Posted By:
john/z28jdGilbert did you read all of the stuff i wrote about McGwire,and you still think he can be underrated. He was the most hyped player when he was playing,how could he be underrated.This is the same guy that in 1995,10 years into his career wouldnt have stayed on the hall of fame ballot one year,he only played 6 more seasons and the last 2 were nothing special in 2000 and in 2001 he batted .187 for the season,and struck out once every 3 at-bats.Those 12 seasons combined would not get him hall of fame votes 255/338/905.
So then we go on a 4 year stretch where he hits a ton of homers and he goes from a guy who would rank as a one and done hall of fame ballot guy to one of the best ever and underrated.I dont think so.Name another guy who can be good for 3/4 of his career,but only be judged on the other 1/4.If you throw in his 70 home run season hes in Darrell Evans class as a player and when do you hear his name mentioned,and Evans defense makes up for HR/AB difference between the 2
One of McGwires other amazing seasons he hit .274 with 159 K's and scored 86 runs total but people remember the 58 HRs.Its a great home run season,but not an all-time season.I would give him more credit for the year if he played something besides firstbase but he couldnt.His fielding range stats are skewed by the fact he played in a stadium with the most foul territory
Heres the ultimate McGwire standard i use.Give 2 players 1150 career runs scored,460 career homers,1400 rbi's and a 260 average,with 250 doubles and no stolen bases,a ton of strikeouts and we dont care that they werent the best fielders.Now give one guy an MYP,200 stolen bases and add 90 doubles to his totals,and all we give to the other guy is 120 home runs.Sounds fair right,thats a good 3 for 1 trade and everything else stays even.Now you tell the one guy hes now one of the greatest players ever and a sure-fire 1st ballot hall of famer,and the other guy can watch hall of fame ceremonies from his home because he has no chance of going.Doesnt seem fair does it,sounds like we base the one guys career too much on those added home runs and not what else he did besides it.
McGwire at the same time as his 4 year run of homers was being outdone by Sammy Sosa and people were saying,Sosa could be the first 500 home run guy not to make the hall of fame.McGwires career stats dont even hold a candle to Rafeal Palmiero's career stats and some people still question whether hes a hall of famer. McGwire is in the same class as Kiner for a career and i rank him near the lower half of HOFers,McGwire definitely wasnt better than him.McGwire was not a better player than Albert Belle,look at their stats if you dont believe me,does anyone really think Belle will make the hall of fame....NO, because he compares too close to Jim Rice and he doesnt make it every year.Was McGwire better than Rice,no,but did he hit more home runs,yes and thats all we base it on.
For a guy to be underrated he would have to get less attention than he deserves,which obviously McGwire doesnt because no one underestimates what he did for his team.When people convienantly forget all the bad stuff he does and only remember the good then he can NEVER be called underrated