First under appreciated player that pops into your head

[Ben Yourg]

Dummy Hoy
Even with his handicaps, and 19th century medical help,
he was a fantastic player!

[icollectDCsports]

We've had similar discussions here in the past, and the two names that always come to my mind first are Frank Robinson and Warren Spahn. Glad to see them both already get multiple mentions in this thread. As HOFers, certainly not overlooked, but definitely underappreciated. And I have to agree that Stan Musial deserves more credit as well. As for more recent players, Tony Gwynn never got the degree of recognition he deserved, And although Albert Pujols was celebrated during his last season as he surged toward and past 700 HRs, his years with the Angels took a bit of the shine off of his mind blowingly excellent years in St. Louis. Go ahead, take a look at those numbers and tell me you didn't sort of forget how great those were.

[Republicaninmass]

Ed Yost, averaged less than 50 strikeouts a season, averaged over 120 walks

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

Ed Yost, averaged less than 50 strikeouts a season, averaged over 120 walks

Just looked up his stats and have to agree with Yost. Guy got on base. Tommy Leach also possibly underrated.

[FrankWakefield]

Agreeing with a couple of those recent posts...

I agree about Gehringer. A great fielder and hitter. A ballplayer.

Dick Groat. He was a super, letter in everything, athlete at Duke. He was smart. He was a smooth fielder, I saw him in St. Louis. Even though I was just a kid, I could see how he handled the bat differently, he would watch infielders moving while he was hitting with a runner on base, he'd slap a baseball through a vacated position with eerie precision. He has to be among the underrated, because he's about forgotten. I can still envision his smile, and as I recall he'd have a batting helmet jammed over his ball cap... could that be right?

[67airborne]

Harry Heilmann

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by 67airborne

Harry Heilmann

Great pick. Heilmann definitely wasn't overlooked by his contemporaries, thankfully. I was incredibly fortunate to know several of his teammates and opponents; all spoke highly of his caliber of play and personal character.

Heck, even his autograph is overlooked and undervalued. There isn't very much signed material out there, and most of what survives isn't really aesthetically appealing. Lots of small cuts removed from album pages, or multi/team signed pages. It's really difficult to secure something nice on Heilmann; such items should be worth much more than they are. Similar HOFers from his era who died young in the same decade are common by comparison. The closest in comparison from standpoints of dying young in the 50's, rarity and finding a signed piece of any quality may be Arky Vaughan, but much more survived in the way of poor quality cuts. And of course, Heilmann was the better player of the two.