George Sisler- Gentleman George - Inducted MLB HOF - 1939

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Originally Posted by pbspelly

I believe Bill James once called him the most over-rated player in history or something like that, because after 1922, Sisler was essentially a singles hitter (with a few doubles here and there) who didn't walk. Don't know if I agree about him being over-rated, but it is true that while he hit .340 career, his lifetime on base percentage is .379, which isn't bad but is behind guys like Barney McCoskey, Merv Rettenmund, and Elbie Fletcher, who aren't exactly thought of as being in the pantheon of the sport. The sinus problem appears to have really damaged his career. He was a true offensive force before that (even without walking much), but had to sit out the entire 1923 season with sinusitus, and seems to have lost much of his power afterwards.

The decline in his hitting was due to the permanent damage done to his vision by the sinus infection. While he continued to have some decent years after that, even George himself said "that wasn't really hitting" when commenting about them. It is interesting to note the change in James' attitude about him from the first edition of his historical baseball abstract (in which he proclaimed him as the only player of the early '20's who could actually go toe to toe with Ruth and not be embarassed) to his later comments. When concerned with the number of peak years he had (several of which were during the dead ball era), he could indeed stand tall. .407 with 19 HR's in 1920, followed by .379 and 12 (?) in 1921, capped by the .420 year in 1923. He was, in addition, quite likely the best fielding first baseman in the game. Even in the early days of the lively ball era, his achievements could seldom be matched. A very worthy HOF'er indeed!

Best wishes,

Larry