Rawlings Gold Glove redux

by Youneverknow on Aug 27, 2007 6:25 PM EDT

King Kaufman on Rawlings all-time Gold Glove team

I don't read King Kaufman's daily sports blog at Salon.com all that often, although he seems interesting enough when I drop in.

He had an interesting take today on the Rawlings all-time Gold Glove team in which he acknowledged the difficulty of comparing fielders from different eras, but using a "cousin" of RAR (runs above replacement) called RAR2, he concluded four infielders since 1957 stand out clearly as the best at their position: Keith Hernandez, Bill Mazeroski, Ozzie Smith, and Brooks Robinson.

Kaufman also acknowledges what a great center fielder Jim Edmonds is, and points out an interesting "underappreciated" first baseman: one Albert Pujols.

Link:

http://www.salon.com/sports/col/kaufman/2007/08/27/monday/index1.html

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Why didn't you just post this in the Gold Glove

diary 5 diaries down?

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Aug 27, 2007 6:28 PM EDT reply actions

Sorry.

Pull it off if you want to, if you're a board monitor. No big deal.

by Youneverknow on Aug 27, 2007 6:56 PM EDT reply actions

it gives me a second chance

to post something I had forgotten to. Namely Bill White at first base.
"Billser" as I used to call him, was a definite favorite of mine, since the 60's was my first real chunk of Cardinal fandom. {{the All-Star game infield of Boyer, Groat, Javier and White in 1964 }}
A left handed line-drive hitter, who often hit in the 3-hole, as I recall. But my point is... I remember him as a "good" first baseman defensively, but I was surprised that he made this all-time defensive player list, or whatever it was.

I was also surprised (when I looked up his numbers) that he played 148 games in the outfield with the Cardinals during his career.
And tho I remember him being traded to Philadelphia in 1966 (broke a piece of my heart) I have NO memory of him coming back for a swansong with the Birds in 1969.

by CurtFlood on Aug 27, 2007 7:57 PM EDT reply actions

King Kaufman, using his stat index of choice -

puts Barry Bonds high on the list. If you want to pick a left fielder, he's the guy. Read George Will's MEN AT WORK and you'll know why. The young B. Bonds revolutionized the position in every way.

The numbers put Jim Edmonds ahead of Willie Mays. Interesting.

And Ichiro is currently blowing everyone away.

More food for thought.

by Urban Pawnee on Aug 29, 2007 6:11 PM EDT reply actions