WAR certainly has many faults. However, Grich and Sandberg are not that far off each other one way or another. As stated above, WAR represents what the player does over his position in his league. Grich played in more years where offense was down(especially at his position).
OPS+ is similar in regard to measuring against your own league average(but not position).
Grich has a 125 OPS+
Sandberg has a 116 OPS+
Sandberg did that in about 1,000 more career plate appearances so then if you add that it closes the gap a little, but still when compared vs their league average Grich would still be superior hitting wise.
If you want to ignore the league context, then lifetime:
Grich .794 OPS
Sandberg .795 OPS
So ignoring the league run scoring environment, you see that they are about as equal as you can be hitting wise.
Keep in mind that OPS+ and WAR do account for home field hitting advantage. Sandberg did hit in the friendly confines and it wasn't called that for nothing in that time period. Run scoring certainly got a boost from Wrigley.
Sandberg lifetime:
Home OPS .853
Road OPS .738
That is a stark difference. So if someone wants to ignore any park adjustments from WAR or OPS+, then it would be equally right to state that without Wrigley that Sandberg really is a .738 hitter compared to Grich's .795
Grich for his career played in some pitchers parks and his lifetime home/road are .796 to .793. Usually home hitting is higher than road for hitters.
So if one wants to just ignore any of the more accurate measurements that put Grich and Sandberg in the same level, then again, it is just as fair to say without Wrigley that Sandberg does not even compare to Grich.
Now, keep in mind, just looking at home/road splits isn't the only step. OPS+ takes further steps to make those park adjustments more reasonable, and even with that, Grich is sill superior.
There is more to the equation such as baserunning and fielding of course, but the hitting is the lions share of the value(considering they were both superior fielders).
In the end, you need to look further. If you look at the more accurate stats that represent the value(including baserunning and men on base hitting).
Sandberg has a lifetime Win Probability Added of 27.7 wins above average
Grich is 19.9
Sandberg has a lifetime Run Expectancy of 325 runs above average.
Grich is 227.
That 100 run difference in run expectancy really is what separates Sandberg and Grich, and that includes all components of offense and park factors.
Defensively I would give the edge to Sandberg too.
In the end, Sandberg is superior, but it isn't surprising to put Grich in the same level until you look at the more advanced and accurate Run Expectancy numbers that push Sandberg to a higher offensive level to go with his defense advantage.
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