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"As an example, I don't think Earl Averill is roundly considered a mistake, the way George Kelly and Freddie Lindstrom are, for example. But I look at the numbers. Wynn's OPS+ was five points lower, but he had more PA and played in a stronger league. Averill had a good peak, but I believe Wynn's was better. Averill was probably the better fielder, but Wynn makes up for that with his hitting. Baseball Prospectus has them both at a .303 EqA, without league quality adjustments. WARP-1 has Averill as the superior player by the margin of about 1 win. When they do their LQ adjustments, Wynn moves ahead by 9 wins. Bill James, in the New Historical Baseball Abstract, places Wynn 10th, Averill 13th. James's Objective functions rates Wynn as the 78th greatest player of all time, Averill out of the top 100. Kevin Harlow, who calculated the objective function, also found rankings for players based on Win Shares Above Average, Above Replacement, and the average of those two. Neither player made the top 100 in any of the methods, but Wynn and Averill placed 112th and 113th respectively, in the third. This makes them indistinguishable, and it cannot be said that Wynn is better just because that method has him one point ahead. By the third method, Wynn ranks 16th among CF, Averill 17th. At the very least, Wynn is seen as Averill's equal by Win Shares. Of course, those are simply two popular uberstats. But I think if one were to analyze their total hitting stats, Wynn would be considered superior. Averill would close the gap with fielding, but with Wynn's LQ advantage, and with them being about even on the basepaths, I can't imagine Jimmy Wynn not being viewed as a better player than Earl Averill, provided we can get past the batting average. And yet Jimmy Wynn will never get into the Hall, while no seems to have a problem with Earl Averill's selection. Why is that?"
I made this post in the thread in the Hall of Fame section entitled, "Who makes the best argument for Jimmy Wynn?" After searching around, it is my belief that the Hall of Famer best suited to this question, as I was looking for HOFers, is Earl Averill. My question to you is not whether you agree with this assessment, but simply, who was the greater player. I'll put it in bold, so the purpose of this thread doesn't get lost:
Who was the greater player, Jimmy Wynn or Earl Averill?
Finally, this will be a poll, but I ask that you do more than simply vote. I would like to see discussion.
I made this post in the thread in the Hall of Fame section entitled, "Who makes the best argument for Jimmy Wynn?" After searching around, it is my belief that the Hall of Famer best suited to this question, as I was looking for HOFers, is Earl Averill. My question to you is not whether you agree with this assessment, but simply, who was the greater player. I'll put it in bold, so the purpose of this thread doesn't get lost:
Who was the greater player, Jimmy Wynn or Earl Averill?
Finally, this will be a poll, but I ask that you do more than simply vote. I would like to see discussion.