Baseball Crank: BASEBALL: The Middle Infielders Revisited

December 22, 2008

BASEBALL: The Middle Infielders Revisited

After I did my Hardball Times column on the post-1920 middle infielders in the Hall of Fame conversation, including the recently elected Joe Gordon - and you should go back and read the column if you expect to make sense of this post - I figured I'd like to check how the rough offensive "Rate" metric I was using stacks up to more sophisticated measurements that incorporate defense. With that in mind, I've pulled together in chart form for the long- and short-prime middle infielders a ranking by Win Shares per 162 team games for their prime years. To add to the picture I list their WS/162 for the non-prime seasons of their careers, which of course are highly variable (some guys get charged with "seasons" for a brief cup of coffee, like Alex Rodriguez in 1994 and 1995 or Rogers Hornsby spending the last 6 years of his career as a manager and part-time pinch hitter). Anyway, as you will see, the WS rankings match up fairly well with mine but naturally diverge in some cases, most obviously guys like Ozzie Smith who had a lot of defensive value.

Player	Age	Years	Seasons	WS	WS/162	Career WS	Rest	Rest Yrs	Avg WS	Rate
Rogers Hornsby	24-33	1920-29	9.51	362	38.07	502	140	12.12	11.55	186.7
Joe Morgan	25-33	1969-77	8.95	304	33.97	512	208	11.69	17.79	131.4
Arky Vaughan	21-29	1933-41	8.56	278	32.48	356	78	4.75	16.42	132.1
Craig Biggio	25-33	1991-99	8.57	269	31.39	428	159	11.00	14.45	127.3
Alex Rodriguez	20-27	1996-03	8.00	250	31.25	399	149	6.59	22.61	140.7
Ryne Sandberg	24-32	1984-92	9.00	260	28.89	346	86	6.36	13.52	116.3
Charlie Gehringer	25-35	1928-38	10.46	302	28.87	383	81	7.60	10.66	128.4
Lou Boudreau	22-30	1940-48	8.56	238	27.80	277	39	5.70	6.84	114.8
Cal Ripken	21-30	1982-91	10.00	273	27.30	427	154	10.23	15.05	121.9
Roberto Alomar	23-33	1991-01	10.57	281	26.58	375	94	6.00	15.67	113.4
Derek Jeter	24-33	1998-07	10.00	263	26.30	320	57	3.90	14.62	121.2
Vern Stephens	21-29	1942-50	8.56	225	26.29	265	40	5.70	7.02	111.3
Frankie Frisch	22-32	1921-31	10.46	274	26.20	366	92	7.52	12.23	106.3
Joe Cronin	23-34	1930-41	11.41	296	25.94	333	37	7.60	4.87	108.6
Jim Fregosi	21-28	1963-70	8.00	207	25.88	261	54	9.96	5.42	106.9
Jeff Kent	29-37	1997-05	9.00	232	25.78	339	107	7.59	14.10	116.6
Joe Sewell	22-29	1921-28	7.60	195	25.66	277	82	5.70	14.39	110.4
Billy Herman	25-33	1935-43	8.56	217	25.35	298	81	5.70	14.21	110.9
Barry Larkin	27-35	1991-99	8.57	217	25.32	347	130	10.00	13.00	101.3
Nellie Fox	23-32	1951-60	9.51	240	25.24	304	64	8.80	7.27	103.2
Pee Wee Reese	27-36	1946-55	9.51	237	24.92	314	77	5.70	13.51	100.8
Chuck Knoblauch	23-30	1992-99	7.57	188	24.83	231	43	4.00	10.75	110.9
Luke Appling	26/42	1933/49	14.26	354	24.82	378	24	4.75	5.05	100.3
Bobby Doerr	22/32	1940/50	9.51	232	24.40	281	49	3.80	12.89	107.7
Joe Gordon	23/34	1938/49	9.51	230	24.19	242	12	0.95	12.63	106.1
Bobby Grich	23-35	1972-84	12.67	296	23.36	329	33	4.00	8.25	99.5
Alan Trammell	22-32	1980-90	10.67	248	23.24	318	70	8.60	8.14	99.1
Lou Whitaker	26-35	1983-92	10.00	228	22.80	351	123	8.27	14.87	102.6
Ozzie Smith	30-37	1985-92	8.00	179	22.38	325	146	10.27	14.22	84.4
Tony Fernandez	23-31	1985-93	9.00	198	22.00	280	82	7.60	10.79	90.0
Tony Lazzeri	22-32	1926-36	10.46	230	21.99	252	22	2.85	7.72	105.6
Davey Concepcion	26-34	1974-82	8.67	189	21.80	269	80	9.95	8.04	85.9
Jay Bell	25-33	1991-99	8.57	183	21.35	245	62	9.00	6.89	99.5
Jim Gilliam	24-34	1953-63	10.60	219	20.66	247	28	3.00	9.33	84.3
Willie Randolph	21-32	1976-87	11.67	238	20.39	312	74	6.00	12.33	85.6
Bert Campaneris	23-34	1965-76	11.95	241	20.17	280	39	6.68	5.84	80.5
Ray Durham	26-34	1998-06	9.00	174	19.33	231	57	3.90	14.62	93.8
Davey Johnson	24-31	1967-74	8.00	147	18.38	171	24	5.00	4.80	86.7
Luis Aparicio	25-36	1959-70	11.85	212	17.89	293	81	5.80	13.97	76.2
Marty Marion	23-31	1941-49	8.56	153	17.87	177	24	3.80	6.32	66.8
Bill Mazeroski	20-31	1957-68	11.75	195	16.60	219	24	4.91	4.89	71.9
Frank White	27-36	1978-87	9.67	148	15.31	211	63	8.00	7.88	72.3

As you can see, Frisch, Cronin, Smith and Larkin - as befits their reputations - all go up the list by this measure, while Lazzeri, Whitaker, Bell and Durham go down (you will note, amusingly, that this puts Whitaker and Trammell together).

Two small data inconsistencies with the article, which was written after the 2006 season. One, I added Derek Jeter's 2007 (but not 2008) to complete his prime years; two, I adjusted Miguel Tejada's age.

Player	Age	Years	Seasons	WS	WS/162	Career WS	Rest	Rest Yrs	Avg WS	Rate
Jackie Robinson	29-33	1948-52	4.75	162	34.11	257	95	4.75	20.00	135.6
Robin Yount	24-28	1980-84	4.67	144	30.84	423	279	15.00	18.60	129.2
Ernie Banks	24-30	1955-61	6.65	194	29.17	332	138	11.90	11.60	135.3
Rod Carew	25-29	1971-75	4.95	129	26.06	384	255	13.68	18.64	120.7
Miguel Tejada	26-32	2000-06	7.00	182	26.00	239	57	5.00	11.40	115.9
Eddie Stanky	28-34	1945-51	6.65	164	24.66	191	27	3.80	7.11	98.2
Nomar Garciaparra	23-29	1997-03	7.00	169	24.14	218	49	6.00	8.17	109.4
Gil McDougald	23-29	1951-57	6.65	157	23.61	194	37	2.85	12.98	94.8
Dave Bancroft	29-35	1920-26	6.65	156	23.46	269	113	8.28	13.65	93.2
Maury Wills	27-33	1960-66	6.90	160	23.19	253	93	6.91	13.46	80.4
Phil Rizzuto	29-35	1946-52	6.65	154	23.16	231	77	5.70	13.51	87.0
Davey Lopes	28-34	1973-79	7.00	158	22.57	240	82	8.64	9.49	93.0
Alvin Dark	26-32	1948-54	6.65	150	22.56	226	76	6.65	11.43	96.8
Julio Franco	26-32	1985-91	7.00	155	22.14	280	125	15.70	7.96	105.3
Red Schoendienst	28-34	1951-57	6.65	147	22.11	262	115	11.51	9.99	97.3
Travis Jackson	22-27	1926-31	5.70	126	22.11	211	85	8.56	9.93	89.0
Cecil Travis	21-27	1935-41	6.65	146	21.95	169	23	4.75	4.84	96.8
Omar Vizquel	29-35	1996-02	7.00	119	17.00	267	148	12.59	11.76	82.4

As discussed in the article, Carew and Yount - like A-Rod - have other seasons that are "prime" but not as middle infielders (I looked at Carew's broader prime in the article on the tablesetters).

Posted by Baseball Crank at 9:29 AM | Baseball 2008 • | Baseball Studies | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Comments

It is interesting to see Trammell and Whitaker listed just above Ozzie Smith. Smith strolled into the HoF on his first ballot with around 95% of the vote. Whitaker fell off the ballot after one look and Trammell just doesn't seem to get any traction with the voters. I'm not from Detroit, but I can understand their fan's concern here (I don't see Jack Morris as a HoF'r but that's another story). Smith was a great defensive player who did a cute backflip. Trammell and Whitaker were both very good with the glove as well as being better than the norm offensively for their position. Was Smith that much better than those players with the glove to account for the disparity in the voting? I don't see it.

Posted by: LargeBill at December 23, 2008 2:23 PM

Bill, the best answer I can give you about Ozzie is from Herzog. He knew he had to get rid of Templeton, and he also knew he had to improve his pitching staff. So he did both (his words). He cut a half run off the ERA by getting Ozzie. Plus he made a journeyman John Tudor, who specialized in giving up ground ball singles up the middle, an ace. Because all of a sudden, those singles became outs. Lots of them. And the Cards won big in the 80s.

I never saw Marion, but I did see Belanger (now that left Oriole side was some infield), Aparacio and Vizguel. I do think Ozzie Smith was the best I ever saw. He was a linchpin in a team that won (I think) 3 pennants and a ring--just by memory, not looking it up now. So yes, to me a first ballot for him is just. And I would vote for Morris in the Hall.

Posted by: Daryl Rosenblatt at December 23, 2008 4:56 PM

You really have to put your head in the sand to not consider Jeff Kent a hall of famer.

Posted by: seth soothsayer at December 24, 2008 6:22 PM

Ozzie simply feels like an HOFer. He has the stats, rep, highlight reels and team accomplishments. Does Sweet Lou have that feel? Not really. Nice player but he doesn't have that quality that Ozzie does. Trammel is closer but is likely just on the outside looking in.

Posted by: jim at December 24, 2008 8:19 PM

Merry Christmas.

Posted by: dave at December 25, 2008 1:10 PM