The Path to Cooperstown: Third Base

If you’re wondering what I was working on lately besides the division previews, my fifth annual Hall of Fame column is up today at The Hardball Times, and it’s on the third basemen.
UPDATE: I’ll have to post the full tables here when I get a chance, the plate appearance figures are crucial to the column, and it looks like the editors at THT removed them to save space. They took out the steals, caught stealing and GIDP data, too. Urk.
Charts below the fold:

The main table – I did have to shorten a few abbreviations, like the “Prime” and “Other” seasons, to fit the page:

Pr	O	Player	Age	Seas	PA	SB	CS	DP	Avg	Slg	Obp	Rate	G-3B	In?
11	5	Eddie Mathews	21-31	10.56	683	5	3	8	0.285	0.557	0.390	148.5	150	YES
9	3	Wade Boggs	25-33	9.00	705	2	3	16	0.338	0.481	0.425	144.1	151	YES
14	0	Mike Schmidt	24-37	13.66	656	12	7	10	0.267	0.572	0.375	140.4	141	YES
13	2	Chipper Jones	24-36	13.00	621	10	3	15	0.303	0.529	0.390	128.1	110	Act
11	7	George Brett	22-32	10.64	604	12	6	10	0.317	0.547	0.376	124.3	133	YES
11	1	Ron Santo	23-33	10.98	661	3	3	17	0.280	0.507	0.367	123.1	155	No
8	3	Stan Hack	26-33	7.63	713	15	0	6	0.293	0.436	0.374	116.5	153	No
10	1	Sal Bando	25-34	9.94	657	5	4	11	0.268	0.474	0.366	113.9	151	No
9	1	Ken Boyer	25-33	8.73	672	8	5	15	0.287	0.484	0.349	113.5	144	No
10	2	Bob Elliott	25-34	9.58	636	4	0	15	0.289	0.487	0.366	113.2	130	No
8	2	Scott Rolen	22-29	8.00	622	11	4	10	0.279	0.502	0.362	113.0	144	Act
8	3	Toby Harrah	26-33	7.62	654	20	6	11	0.272	0.450	0.376	110.6	108	No
10	2	Ron Cey	26-35	9.69	632	2	3	14	0.266	0.487	0.354	108.9	151	No
8	0	Ken Caminiti	28-35	7.60	604	9	4	13	0.284	0.495	0.355	106.3	142	No
11	1	Eddie Yost	23-33	10.49	673	6	5	9	0.257	0.403	0.385	104.4	145	No
8	4	Graig Nettles	26-33	7.94	658	3	3	12	0.260	0.477	0.332	104.1	157	No
9	2	Robin Ventura	23-31	8.60	623	2	3	13	0.277	0.464	0.358	103.7	142	No
12	1	Brooks Robinson	23-34	11.95	676	2	2	18	0.287	0.463	0.330	103.4	158	YES
8	6	Buddy Bell	27-34	7.65	638	3	4	18	0.287	0.452	0.349	100.7	145	No
10	6	Darrell Evans	26-35	9.69	629	8	4	8	0.248	0.449	0.355	100.0	117	No
10	1	Bill Madlock	23-32	9.64	561	16	8	15	0.310	0.484	0.365	99.2	111	No
8	1	George Kell	23-30	7.65	610	5	4	15	0.311	0.458	0.352	98.2	137	YES
11	0	Pie Traynor	24-34	10.46	660	13	14	15	0.290	0.444	0.331	97.0	151	YES
9	0	Troy Glaus	23-31	9.00	559	6	3	12	0.252	0.492	0.352	96.7	125	Act
10	0	Matt Williams	24-33	9.59	586	4	3	14	0.274	0.514	0.319	96.1	137	No
13	1	Buddy Bell	23-35	12.59	628	3	4	17	0.286	0.441	0.344	95.3	145	No
9	1	Tim Wallach	24-32	8.99	633	5	6	14	0.268	0.466	0.321	94.6	153	No
10	0	Ken Keltner	21*31	9.57	626	4	3	15	0.272	0.474	0.316	93.7	149	No
8	0	Mike Lowell	26-33	7.99	618	3	1	14	0.275	0.454	0.333	93.5	145	Act
11	2	Carney Lansford	22-32	10.67	587	17	7	13	0.297	0.446	0.346	90.7	127	No
16	0	Graig Nettles	25-40	15.59	589	2	2	11	0.254	0.460	0.332	89.9	142	No
10	0	Doug DeCinces	26-35	9.62	553	5	4	16	0.265	0.483	0.333	89.0	131	No

The short-prime guys:

Pr	O	Player	Age	Yrs	PA	SB	CS	DP	Avg	Slg	Obp	Rate	G-3B	In?
5	1	Al Rosen	26-30	4.75	680	7	6	19	0.295	0.561	0.374	142.6	146	No
6	8	Alex Rodriguez	28-33	6.00	654	20	4	15	0.292	0.549	0.389	139.6	145	Act
7	5	Ron Santo	23-29	7.02	685	3	4	16	0.289	0.530	0.378	137.6	160	No
5	0	David Wright	22-26	5.00	676	23	6	15	0.304	0.502	0.380	128.9	155	Act
5	4	Sal Bando	25-29	4.95	673	3	5	13	0.281	0.500	0.383	128.8	157	No
5	9	Tony Perez	25-29	5.01	675	4	2	16	0.288	0.527	0.345	122.7	152	YES
5	0	Howard Johnson	26-30	4.98	646	32	10	6	0.263	0.527	0.350	119.4	122	No
7	1	Harlond Clift	23-29	6.71	698	8	5	9	0.258	0.467	0.362	117.8	156	No
5	0	Jim Ray Hart	22-26	5.01	621	3	3	16	0.285	0.525	0.350	114.1	118	No
5	0	Whitey Kurowski	25-29	4.82	618	2	0	13	0.286	0.519	0.348	111.7	144	No
5	1	Fred Lindstrom	20-24	4.73	674	13	0	0	0.296	0.474	0.332	106.0	138	YES
7	0	Eric Chavez	22-28	6.99	619	6	2	12	0.267	0.479	0.342	101.4	144	Act
7	1	Aramis Ramirez	25-31	6.99	571	1	1	16	0.284	0.503	0.339	97.4	133	Act
6	3	Richie Hebner	21-26	5.96	527	1	2	8	0.290	0.503	0.354	93.8	126	No
6	0	Bill Melton	23-28	5.96	551	2	3	11	0.262	0.478	0.332	87.4	117	No
6	2	Bob Horner	20-25	5.64	481	2	2	12	0.272	0.542	0.329	85.8	108	No

The pre-1920 third basemen:

Pr	O	Player	Age	Yrs	PA	SB	CS	Avg	Slg	Obp	Rate	G-3B	In?
6	0	Levi Meyerle	21-26	1.96	682	12	2	0.336	0.579	0.407	160.7	81	No
7	18	Cap Anson	19-25	2.36	760	18	10	0.326	0.511	0.409	158.7	88	YES
6	4	Frank Baker	23-28	5.70	667	30	21	0.322	0.574	0.362	138.7	156	YES
7	1	Denny Lyons	21-27	5.98	625	30	0	0.315	0.532	0.400	132.9	115	No
6	3	Heinie Groh	25-30	5.52	676	16	19	0.301	0.481	0.380	123.5	142	No
14	1	Ezra Sutton	20-34	6.67	681	17	12	0.294	0.468	0.357	113.7	122	No
10	0	Ned Williamson	21-30	6.48	667	35	0	0.256	0.459	0.361	110.4	93	No
6	0	Bill Bradley	22-27	5.37	650	20	0	0.296	0.502	0.337	109.7	151	No
8	0	Bill Joyce	24-32	7.72	537	34	0	0.269	0.502	0.396	106.9	95	No
9	1	Jimmy Collins	27-35	8.12	671	19	0	0.283	0.479	0.329	105.7	153	YES
7	11	Deacon White	34-40	4.91	657	12	0	0.301	0.438	0.362	104.3	130	No
9	0	John McGraw	20-28	7.67	550	53	0	0.306	0.441	0.428	104.0	99	YES
7	0	Red Smith	22-28	5.58	635	15	5	0.285	0.463	0.348	102.5	157	No
8	0	Heinie Zimmerman	24-31	7.49	610	20	17	0.300	0.509	0.327	101.5	106	No
7	4	Tommy Leach	24-30	6.54	632	27	0	0.276	0.470	0.324	96.2	109	No
6	1	Art Devlin	24-29	5.78	621	40	0	0.274	0.421	0.358	93.6	151	No
10	2	Larry Gardner	26-35	9.31	631	13	15	0.280	0.445	0.323	90.6	152	No

2 thoughts on “The Path to Cooperstown: Third Base”

maddirishman says:

April 8, 2010 at 9:45 pm

Great article and stats Crank. You are making me reconsider my view on Santo. I remember him and I honestly don’t remember him as a great player. Same with Bando. My view of him at the time waas more the guy who held the madhouse together, same with Tony Perez. I was shocked when Perez was voted in. I felt he was kind of a placebo for Rose. Brooks Robinson was the best 3B I remember, including the current crop, but old-timers have told me that Whitey Kurowski was better than Robinson.
If I had to vote today for past players that should be in and current players that will be in I think the list would be short. Probably Santo and Kurowski from the past and A-Rod and Chipper from the current crop. The rest don’t deserve consideration. It is to early to tell on David Wright. Was last year what we can expect from him going forward or will he return to his previous form.
Jerry says:

April 9, 2010 at 1:03 pm

I think David Wright is still very much on track for the HOF, but of course Scott Rolen looked essentially the same when he was Wright’s age.

Comments are closed.