First under appreciated player that pops into your head

[Snapolit1]

Name first one you think of. Just one.....

Not his collectibles, but as a player. . .



Jimmie Foxx

[brunswickreeves]

Rogers Hornsby

[ClementeFanOh]

Jim Maloney- Trent King

[Lorewalker]

Absolutely Jimmie Foxx.

[NiceDocter]

Paul Blair

[JimmyC]

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

Paul Blair

Definitely….

[Carter08]

Pitcher: Spahn
Hitter: Carew

[Casey2296]

Hornsby

[dealme]

Vada Pinson


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[drmondobueno]

Originally Posted by dealme

Vada Pinson


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+1

[Peter_Spaeth]

Bob Johnson gets mentioned a lot in these type of threads but I dunno...


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[scotgreb]

Frank Robinson

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[Peter_Spaeth]

Grover Alexander. Always seems to be relegated to a tier below Young Johnson Mathewson and Grove among prewar pitchers but should not be IMO.

[Hankphenom]

Cecil Travis
Mickey Vernon
Camilo Pascual

Every one in the HOF playing their careers for most other teams

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Cecil Travis
Mickey Vernon
Camilo Pascual

Every one in the HOF playing their careers for most other teams

+1 could not agree more

[GeoPoto]

OBP? Who knew?

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1671318477

[Mark17]

Eddie Murray. Switch-hitting power hitters are very rare.

[milkit1]

Johnny kling

[EddieP]

Originally Posted by scotgreb

Frank Robinson

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Originally Posted by dealme

Vada Pinson


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Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and Curt Flood were HS teammates. Frank Robinson was also a HS classmate of Bill Russell.

[Seven]

Jimmie Foxx for sure.

Feel like Stan Musial doesn't get much love outside of baseball circles, nor does Carl Yastrzemski.

[dfletch00]

Originally Posted by scotgreb

Frank Robinson

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Agreed

[Shamus]

Bernie Williams

[todeen]

Originally Posted by perezfan

To me, "overlooked" indicates a non-HOFer. My under-appreciated player is Dave Concepcion.

Originally Posted by abothebear

But to answer the question of the OP, oddly, Troy Glaus was the first name to come to mind. But after a minute of thinking, Lance Parrish. So many guys are great for not quite long enough, and then they get sort of erased from memory.

Originally Posted by iwantitiwinit

Albert Belle

Originally Posted by peanuts

George Brett - For just kind of being forgotten about and never mentioned after his retirement. Those last three years were rough, but he had an incredible run his entire career. And now you only ever hear him discussed in the context of the Pine Tar game

Salmon should get some more nods than he does. Not an HOFer by any means, but posted fantastic numbers for a decade and only retired after injury. But yet, never gets mentioned in the discussion around the 90s.

Originally Posted by Shamus

Bernie Williams

Concepcion and these 90s guys are all great suggestions.

Other 90s names that popped into my head are: Sean Casey and Paul Konerko.

I always debated whether I would prefer the Reds have Konerko rather than Casey.

I also debated whether the Reds should have kept Edwin Encarnacion rather than trade for Scott Rolen.

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[Nufced62]

Shortstop Bill Dahlen

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by todeen

Concepcion and these 90s guys are all great suggestions.

Other 90s names that popped into my head are: Sean Casey and Paul Konerko.

I always debated whether I would prefer the Reds have Konerko rather than Casey.

I also debated whether the Reds should have kept Edwin Encarnacion rather than trade for Scott Rolen.

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I liked Concepcion as being "overlooked" because it was virtually impossible to compete for attention on a team with Rose, Morgan, Bench, Perez, Foster and all the rest.

But after seeing the mention of Vada Pinson, I think that's a tough one to improve upon.

[conor912]

Warren Spahn

[BioCRN]

Stan Hack.

Hell of a hitter (.301/.394/.397 over 16 seasons, 8509 PA) and an above average defender at 3rd (great glove, not as great arm).

Even among Cubs fans he's mostly an "oh yeah, that guy was pretty good" afterthought even though he played his entire career with them and coached/managed in the Cubs system for many years following his playing career.

Hack was a huge collector of Cubs memorabilia, too.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

Stan Hack.

Hell of a hitter (.301/.394/.397 over 16 seasons, 8509 PA) and an above average defender at 3rd (great glove, not as great arm).

Even among Cubs fans he's mostly an "oh yeah, that guy was pretty good" afterthought even though he played his entire career with them and coached/managed in the Cubs system for many years following his playing career.

Hack was a huge collector of Cubs memorabilia, too.

This is a really good one.

I think most of the most underrated are 1) players who made the Hall but are almost universally panned for being in the Hall and there historical reputation becomes ‘that guy who is in the Hall but should not be’, and they never get credit for being very very good players in actual merit, or 2) players like Hack who just miss the Hall debates and have faded into complete and total obscurity even though they were very very good players as well.

[iwantitiwinit]

Albert Belle

[michael3322]

A lot of great responses here. I'd add 2:

Allie Reynolds

"Reynolds got his start in the majors as a solid pitcher for the Indians in the 1940s. However, once he got to the Yankees in 1947 his career took off. During his eight seasons in pinstripes, he went 131-60 with a 3.30 ERA. Reynolds helped the Yankees to six World Series titles, racking up a 7-2 record with a 2.79 ERA over 15 World Series games.

Reynolds made five All-Star games and had two top-three MVP finishes. Reynolds got a late start to his MLB career and pitched in only 12 full seasons. As a result, his final career numbers don't match up with the great pitchers of his generation. But when he was at his best, Reynolds could pitch with anybody."

and...

Lefty O'Doul

"O'Doul is in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and is credited with helping to popularize the sport in Japan in the 1930s. Before that, O'Doul had some great seasons as a left fielder after being converted from a pitcher at the age of 31. O'Doul had just seven full seasons as an offensive player, but he had two top-three finishes in MVP voting.

O'Doul had one of the greatest offensive seasons in major league history in 1929 when he set a National League record with 254 hits. He batted .398 that season and led the league with a .465 on-base percentage. O'Doul finished his career with a .349 batting average, still the fourth-best in major league history.

His best season on the Hall of Fame ballot came in 1960, when he received 45 Hall of Fame votes, a total higher than 27 future Hall of Famers. He had more votes than players like Ralph Kiner, Chuck Klein, Lefty Grove and Lloyd Waner."

[alaskapaul3]

First name that popped into my head was Aramis Ramirez. Completely consistant. Not a HOF , but should have at least stuck around on the ballot.

[theshowandme]

Paul Waner hit .333 with 3000+ hits and most fans don’t know who he is

[rugbymarine]

Eddie Collins
Tris Speaker
Lefty Grove
Frank Robinson
Steve Carlton
Dick Allen

[jingram058]

Bucky Walters - 3rd baseman converted into a fine pitcher
Riggs Stephenson - Look at his batting average
Thurman Munson - THE catcher before his tragic death
Johnny Vander Meer - Nobody ever beats that record
Cecil Travis - Frozen feet in the Battle of the Bulge

Name all you want, these fellows define underappreciated

[lampertb]

Johnny Mize

[metroac]

Stan Musial.

[therajah]

Al Simmons

[packs]

I'm going to throw Hal Newhouser out there. Typically a forgotten HOFer and a guy people sometimes list as a borderline player. However, he was pretty incredible for a brief amount of time and accomplished a lot that would normally have your name on people's minds a lot more:

He won 20 games four years in a row, including 29 in 1944. He also won two straight MVPs, and finished second the following year, nearly winning three MVPs in a row as a pitcher, and that stretch also included a Triple Crown.

These are the only three pitchers in history to win two MVPs: Hal Newhouser, Walter Johnson and Carl Hubbell.

Pretty elite company. I understand his career was pretty much over by the time he turned 29, but what a peak.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by packs

I'm going to throw Hal Newhouser out there. Typically a forgotten HOFer and a guy people sometimes list as a borderline player. However, he was pretty incredible for a brief amount of time and accomplished a lot that would normally have your name on people's minds a lot more:

He won 20 games four years in a row, including 29 in 1944. He also won two straight MVPs, and finished second the following year, nearly winning three MVPs in a row as a pitcher, and that stretch also included a Triple Crown.

These are the only three pitchers in history to win two MVPs: Hal Newhouser, Walter Johnson and Carl Hubbell.

Pretty elite company. I understand his career was pretty much over by the time he turned 29, but what a peak.

He dominated while most of the league was off in the war. Once they came back for the 1947 season he led the league in losses instead of wins (though he actually had a good season). He only seems underrated when the context of his 1944-1946 is left out.

[packs]

He did what he did in the time that he played. I don't know when another pitcher will win two straight MVPs or what the circumstances will be, but Hal Newhouser will be the only other pitcher to do that.

[bn2cardz]

Larry Doby