nemodomi wrote:
Drool. Thanks so much for doing and posting all of this, pg13. I'm in Hog Heaven.

pg13 wrote:
Tommy McCarthy is in the Hall of Fame and on this list. There's a reason he was left off.

Which is?


He's a corner outfielder with a 102 OPS+ which makes him nothing special. In my mind, corner outfielders on the AGP below 6.0 RC/27 (the metric I like to use, for ease of use) are just average and anyone below 5.0 is a bad hitter. I found some players on the AGP who have an OPS+ in the 100-104 range with 5600-5900 PAs for comparison.

Name             RC27
Carlos Baerga     4.6
Max Bishop        5.0
Al Bumbry         5.2
Duff Cooley       4.4
Jimmy Johnston    4.6
Ken McMullen      4.9
Johnny Ray        4.5
Terry Steinbach   4.6

The closest contemporary to McCarthy (1884-1896) is Duff Cooley (1893-1905). Then consider that DMB is discounting 19th century years. The first version only included players from 1894 onward so certainly the years before 1894 are going to be significantly discounted. He played four seasons in the American Association, which was weaker than the National League, so that adds in more discounts. He played in the AA in 1890 during the Players League rebellion when the AA was arguably the third best league out of three. And he played in the Union Association for half a season. After you pile in all those discounts, Mr. McCarthy might drop below 4.0. That's pretty bad for a catcher, much less a key offensive position. Simply put, probably all corner outfielders on the AGP are better than him.

Tommy's stats are not Hall of Fame caliber. The only reason he was inducted is because he was seen as an innovator, especially with the hit and run. How much he innovated the strategy and how much he just popularized it are up to debate.