Bobby Grich is a real mystery to me. Before I joined BBF, I had literally never heard of him. The other day, I did a Google search just to find out what he looked like. According to the sabermetric stats, though, Grich clearly belongs in the Hall of Fame. Here's the case for and against Grich.
PRO:
- 329 Win Shares with a strong peak
- 115.4 WARP3 with a very strong peak - seven seasons above 9 WARP3
- career 125 OPS+ which is excellent for a second baseman
- 4 Gold Gloves
- 6 All-Star Games
CON:
- 1833 hits, 224 home runs, .266 BA are all well short of HoF standards, even for second basemen
- Never came close to winning an MVP - best finishes were 8th and 9th
- BBWAA voters dropped him off the HoF ballot after just one election. Out of 430 ballots, Grich got only 11 votes. The voters have been known to make mistakes, but this is a serious black mark in my mind.
I wasn't alive in the '70s (well technically I was but I don't remember anything). I'd specifically like to hear from people who were watching baseball in the '70s and early '80s. Was Grich ever perceived as a great player, one of the best in the game, a future Hall of Famer? Was he a true superstar that the writers just forgot or ignored, maybe because he played for mostly bad teams? Or are the uberstats just overrating him because he walked a lot? Does Grich belong in the Hall of Fame?
PRO:
- 329 Win Shares with a strong peak
- 115.4 WARP3 with a very strong peak - seven seasons above 9 WARP3
- career 125 OPS+ which is excellent for a second baseman
- 4 Gold Gloves
- 6 All-Star Games
CON:
- 1833 hits, 224 home runs, .266 BA are all well short of HoF standards, even for second basemen
- Never came close to winning an MVP - best finishes were 8th and 9th
- BBWAA voters dropped him off the HoF ballot after just one election. Out of 430 ballots, Grich got only 11 votes. The voters have been known to make mistakes, but this is a serious black mark in my mind.
I wasn't alive in the '70s (well technically I was but I don't remember anything). I'd specifically like to hear from people who were watching baseball in the '70s and early '80s. Was Grich ever perceived as a great player, one of the best in the game, a future Hall of Famer? Was he a true superstar that the writers just forgot or ignored, maybe because he played for mostly bad teams? Or are the uberstats just overrating him because he walked a lot? Does Grich belong in the Hall of Fame?
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