Thursday June 19, 2003

Who Is The Greatest Minnesota-Born Hitter???

As promised, today’s article will discuss “Who is the Greatest Minnesota-Born Hitter of All-Time”. I will use basically the same format as my report a couple weeks ago on “Who is the  Greatest Hitter of All-Time”, so be sure to read that also if you haven’t already. There have been 141 Minnesotans who have made at least an appearance in a major league game. However, there are just eight players born in Minnesota who have accumulated over 3,000 big league at bats. Obviously, Paul Molitor and Dave Winfield will be on top of this list, but it’s interesting to see where the remaining six will finish. I’d like to thank the folks at Baseball-Reference.com for their work and making researching all of the below numbers so much easier.

Before doing this research, my opinion is that Winfield will narrowly edge Molitor for the Number 1 spot because of his power numbers. Was I right?  Was I wrong? Will one of the other six candidates end up surprisingly high?  See below:

The Candidates (in alphabetical order) -

Jim Eisenrich - 1982-1998 (14 seasons)

Born in St. Cloud, Jim Eisenrich really had an amazing career.  He started with the hometown Twins in 1982, but he was dealing with Tourette’s Syndrome. His “ticks” took over his life, and ended his professional baseball career.  He stopped playing pro ball, continuing to play amateur ball in St. Cloud, and with the help of prescription drugs, he was able to make a comeback two years later.  He spent 1987 -1992 with the Kansas City Royals. He went to the ’93 World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies, losing to Paul Molitor and the Toronto Blue Jays, where he played from 1993-1996.  He won a World Series championship in 1997 with the Florida Marlins before splitting 1998, his final season between Florida and the LA Dodgers.

Chick Gandil - 1910-1919 (9 seasons)

Born in St. Paul, Arnold “Chick” Gandil became a solid major league first baseman. In 1910, Chick came up with the Chicago White Sox. He played for the Washington Senators from 1912 – 1915, for the Cleveland Indians in 1916, and back with the Chicago White Sox from 1917 to 1919.  He helped win the World Series for the Sox in 1917, and he was one of eight players banned from baseball for (allegedly) fixing and then losing the 1919 World Series. So, he’ll forever be linked with Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other players involved in the Black Sox scandal. But, Gandil actually had a couple of very good years.  In 1913, he finished 6^th in the MVP voting behind Walter Johnson, Joe Jackson, Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker and Frank “Home Run” Baker.  Four Hall of Famers and One Would-Be Hall of Famer, Jackson.

Kent Hrbek - 1981-1994 (14 seasons)

Known as growing up in Bloomington, Hrbek was born in Minneapolis.  He spent 14 seasons (1981-1994) with his hometown Twins. Hrbek played in his only All-Star game in 1982, the same year he finished 2^nd in the American League MVP voting, his only Top 10 finish.  He was a key member of the two Twins World Series Championships in 1987 and 1991. His number has been retired by the Twins and he is a member of their Hall of Fame. A fan favorite, when asked if he was going to, like teammate Kirby Puckett (who wrote a book called I Love The Game), author a book, said “If I did, it would be called ‘I Hate The Game, But I Love Drinking Beer.’”

Roger Maris - 1957-1968 (12 seasons)

Famous as being from Fargo, ND, Maris was born in the northern community of Hibbing, MN.  Maris played 12 major league seasons with three teams. 1957 and part of 1958 he was a Cleveland Indian. He was traded and played the rest of 1958 and then 1959 with the Kansas City Royals where he was a 1959 All-Star.  He was then traded to the New York Yankees and became famous forever.  He was the American League MVP in 1960 and 1961, the only 2 years he finished in the top 10 in MVP voting.  He became the single-season home run king in 1961 with 61 homers, a record that lasted 37 years. He was an All-Star for the Yankees in 1960, 1961 and 1962. They won the World Series in 1961 and 1962. He played for the Yankees until 1966.  He went to the St. Louis Cardinals to play two more years with them and help them win the 1967 World Series.

Paul Molitor - 1978-1998 (21 seasons)

Molitor was born in St. Paul and went to Cretin High School (the school that would later become Cretin-Derham Hall and produce many professional athletes including Twins minor leaguer Joe Mauer).  He went on to star at the University of Minnesota.  He spent his first 15 major league seasons (1978-1992) with the Milwaukee Brewers, playing in the 1982 World Series. He then went on to spend the 1993-1995 seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays where he was the 1993 World Series MVP, the only World Series championship of his career.  He came home in 1996 and spent his final three major league seasons with the Minnesota Twins, retiring following the 1998 season. Molitor was a 7-time All-Star who at some point in his career led the league in hits, doubles, triples and runs scored.  He finished in the top 10 in MVP voting four times.  His career 3,319 hits is currently 9^th on the all-time list.

Rip Repulski - 1953-1961 (9 seasons)

The Sauk Rapids native played 9 seasons in the big leagues (1953-1961). He spent time roaming centerfield for the St. Louis Cardinals, in between Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter. He played two seasons each in Philadelphia, Los Angeles (Dodgers) and Boston.  He was an All-Star in 1956, and was a part of the 1959 World Champion LA Dodgers.

Terry Steinbach - 1986-1999 (14 seasons)

New Ulm native Terry Steinbach also went on to a career at the University of Minnesota.  The catcher then played 14 major league seasons, the first 11 with the Oakland A’s and the final three with the Minnesota Twins, before retiring after the 1999 season. The three-time All-Star  was the All-Star game MVP in 1988.  He was a key contributor to the A’s 1989 World Series championship (along with McGwire, Stewart, Welch, Eck, and plenty others, I guess including that Canseco guy).

Dave Winfield - 1973-1995 (22 seasons)

Another St. Paul product, Winfield was one of the most intimidating hitters of all time. He went to the University of Minnesota and played baseball and basketball. After being drafted by the San Diego Padres, he was immediately brought up to the major leagues and never saw a day in the minor leagues. Winfield played for 6 teams over his 22 seasons.  He played on 12 All-Star teams, won 7 Gold Gloves, and although he never won an MVP award, he did finish in the Top 10 in MVP voting 7 times. Spent 8 years with the Padres, 9+ years with the Yankees, a year and a half with the Angels.  Won his lone World Series championship in his one year, 1992, in Toronto.  He too came home and played 1993 and 1994 for the Twins.  With the strike, very few people realize he was traded to, and spent time with, the Cleveland Indians. He went into the Hall of Fame in 1992 as a San Diego Padre.

Criteria- (this is exactly as the previous research had been, to be consistent)

In my mind, there is more to “the greatest hitter” than just number of hits.  If so, Pete Rose is the best, and Ty Cobb is second. I think that a compilation of all stats are important in determining who’s the greatest. Can a player hit for average, get on base, and hit for power. I also think that by-products of this are runs scored and RBIs.  I went into developing my theory with three thoughts in mind:

1.)     Raw Numbers do matter. People downgrade Hank Aaron’s numbers sometimes because he has so many at bats more than anyone else.  I happen to believe that his numbers speak for themselves and are important.

2.)     Longevity - I understand that Hank Aaron and Ty Cobb had longer careers than Joe Dimaggio or Ted Williams. Baseball is a great game, and a game of numbers. Injuries are a part of the game, otherwise Ken Griffey Jr. might already be a Hall of Famer. The fact that Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams served their country in war time and are regarded as heroes is tougher. I guess I could try to project, but 1.) that’s hard, and 2.) who’s to say that they would have lived up to those projections or wouldn’t have been hurt.  So, I’ll just again leave the numbers to themselves.

3.)     Another factor in my judgment will be how these players compared to the average player during their era. How much are their numbers better than others who played at that time?  I will talk about their numbers in relation to their Park Adjusted. This basically is saying what the average major league player playing in the same ballparks as the player would have done. For instance, Barry Bonds played in Pittsburgh from 1986-1992, and in 2 different ballparks in San Francisco since.  The park adjusted league average shows what the average player playing in his exact career path would have done.  Clear as mud?

Categories -

So, here are the 15 statistics used (same as the All-Time report for consistency):

1.) Hits, 2.) 2B, 3.) 3B, 4.) HR, 5.) RBI, 6.) Runs, 7.) Batting Average, 8.) % Batting Average Above League/Park Adjusted Average, 9.) On-Base Percentage, 10.) % On-Base Percentage Above League/Park Adjusted Average, 11.) Slugging Percentage, 12.) % Slugging Percentage Above League/Park Adjusted Average, 13.) OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging), 14.) OPS Above League/Park Adjusted Average, and 15.) OPS+.

Equations -

                I have looked at the data 2 ways.

1.)     Ranking - For each of the 15 categories, I ranked the players 1 through 8. Then, I added up the sum of the 15 numbers and divided by 15 to get the average.  This results in a number between 1 and 8.  If a player ranked first in each of the 15 categories - (15x1)/15=1. So, the lower the score, the better the player ranks.

2.)     Scale Score - I took the leader of the 8 in each category and assigned 10 points to them. Using their statistic as the denominator, I put the other players’ statistics in the numerator. The result of that division was taken times ten the result being between 0 and 9.9. Example - In 1998, Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs, Sammy Sosa hit 66.  In that case, McGwire would receive a 10 for leading the category.  Sosa would receive 66/70x10=9.4.  I think this fairly distinguishes the difference between the player and the leader.  In this case, the higher the score (closest to 10) in the leader.

Statistics -

                I will now enter the leaders by category with the Ranking shown first then Scale Score in parentheses.

RESULTS -

Ranking (1-8)                                          Scale Scoring (scale to 10)

SUMMARY –

Well, unlike the last time I tried such a report and guessed wrong, my assumption that Dave Winfield would Rank #1 just ahead of Paul Molitor.  The reason I thought was because of his bigger power numbers.  But the thing that surprised me the most with the results of this research was just how well Kent Hrbek finished.  I also realized that there is no argument really for Roger Maris being in the Hall of Fame. Sure, he had two pretty good years in 1960 and 1961, and his single season home run record lasted for 37 years. But that bat and that record are already in the Hall of Fame.  I think Maris’s career comes up short when it comes to his career being a Hall of Fame career.  Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Dave Winfield is there  already, entering with Kirby Puckett, Bill Mazeroski and Hilton Smith in 1991.  Paul Molitor is a sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer, I believe we’ll find that out next January. I think seeing the stats of the other four are interesting, and a little Minnesota History lesson is never a bad thing, right? I think that if not for the 1919 Black Sox scandal, Chick Gandil probably would be #5 on this list.

My final listing of the Top 8 Greatest Minnesota-Born Hitters of All-Time:

1.)     Dave Winfield

2.)     Paul Molitor

3.)     Kent Hrbek

4.)     Roger Maris

5.)     Jim Eisenrich

6.)     Terry Steinbach

7.)     Chick Gandil

8.)     Rip Repulski

I hope you’ve enjoyed this report, because I really did enjoy researching it. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions, etc, please E-mail me! 

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