rjb182 wrote:
But one thing confuses me: ARE there any players from the Bill James Top 100 that were omitted? I seem to recall, when the disk first came out, one of the things they said was that they got everybody on those lists...

Maybe I'm imagining things. I do that sometimes.
Ah, you would be surprised. Come to think of it, you would be surprised, since there are 59 players in the Bill James Top 100 that are not on the disk. I guess surprise is the entire point of this post, which I find surprising. Which I don't find surprising. Which... oh, let me just get to the data.

The players are grouped by the position Bill James classified them as, and listed in order of rank. Keep in mind that the Abstract was ranking players through the 1999 season so the list would certainly have changed in the intervening decade. In fact, Mr. James has an addendum listing active players that have climbed into the top 100 through 2001, pushing the bottom players out, though he does not specify where these new players would be placed. All of those addendum players are on the AGP. For our purposes, I am going to look at the ranks as they were in the book, as if the addendum did not exist. In addition, there is a supplemental list of the players ranked #101-#125 at each position (except the pitcher list, which died cold and alone in a hard drive failure - Bill's, not mine) which I am totally ignoring. Ed Kranepool is #112 on the first base list, if that means anything to you.

This time I am including both the starting and ending years for the players. The usual caveats to the OPS+ number apply. DMB is discounting 19th century seasons, lesser leagues (if they are used at all), WWII, and I suspect expansion and any other time the quality of play was clearly lower. If the player has more than 6,000 career PAs, his peak OPS+ may be different than the career number I list. And with no further ado:
CATCHER
Name               Rank   Start     End     PA  OPS+   Positions
Carroll, Fred        83    1884    1891   3290  135    C/LF/RF/CF/1B
Hargrave, Bubbles    85    1913    1930   2852  118    C
Hassey, Ron          89    1978    1991   3906  100    C
LaValliere, Mike     91    1984    1995   2871   93    C
Lopata, Stan         92    1948    1960   3034  114    C/1B
Hogan, Shanty        94    1925    1937   3474  100    C
Diaz, Bo             97    1977    1989   3537   87    C
Phelps, Babe         98    1931    1942   2306  125    C
Harper, Brian        99    1979    1995   3386  102    C/LF
Smith, Earl         100    1919    1930   2569  111    C
We have a shortage of catchers in the AGP. We have 10 catchers from the Top 100 that were excluded. You will note all of them are below the 4,000 PA threshold with some below even 3,000 PAs, with Babe Phelps not even reaching 2,500. And, as I noted earlier, there are 14 catchers on the AGP that do not reach the minimum requirements, many of them ranked. There is only one qualified catcher that was excluded, probably because he hit something like Neifi Perez if you were shooting him with paint balls at the time. I think we have the argument for relaxing the minimum PAs for catchers right here.

There are some pretty good hitters in this bunch, which is not surprising since they have relatively short careers which is why they dropped this low. Fred Carroll has the gaudy numbers, but remember that is all pre-1894 so it will get discounted significantly. He played for four teams in his career: Columbus, and the Pittsburgh representative in the NL, the AA, and the PL. My first thought is that he probably lived in the area and saved a ton of money on moving expenses, except he was from California and hated the East. So much for that theory. He was done at age 27, but according to his essay played in the minors for years after that and just destroyed various leagues, probably getting paid like a major leaguer for his troubles.

On another note, Mike LaValliere was not someone I would have thought of as a Top 100 catcher, unless there was a buffet involved.
FIRST BASE
Name               Rank   Start     End     PA  OPS+   Positions
Doyle, Jack          87    1889    1905   6566  105    1B/C/2B/RF/SS/3B
Lockman, Whitey      90    1945    1960   6590   95    1B/LF/CF
Tucker, Tommy        93    1887    1899   7266  102    1B
Gentile, Jim         94    1957    1966   3479  136    1B
O'Brien, Pete        96    1982    1993   6168  104    1B/OF
Johnson, Deron       98    1960    1976   6620  102    1B/3B/DH/LF
The best hitter in this bunch is Jim Gentile who is the only one to fall below the minimum qualification. His career was short, ironically, because everyone thought he could not hit and he only broke through because of his defense. The rest are nothing special. Tommy Tucker was the first switch hitter to win a batting title, which should give you some idea how the rest of his career went, and had the "honor" of being the starter on the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. Deron Johnson was the poor man's Dave Kingman. "Dirty" Jack Doyle was the rich man's Jose Offerman, punching an umpire in a game in 1900, and the poor man's Ty Cobb as the next year he jumped into the stands to attack a heckler and punched him with his left hand... the same left hand he had broken several weeks earlier.

Ah, Wikipedia, what would I do without you?
SECOND BASE
Name               Rank   Start     End     PA  OPS+   Positions
Lefebvre, Jim        84    1965    1972   3417  104    2B/3B
Robinson, Yank       86    1882    1892   4167  104    2B/3B/SS/LF
Andrews, Mike        91    1966    1973   3685  104    2B
Adams, Sparky        97    1922    1934   6174   82    2B/3B/SS
Helms, Tommy         99    1964    1977   5333   79    2B/3B/SS
In order: not qualified, 19th century (with a year in the UA to boot), not qualified, bad hitter, and worse hitter. Lefebvre is best known for winning the Rookie of the Year award over Joe Morgan, and for managing the Seattle Mariners to their first ever winning season, after which he was promptly fired....
THIRD BASE
Name               Rank   Start     End     PA  OPS+   Positions
White, Deacon        76    1876    1890   5668  122    3B/C/1B/RF
Tabor, Jim           83    1938    1947   4136   99    3B
Ward, Pete           84    1962    1970   3511  115    3B/LF/1B/RF
Knight, Ray          87    1974    1988   5291   99    3B/1B
Dugan, Joe           88    1917    1931   5879   82    3B/SS/2B
Brooks, Hubie        89    1980    1994   6476  100    RF/3B/SS
Pinkney, George      94    1884    1893   5189  103    3B/2B
Shindle, Billy       95    1886    1898   6326   88    3B/SS
Charles, Ed          96    1962    1969   3909  103    3B
Sutton, Ezra         98    1876    1888   4453  118    3B/SS/OF
Dillinger, Bob      100    1946    1951   3201  101    3B
Deacon White and Ezra Sutton we have already met. Joe Dugan was the third baseman on the 1927 Yankees though he hit about as well as the backup catcher that year. Hubie Brooks is interesting for two reasons. First, his primary defensive position is RF, not 3B, but he switched positions to whatever his team needed. Second, you would think a guy that could play those three positions and put up league average numbers who be of some value in an AGP league.
SHORTSTOP
Name               Rank   Start     End     PA  OPS+   Positions
Hemus, Solly         84    1949    1959   3250  115    SS/2B/3B
Ramirez, Rafael     100    1980    1992   5887   77    SS/3B
You can never have enough shortstops, apparently.
LEFT FIELD
Name               Rank   Start     End     PA  OPS+   Positions
Smith, Elmer         75    1886    1901   5400  126    LF/P/RF
Vosmik, Joe          82    1930    1944   6084  104    LF/RF
Francona, Tito       84    1956    1970   5776  107    LF/1B/RF/CF
Walker, Gee          92    1931    1945   7211   99    LF/CF/RF
Dalrymple, Abner     93    1878    1891   4384  122    LF
Zernial, Gus         96    1949    1959   4561  116    LF
Maxwell, Charlie     99    1950    1964   3796  116    LF/RF
We've met three of these guys already. Gee Walker was best known for terrible base running, including attempting a steal during an intentional walk, and getting picked off twice in the same inning. In 1939, he also managed to drive in 111 runs with a 94 OPS+, which is still better than Joe Carter. No word if Charlie Maxwell had a silver hammer.
CENTER FIELD
Name               Rank   Start     End     PA  OPS+   Positions
Lange, Bill          64    1893    1899   3609  123    CF/2B
Welch, Curt          83    1884    1893   4939  107    CF
West, Sam            84    1927    1942   6972  104    CF/LF
Stenzel, Jake        89    1890    1899   3412  134    CF
Brown, Tom           90    1882    1898   8182  100    CF/RF/LF
Piersall, Jim        92    1950    1967   6591   92    CF/RF/LF
Kauff, Benny         94    1912    1920   3564  149    CF/RF
Virdon, Bill         96    1955    1968   6522   89    CF
Judnich, Wally       97    1940    1949   3207  120    CF/1B
Strunk, Amos        100    1908    1924   5803  112    CF/RF/LF
Bill Lange is the highest ranked player to be omitted at #64. Also a great fielder, he had a short career because he walked away at age 28 - his bride-to-be's wealthy father did not approve of a baseball playing son-in-law. Considering how rough the game had become, thanks to John McGraw and others, this is not as silly as it sounds. The marriage did not end well or last long, but Lange refused to return as a player, though he remained involved in the game. He did become independently wealthy on his own so maybe that was the right decision. He should be on the disk.

Benny Kauff is another interesting character. He was known as the "Ty Cobb of the Federal League" being both a center fielder and the best hitter in that doomed enterprise. He went on to a successful career in the National League, until Landis banned him for life for being involved in a car theft ring, even though he was acquitted in court. He also, somehow, was picked off three times in the same game. I would have included him too.

Actually several of these players look good enough to be in the AGP.
RIGHT FIELD
Name               Rank   Start     End     PA  OPS+   Positions
McCarthy, Tommy      88    1884    1896   5739  102    RF/LF
Bichette, Dante      90    1988    2001   6855  106    RF/LF/CF
Tobin, Jack          92    1914    1927   6872  109    RF/LF/CF
Conigliaro, Tony     95    1964    1975   3591  119    RF/LF
Fox, Pete            96    1933    1945   6168   98    RF/CF
Lemon, Jim           97    1950    1963   3870  114    RF/LF
Campbell, Bruce      98    1930    1942   5369  109    RF
Shaffer, Orator      99    1877    1890   3674  122    RF
In order: Hall of Famer who cannot hit, the poster boy for the Coors Field humidor, stats inflated by two years in the Federal League, not qualified, weak hitter, not qualified, boomstick and chainsaw equipped "Hail to the King, baby!" taking badass up to 11 zombie killer... or perhaps just a pretty good player that probably should have made it, and a 19th century guy who I am guessing talked too much.

In case you were wondering about the pitchers, all of them made it, though that is to be expected with the AGP has 760+ pitchers and the list is the Top 100.

Now, should any or all of these players be on the AGP? Well, some of them should. I would lobby that everyone who qualifies gets in even if they don't have a team in the AGP default league, but barring that I would highly recommend a bunch of the catchers, Deacon White, Ezra Sutton, Elmer Smith, Dalyrmple, Zernial, Lange, Kauff, and McCarthy. There are others that probably should be in too like Bichette, Campbell, Strunk, West, and Maxwell. But that's my opinion. What's yours?

NEXT UP: Catch Us If You Can: More Analysis of Catchers

Last Edited By: pg13 01/21/10 11:15 PM. Edited 1 times.