Gloves: 9 (Alomar)
BA: .285 (Alomar)
HR: 282 (Sandberg)
SB: 344 (Alomar)
RBI: 1,061 (Alomar)
Runs: 1,318 (Morgan)
OPS: .795 (Morgan)
At Bats: Morgan- 9,277 (22 seasons), Alomar- 9,073 (17 seasons), Sandberg- 8,385 (16 seasons)

So there you have it. While Alomar wins 4 out of those categories, Sandberg also put up excellent numbers in the fewest at bats by a large margin. I wonder where Sandberg would rank with those at bats? Combine that with a Rookie of the Year Award and 10 All Star Appearances and you got yourself quite a debate. Granted Ryno was my favorite player of all time, but it truly is interesting to see how these three rank.

By: Jason Oleniczak

Jason Oleniczak — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:09:05 +0000

I am partial to Sandberg at second base. Joe Morgan the best analyst? I don’t know about that . I am a big Harold Reynolds guy.

By: TCP

TCP — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:00:48 +0000

Morgan was extremely talented and both could play for my team any day. Some of morgans numbers may be skewed because of the team he played for (runs and rbi’s). Although it is tough to hold that against joe, robby alomar never played on a team as great at the big red machine. I will say this though, Joe is by far the best baseball analyst out there. He is able to simplify the game for all viewers.

By: Andrew Swanson

Andrew Swanson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:49:58 +0000

Jeff, what no love for Scott Fletcher? sheesh

By: Jeff Walter

Jeff Walter — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:30:28 +0000

I agree that Alomar should go in this year, but I disagree with Crowd Pleaser that he’s the greatest 2nd baseman of the modern era. I’m taking Joe Morgan without hesitation. Here’s how some of the numbers compare:

MVPs: 2-0 (Morgan)
Gold Gloves: 10-5 (Alomar)
BA: .300-.271 (Alomar)
HR: 268-210 (Morgan)
SB: 689-474 (Morgan)
RBI: 1134-1133 (Alomar- by one)
Runs: 1650-1508 (Morgan)
OPS: .819-.814 (Morgan)

I think it can be debated, but I’m going with Morgan (then again I’m a Reds fan, that might skew my perception).

By: Jason Oleniczak

Jason Oleniczak — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:17:35 +0000

I agree. It seems to me that Alomar is the only first ballot HOFer. I would like to see Larkin and Dawson get in as well, but that may take a little more time. Larkin was a Jeter type, minus the yankee mystique and associated accolades.

McGriff was a model of consistency, but I doubt he gets in as he wasn’t flashy enough personally or in his game.

Edgar Martinez was an amazing DH, but I think the DH designation will ultimately kill his cause.