The All Underrated Team (not in the Hall of Fame)
Like the All Overrated Team, this is hopefully just for fun, so let's try to keep the bickering to a minimum.
I am defining underrated as not in the Hall of Fame. A separate list could be made of people that are in Hall of Fame, but are underrated by public perception (lower than they should be on All Time Great lists, etc.), but I think it is hard to determine public opinion. SP: Luis Tiant RP: Billy Wagner C: Gene Tenace 1B: Keith Hernandez 2B: Bobby Grich SS: Bill Dahlen 3B: Ken Boyer LF: Lance Berkman CF: Kenny Lofton RF: Dwight Evans Most of these are in a virtual tie: Kevin Brown and David Cone are other worthy starting pitchers, Dick Allen is a worthy 1B, and Lou Whitaker a worthy 2B to name a few. |
Not in the hall, removing those who are kept out for reasons of cheating concerns and not an evaluation of their play, and removing those not eligible for induction. Personally, Creighton and Barnes are 1/2 but they can't make it under the current ruleset.
I do not support the hall candidacies of all of these players. SP Curt Schilling SP Bob Caruthers SP Jim McCormick SP Luis Tiant C Charlie Bennett 1B Fred McGriff 2B Jeff Kent 3B Ken Boyer (Rolen is likely to make it in 1-3 years) SS Bill Dahlen, Glasscock not far behind. LF Lance Berkman CF Kenny Lofton RF Bobby Abreu |
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SP - Jim McCormick - Should be in the HOF. C - Charlie Bennett - The best defensive catcher of the 19th century by a long shot! 1B - John Olerud - One of the best pure hitters of the 90's, but didn't get the recognition because he wasn't a power hitter. 2B - Jeff Kent - Got caught up in the whirlwind that is Bonds and it's almost a footnote that he is the all time leader in HR for 2B. SS - Jay Bell - Yet another player overshadowed by Bonds. 3B - Robin Ventura - Getting beat up by a 46 year old when you are 26 doesn't help, but Ventura was crazy good. LF - Jeff Conine - Only player to debut with the Marlins and be on both the 97 and 03 WS teams. CF - Kenny Lofton - The man is a HOFer, and it's not even close. RF - Bobby Abreu - Speed and power. Very underrated and a top 20 all time RF in my opinion. |
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What I really don't understand is how Lofton got 3.2% of the vote and straight fell off the ballot after one year. He was not even seriously considered by the voters.
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Good to see Luis Tiant get some love.
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SP - Tommy John
RP - Billy Wagner (Quis?) C - Parrish - look at his stats vs his contemporaries (Carter/Fisk) not too far off and he had an arm..was he a HOFer?..No...but he never gets the respect or mentions his numbers suggest he should 1B - Dick Allen.... 1 vote shy...(Mattingly had a short but elite career too right?) 2B - Whitaker - arguably better than Trammell 3B - Rolen - Hope he makes it SS - Nomar - was elite for a good 6? years....more than Koufax OF - Dwight Evans - Cannon....and put up good stats OF - Curt Flood - Stats ahead of Brock until he started FA OF - Dale Murphy - B2B MVP DH - Kingman - Always brought some pop |
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SP - Tim Hudson - never great but the guy nearly went 100 wins over losses
C- Jorge Posada - great offensive player at the position 1B - John Olerud - the guy could hit 2B - Larry Doyle - the best second baseman the NL had for a long time SS - Trea Turner - never gets talked about but he's GOOD 3B - Eric Chavez - no HOFer but very good at hat he did at his peak OF - Bernie Williams - falling off the ballot after two votes? OF - Kenny Lofton - agree on all counts OF - Curt Flood - put him in as a contributor to baseball |
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Yeah is that some kind of no no? He’s not in the HOF. Wasn’t that the parameter? I feel like he’s maybe the premier shortstop in the league now but he’s mostly anonymous. That makes him underrated in my book.
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Ah, OK I can play by those rules too.
I will instead nominate Tony Fernandez. |
P Curt Schilling
C Bill Freehan 1b Steve Garvey 2b Lou Whitaker SS Nomar Garciaparra 3b Dick Allen LF Sherry Magee CF Andruw Jones RF Dwight Evans |
P Billy Pierce
C Sherm Lollar OF Dom DiMaggio OF Dwight Evans OF Fred Lynn 1B John Olerud 2B Jeff Kent SS Nomar 3B Ken Boyer |
SP - Roger Clemens
RP - Billy Wagner 1B - Fred McGriff 2B - Lou Whitaker 3B - Scott Rolen SS - Bill Dahlen C - Thurman Munson LF - Barry Bonds CF - Dale Murphy RF - Reggie Smith |
How is Bill Frehan not in the hall of fame?
11 All-Star games, 5 Gold Gloves, 2nd in MVP voting(1968), 3rd in MVP voting(1967) Best catcher of his era |
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