Every year I like to do something
on historical baseball during Spring Training to gear up for the season. The season is coming up soon, so this year I
decided to take a crack at each franchise's Mount Rushmore. Who were the four most influential people for
each franchise? This goes beyond just
players, it can be anyone affiliated with the team. It's a decently sized project, but a fun
one. It's also interesting on how some
franchises are harder than others, and for different reasons (too many to pick just
four, not enough to pick four). Also
note that this is for franchise history, not just for their current home. Without further ado, I'll start with the
National League East.
Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves
Hank Aaron
This
one is a no-brainer, one of the greatest players in history. He tops nearly every franchise leader board
(WAR, Slugging, OPS, Games, At Bats, Runs, Hits, Total Bases, Doubles, Home
Runs, RBIs, etc.). Somehow he's also one
of the most underrated players of all time.
Plus, he was an all-time great guy.
Warren Spahn
The
franchise leader in Wins (356), Innings Pitched, and at or near the top of most
other stats, he was also part of one of the great baseball rhymes of all time
("Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.")
He also lost a three years at the beginning of his career because of
World War II, so just imagine how much better his stats could have been.
Greg Maddux
The
best member of the greatest rotation in baseball history, he "only"
played 11 years in Atlanta but still managed 194 wins, the second-best winning
percentage in franchise history (behind Russ Ortiz?!?!), the second-best WHIP
in franchise history (1.051), and the fifth most WAR for pitchers. His stint in Atlanta was one of the most
dominant stretches, in an offensive era no-less, in baseball history.
Chipper Jones
This
last spot was hard, with a number of contenders. It basically came down to the two franchise
third basemen. My heart would go with
Eddie Mathews, truth be told the numbers do also, but I choose Chipper here as
the offensive counterpart of the great run of the Braves in the 90s and 00s.
Other notables:
Eddie
Mathews (second-highest WAR, also the only player to play in all three cities), Dale Murphy (one of the lone bright spots in the
80s), Bobby Cox and John Schuerholz (architects of the 90s and 00s Braves).
Florida/Miami Marlins
Jeff Conine
He
may not top any of the leaderboards for stats, in fact he barely sneaks into
the top 10 for many of them, but for a long time he was Mr. Marlin. I still remember him crying when he was
traded to the Orioles after his second stint.
I'm pretty sure he's also the only person, at least player, to be on
both World Series teams.
Giancarlo Stanton
Speaking
of leaders, here's the franchise leader in WAR, Slugging, Total Bases, RBIs,
and Home Runs. He came up at the wrong
time in Miami, never playing for a winning team. Unfortunately his monster year in 2017 has
lead to his trade to the Evil Empire.
Miguel Cabrera
Just
a baby when they won their second World Series, he had five stellar years
before moving on to Detroit. His biggest
problem, of course, was finding a defensive position (he's #3 in Offensive WAR
but #4 in total WAR). Even in an
abbreviated time, he's top 5 in nearly every important category.
Dontrelle Willis
He
had an amazing start to his career, Rookie of the Year and World Series
champion in 2003, 22-10 in 2005, and then a fast decline, he never pitched in
more than 15 games after 2007. Still, he
was a huge favorite in Miami and fun to watch.
Plus, he's #2 in pitchers WAR, Wins, and Innings Pitched.
Other notables:
Mike
Lowell (I actually had him on the list until I looked at the numbers), Hanley
Ramirez (surprisingly high on many lists, including #2 in WAR and #1 in offensive
WAR), Josh Johnson (did you know he's #1 in pitchers WAR? Me neither).
New York Mets
Tom Seaver
A
no-doubter if there ever was one, Seaver is one of the most underrated pitchers
of all time. He leads nearly every
franchise leaderboard, including dominating in WAR (76.1, next highest player
is Wright, 49.9, next highest pitcher is Gooden, 41.6). He simply was Tom Terrific.
David Wright
As
mentioned, he's tops on the leaderboards for position player WAR and at or near
the top of essentially everything else.
Of course, part of that is because few position players have had long
careers for the Mets, but still it's a big deal.
Mike Piazza
The
top two are easy, these next two are very difficult. Piazza is on the list because he was great
with the Mets but he also was huge in the World Series run in 2000 and in the
grieving after 9/11 (his home run in the first game back is still
goose-bump-inducing).
Keith Hernandez
The
lone representative of those great 80s teams partially because he's the best
one without a tarnished reputation, plus his stint on Seinfeld, plus his time
as announcer. There are guys with better
stats, but his is the best overall career.
Other notables:
A
bunch of guys were considered for the last two spots: Dwight Gooden, Darryl
Strawberry, Gary Carter, Jose Reyes, Howard Johnson, John Franco, even Davey
Johnson (manager in the 80s). You could
argue any of those guys and I wouldn't put up a big fight.
Montreal Expos/Washington
Nationals
Tim Raines
The
second greatest leadoff hitter of all time and finally a HOFer, Raines is
clearly the best in franchise history.
He's at or near the top in almost every category outside of the power
ones. He's also the best base stealer
(percentage wise, at least 400 steals) in history.
Gary Carter
I
was shocked to see he had the most WAR in franchise history, thanks partly to
his topping the defensive WAR list. The
Kid was also a great leader for one of the great runs (without anything to show
for it) of any franchise.
Ryan Zimmerman
I
had to get someone from the Nationals on this list, and who better than their
first draft pick? He's also #5 for WAR
in franchise history and #1 for home runs, #2 for many others. It's good to see he had a bit of a resurgence
in 2017.
Rusty Staub
Le
Grand Orange, he was the first franchise player, immediately making an impact
and a quick fan favorite. Sure he was
only there three years (and a short return in 1979), but he put Montreal
baseball on the map and is still one of the fan favorites. He's also in the top 4 for all of the
percentage stats.
Other notables:
I
almost went with a pitcher for that last spot, which would have been Steve
Rogers. It was also hard to keep Andre
Dawson off this list. I actually
originally had Vladimir Guerrero as #4, but had to get Staub on there for his
impact. If this was Nationals only,
Zimmerman would be joined by Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, and Max Scherzer,
all of whom could have made that last spot.
Philadelphia Phillies
Mike Schmidt
Simply
the best third baseman of all time, so he's clearly #1 for the Phillies. He is a whopping 45 WAR over the next-highest
position player (106.5 to 61.5). He's
also #1 in defensive WAR, if you can believe it.
Steve Carlton
He's
the franchise leader in Wins and Strikeouts and second in pitching WAR. Carlton won the Cy Young Award an astonishing
four times. Probably his most amazing
feat was winning 27 games for the 1972 team, which only won 32 others (no other
pitcher won more than 7).
Chase Utley
These
last two spots are incredibly difficult with many names to be considered. Utley gets a spot as a representative for the
World Series winners in 2008 who also happens to be #2 in position player
WAR. He didn't have any especially
eye-popping years, but was the model of consistency between 2005 and 2010. He's also the best player in history with a
"U" last name.
Grover Cleveland Alexander
Other notables:
You
have to start with Robin Roberts, the franchise leader in pitching WAR and
second in Wins. Richie Ashburn, Billy
Hamilton, Ed Delahanty, and Chuck Klein were all Hall of Famers who deserve
mention. Rather than Utley, you could
also consider Jimmy Rollins and Bobby Abreu for the modern day players.
No comments:
Post a Comment