Wally Moon vs. Hank Bauer

[Cowtipper]

We're playing the "who is better than his most similar comparison" (on Baseball-Reference) game.

My starting point was Tommy Dowd, the guy with the lowest WAR among all batters with at least 5,000 plate appearances. I hope to work my way up to *somebody* vs. Babe Ruth. That'd be cool.

Which of these players would you like to build your franchise around?

Moon:

1457 G
5566 PA
4843 AB
737 R
1399 H
212 2B
60 3B
142 HR
661 RBI
89 SB
68 CS
644 BB
591 K
.289 BA
.371 OBP
.445 SLG
.817 OPS
118 OPS+
2157 TB
121 GDP
13 HBP
31 SH
35 SF
>= 56 IBB
22.3 WAR

Bauer:

1544 G
5777 PA
5145 AB
833 R
1424 H
229 2B
57 3B
164 HR
703 RBI
50 SB
33 CS
521 BB
638 K
.277 BA
.346 OBP
.439 SLG
.785 OPS
113 OPS+
2259 TB
95 GDP
34 HBP
51 SH
>= 25 SF
>= 11 IBB
24.6 WAR


If Moon wins, he will face his third-most similar comp. If Bauer wins, he will face his most similar comp.

Past face-offs (winner in bold):

Tommy Dowd vs. Ned Hanlon (as a player)
Ned Hanlon (as a player) vs. Joe Hornung
Ned Hanlon (as a player) vs. Curt Welch
Curt Welch vs. Blondie Purcell
Curt Welch vs. Bob Bescher
Curt Welch vs. George Pinkney
Curt Welch vs. Joe Hornung
Curt Welch vs. Rube Oldring
Curt Welch vs. Solly Hofman
Curt Welch vs. Tom York
Curt Welch vs. George Case
Curt Welch vs. Tommy Dowd
Curt Welch vs. Charlie Hemphill
Curt Welch vs. George Browne
Curt Welch vs. Jack McCarthy
Curt Welch vs. Shad Barry
Curt Welch vs. Patsy Dougherty
Patsy Dougherty vs. Carson Bigbee
Patsy Dougherty vs. Jack Smith
Patsy Dougherty vs. Johnny Bates - tie
Patsy Dougherty vs. Johnny Bates vs. Cliff Heathcote vs. Mike Mitchell
Patsy Dougherty vs. Lou Finney
Patsy Dougherty vs. Whitey Witt
Patsy Dougherty vs. Ducky Holmes
Patsy Dougherty vs. Matty McIntyre
Patsy Dougherty vs. Gene Richards
Patsy Dougherty vs. Tom Goodwin
Patsy Dougherty vs. Peanuts Lowrey
Patsy Dougherty vs. Patsy Tebeau
Patsy Dougherty vs. Billy Hatcher
Patsy Dougherty vs. Red Murray
Patsy Dougherty vs. Hi Myers
Patsy Dougherty vs. Mike Kreevich
Patsy Dougherty vs. Luis Polonia
Patsy Dougherty vs. Darryl Hamilton
Patsy Dougherty vs. Max Flack
Patsy Dougherty vs. Al Bumbry
Patsy Dougherty vs. Ron LeFlore
Ron LeFlore vs. Mookie Wilson
Ron LeFlore vs. Dan Gladden
Ron LeFlore vs. Doug Glanville
Ron LeFlore vs. Taylor Douthit
Ron LeFlore vs. Terry Puhl
Terry Puhl vs. Jerry Mumphrey
Terry Puhl vs. Les Mann
Terry Puhl vs. John Titus
John Titus vs. Amos Strunk
John Titus vs. Tommy Griffith
John Titus vs. Elmer Valo
Elmer Valo vs. Stan Javier
Elmer Valo vs. Dave Martinez
Elmer Valo vs. Tony Gonzalez
Tony Gonzalez vs. Tillie Walker
Tillie Walker vs. Roberto Kelly
Tillie Walker vs. Al Cowens
Tillie Walker vs. Wally Moon

[PVNICK]

I went with Bauer. Not that this was a tipping point but despite a lower OPS+ he had more runs and RBI. I wonder if that was from playing with the Yankees or coming up in the early 50s rather that late 50s and going to LA for the 60s like Moon. I think Bauer is, along with McDougald, an underappreciated part of the Stengel Yankees. Moon is no slouch either having been good enough to win Rookie of the Year (I know I know a writers award see Jeter/Palmeiro GGs etc.).

[Cowtipper]

I went with the dissenting vote and went with Moon instead of Bauer.

There's been an interesting shift in these face-offs. It started out as speedsters vs. speedsters, now it's sluggers vs. sluggers.