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Quote:

Originally Posted by jsq (Post 1927204)

ragin cajun ron guidry, 25 -3 record with 1978 yankees.

the yankees sucked big time till after the all star break and guidry was the only thing holding the team together and he still posted a 25-3 record. yankees were still 6.5 games out starting september they caught fire and went on to win.

jim rice won mvp. rice had an excellent year. and since many people felt bad about fred lynn winning the mvp the prior yr over rice when rice in 1977 was arguably better, rice received massive sympathy votes in 1978 and had a great year but no where near as exceptional a year as guidry.

guidry had one of the best pitching yrs in major league history, he had that record with a great team for 1 month of the season (september), a sub 500 team for first 1/2 of the season and a solid team for a few months.

guidry was unstoppable. go look up the era, the strikeouts, everything, he totally dominated every team he pitched against. literally one of the greatest pitching feats in major league history

That season came to mind, but I don't think it went "under the radar." Maybe it's because I'm from Syracuse and was a teenager in the 70s, but it seemed like Ron Guidry was all over the sports news all year long that year.

Love Gator, but the year even spawned a catch phrase "shades of '78" not really under the radar

Quote:

Originally Posted by robw1959 (Post 1928059)

That qualifier, "way under the radar" limits my thought to exclude HOFers from the list. Therefore, the first one that comes to my mind is Zack Britton's 2016 pitching campaign. As the Orioles closer, he posted an historic 0.54 E.R.A. on route to earning 47 saves and ZERO blown saves! In that year, Britton only gave up 4 earned runs all year long. Yet he didn't get any award recognition whatsoever. By the way, whatever happened to the "Fireman-Of-The-Year" award for relief pitchers, huh?

They still give it out. Josh Hader and Aroldis Chapman won it this year. They did the award ceremony during the World Series.

Quote:

Originally Posted by robw1959 (Post 1928059)

Now it is called the Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman Award for the respective relievers in the AL and NL.

I miss the Rolaids Relief Award however I tend to live in the past when it comes to baseball.

Here's a name that probably won't ever be uttered again on this board: Darrell Porter.

In 1979 Darrell Porter became only the second catcher ever to score 100 runs, drive in 100 runs, and walk 100 times in a season.

His stat line: 101 runs, 20 homers, 112 rbis, 121 walks, hit 291 with 421 OBP and a 905 OPS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rats60 (Post 1927435)

Ichiro Suzuki

Never heard of him.

Thinking of other one season wonders has anyone mentioned Jim Gentile's 1961 yet?

46 HR, 141 RBI .302/.423/646

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigBeerGut (Post 1927547)

Around Horn

1b gil hodges
2b jeffkent
ss jim fregosi
3b matt williams
c any molina
of jim edmonds
of curt flood
of hunter pence

p tim hudson
p david wells
p dave stewart
p billy pierce
p jimmy key
p eric show

su scott shields
su alan embree
bp quizenberry
lhc bily wagner
rhc percival

skiper marse joe

MJD

That’s a pretty good list of CAREER underrated players by position.

But I’d go with Dave Concepcion at SS and Ted Simmons at Catcher. I’d also consider Al Oliver, probably in place of Hunter Pence. That guy could rake, and doesn’t get anywhere near the credit he was due.

Lastly, there are lots of pitchers I’d put ahead of Eric Show (RIP). Too many to name, but Tommy John is probably first and foremost. Jamie Moyer and David Cone would also be ahead of Show. Too busy/lazy to think of others right now, but could probably name off a bunch if time allowed. Just my meager contribution.

Maybe not the greatest under the radar year, but it is worth noting that in 1925 Bob Meusel of the Yankees led the league in homers and rbi's (33/134) and had a very decent .290 BA and .548 SP, picking up the slack from less than impressive Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig seasons, but only finished 18th in MVP balloting, probably due to the Yankees lowly finish that year.

Brian

Hard to believe but one of those 3 losses was to the Blue Jays -- only the team's second year in existence. "Louisiana Lighting" had a great slider!