OT -- why does Spahn get no love?

[the 'stache]

I'm a huge fan of Spahnie, too. And I don't get it. I only hope his cards continue to be undervalued long enough for me to buy them all.

Spahn is an enigma within the hobby. I mean, Clemente and Aaron played their careers for small market teams, Roberto spending all 17 seasons in Pittsburgh, and Hank with the Braves, first in Milwaukee (the team had, of course, moved to Milwaukee before his rookie season of 1954), then in Atlanta. And Aaron returned to Milwaukee to close out his career with the Brewers. Both Clemente and Aaron's rookie cards, and subsequent cards command high prices. You could argue that Clemente was the first Latin American superstar, and he's absolutely idolized to this day. And Aaron, being the all-time home run leader for quite a while after passing the Babe, is always going to be highly collectible.

No, I put Spahn in the same category I put Mathews in. They're both real head scratchers. Eddie Mathews was the only player to wear a Braves uniform in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta, if my memory serves me correctly. And he may not be a top 5 all-time third baseman, but I do think he's in the top 10 at the position. When Eddie Mathews hit the ball, it stayed hit. He and Aaron are the all-time leaders for home runs by a duo, knocking the ball out of the park 863 times while teammates.

But Spahn? I don't get it. I mean, he's one of the greatest left handed pitchers to ever play the game. Only Cy Young (15) had more 20 win seasons than Spahn's 13, tying Christy Mathewson, and beating Walter Johnson by one. And as mentioned, Spahn hit 35 home runs in his career, too. He could really hit the ball. In one season, 1958, Spahn had 122 plate appearances, and get this, he had a .333 average, a .463 SLG, and an .844 OPS...at age 37. His OPS + was 131. Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates, the NL MVP winner last year, had a 157 OPS +. That puts Spahnie's season into perspective.