Dode Paskert

[Cowtipper]

Dode Paskert spent 15 years in the big leagues, hitting .268 with 1,613 hits, 293 stolen bases and 224 sacrifice hits. He stole at least 25 bases four times, hit at least 10 triples twice and scored at least 100 runs once. In 1937, he received a single vote for the Hall of Fame.

Paskert led league centerfielders in fielding percentage twice and he paced all league outfielders in fielding percentage once. He finished in the top ten in walks and runs scored six times each. He only led the league in one offensive category--strikeouts in 1918, with 49.

Statistically, he is similar to Enos Cabell, Stan Javier, Jim Piersall, Dave Martinez, Cesar Tovar, Dave Philley, Bill Bruton, Bill Virdon, Shano Collins and Harry Steinfeldt. Harry Steinfeldt, though not a Hall of Famer, is the unfortunate fourth member of the Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance infield that no one ever mentions. He's kind of like Salt-n-Pepa's Spinderella. Sorry for going off on a tangent.

In the Baseball Fever Retrospective All-Star Game project, Paskert was an "All-Star" three times.

Anyway, what do you think about Dode Paskert? Should he be in the Hall of Fame? Did he have Hall of Fame potential?

[PVNICK]

He has a cool name. He stole adecent amount of basis. That and his R-RBI ratio suggests a tiop of the order batter. He seems to have been a cut below the top of his league at any one time maybe a B- - B+ sort of level. He definiutely could take a walk so that he was often but not annually among the OBP % leaders. He scored a decent amount of runs for his day so that he was usually in the top 10 in the league but rarely the top five. Really that's pretty much it. Going by the Range #s he seems to have been a better than average RF but a tick below when a CF (in fairness he is listed as CF later in his career so the legs may not have been what they were). On a numeric scale he has 108 OPS+ in 6997 PA 22.2 WAR (BBRef) 868 runs and 577 RBI in addition to the data provided by the OP. Of that list magnitude of star wise (is that even a word or a thing) Bruton and Virdon and maybe Piersall in seem good fits though they were all CF with defensive reputations (or at least Piersall and Virdon were). I would say nope never he never had a HOF season or one on the cusp at a young enough age. But he would most certainly be a guy that could start in RF-CF outside the middle of your order for years on a very good to great team. In other words a kepper but not a build your team around guy. Of course no relative of mine had set foot on this continent by the time he began palyign so what do I know.

[Jackaroo Dave]

Well known as Richie Ashburn avant la lettre, Dode embodied a well-defined type in his own era, exemplified by Max Carey, also filled by Roy Thomas and Tommy Leach. He wasn't as good as Thomas or Leach, let alone Carey or Ashburn, but he was good. His slugging and on-base numbers were above average, as was his center-fielding.

I wonder if playing in Baker Bowl affected his fielding numbers at all. He was usually among the leaders in fielding average and range, but never THE leader across the boards. Similarly, he scored a lot of runs, but never led the league, despite batting ahead of (I guess), Magee, Cravath, and Luderus.

It's interesting that his closest comps are postwar players, except for his least most similar, Shano Collins and Harry Steinfeldt. His closest comp in value is Cesar Tovar, and that seems about right to me.

As far as potential goes, he had about 7000 PA to show what he could do, and his abilities and shortcomings are very clearly defined. I'd say there's almost no gap between potential and actual. (Edit: I didn't see PVNICK's post, but obviously pretty much go along with it.)

(I actually know someone named Dode, and I know his brother, Hobe, too.)

[Cowtipper]

If anything, he may be worthy of the Hall of Cool Names. It's interesting that he only became consistently "good" (that is, he managed a 100+ OPS+ for multiple consecutive seasons) when he was 30 years or. From 1912 to 1918, when he was 36, his OPS+ never dipped below 100.

[GiambiJuice]

There's a Baseball-Fever member named Dude Paskert.

I honestly had no idea there was ever a baseball player named Dode Paskert until this very moment.

[Cowtipper]

There's a Baseball-Fever member named Dude Paskert.

I honestly had no idea there was ever a baseball player named Dode Paskert until this very moment.

I'm hoping he'll pop in at some point. It's hard to believe he hasn't been on since last October.