Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony S.
I always check a player's career road splits to get a better idea of what they really accomplished. It's a low tech, convenient way of balancing out home field hitting advantages (Coors field, especially pre-humidors being an extreme example) due to short porches, clever groundskeepers, prevailing winds, etc. These are Santo's career road numbers:
4375 PA, 171 2B, 126 HR, 588 RBI, .257 BA, .406 SLG, .747 OPS
Compare that to Ron Cey's - for whom nobody is demanding hall of Fame consideration - road splits:
4135 PA, 184 2B, 150 HR, 556 RBI, .261 BA, .445 SLG, .797 OPS
Incidentally, Santo's lifetime fielding percentage was .954. Cey's was .961
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Ron Cey was certainly a better than average player and is very often overlooked for just how good he really was. His career OPS+ (which takes home park, era played in, etc into account) was 121. That is quite a bit above average. Santo's career OPS+ was 125. That's even better. What's more, Santo had FAR mo range in the field than did Cey, as can be seen by chances per inning.
Also, don't forget that Santo was just 34 when he retired, and he played his entire career with diabetis. I've been on the Santo For The Hall crusade for years.
Tom C