ERIK: Hello again everybody, and welcome back to Section 327.
Last week Tim and I went to the Mariners game (the one where we lost to Atlanta) and talked about maybe re-upping this SubStack. Not as an everyday thing, but every once in a while. Sometimes I’ll do it, maybe he will, maybe both. When we have something to say.
Yesterday I had something to say.
I started out seeing if I couldn’t get nine Twins in there. The 500+HR column quickly put the kibosh on that idea but I didn’t do poorly. Vic Power was a Twin, too, after all, even if his cap doesn’t say it. And even if it’s backwards, Baseball Reference.
But that’s not the thing I came here to say. It’s that bottom center square, where you’re supposed to figure out a 500+ HR guy who also had 40+ bWAR. Immediate thought “Is that narrowing the scope at all? Can you even get close to 500 HRs and not have a 40+ bWAR?”
The answer? Yes, that’s not narrowing the scope of anything. The lowest bWAR for 500+ HR guys belongs to David Ortiz: 55.3. There are 28 500+ HR guys and 28 500+HR guys with a 40+ bWAR.
However, you can get close to 500 HRs with a pretty low bWAR. Witness Adam Dunn: 462 HRs, 17.9 WAR. Also Dave Kingman: 442 HRs, 17.3 WAR. And Juan Gone and his 434 dingers didn’t bring him up to 40. He and his two MVPs are at 38.7.
Then I began to wonder about the rest of the column. Did PLAYED FIRST BASE (MIN. 1 GAME) narrow the scope much? Or MVP? Answers: 19 of the 28 players who hit 500 HRs won MVPs; and 22 of the 28 played at least one inning at 1B.
Since I haven’t figure out how to incorporate Excel into SubStack yet, here’s a screenshot:
I’m surprised by some of the non-first-basemen. You’d think Reggie or Sammy would’ve been stuck there for at least an inning at some point. Mel Ott played both 3rd and 2nd but never 1st. Ted Williams, who also never played 1st, actually pitched in a game: August 24, 1940, first game of a doubleheader against eventual pennant-winner Detroit; Sox losing 11-1 in the 8th. They’d already been through three pitchers, which I guess is why Teddy Ballgame was tapped. Over two innings, he gave up three singles and one run. Struck out Rudy York.
HALL OF FAME, by the way, would’ve eliminated just as many as MVP, and fewer than PLAYED FIRST BASE. Mostly it’s the PEDs: Bonds, A-Rod, Sosa, McGwire, Raffy, Manny and Sheffield. The others, Albert and Miggy, will be inducted shortly.