Alan Trammell was quite a ballplayer. Like his double play mate, Lou Whitaker, though, for whatever reason, the baseball writer voters never gave Trammell the Hall-of-Fame treatment he deserves. But, in 2018, the Veterans Committee finally voted Alan Trammell into the Hall of Fame. It's a nice consolation prize, as their vote means just as much when it comes to being enshrined.

Trammell deserves to be in the Hall. He compiled 70.4 Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in his 20 year career. As late as 1993, he was worth 4.2 WAR in only 112 games. He was worth more than 6 WAR six times, with his best ever season coming in 1987, when he finished with 8.2 WAR and second in MVP voting. He lost to George Bell, who only had 5 WAR.

Trammell won 5 Gold Gloves in his career at shortstop. He was worth almost 2 WAR in many seasons for his defense alone. But, his bread and butter was above average offense from the shortstop position.  He only hit more than 20 homers twice in a season, but often posted solid on-base percentages and a career OPS of .767, good for a OPS+ of 110.

His counting numbers may not have been enough for traditional Hall-of-Fame voters. But, his contributions to his team relative to his position versus the rest of the league at the time gave him a case with the baseball veteran voters. FanGraphs only has him at 63.7 career WAR, but that’s still more than enough to be considered and more than many other Hall-of-Famers. Trammell was one of the better players in his day and definitely deserves the recognition.

What's An Alan Trammell Baseball Card Worth?

Like most baseball players, Alan Trammell's rookie cards are his baseball cards with the most valuable. In fact, Alan Trammell has two baseball cards with a lot of value. His most expensive rookie card is the 1980 Topps Rookie Stars #707 that he shares with fellow Hall-of-Famer Paul Molitor!

Trammell and Molitor share the Rookie Stars card with U.L. Washington of the Royals and Mickey Klutts of the Yankees. U.L. Washington had a couple of good years with the Kansas City Royals and had an above average glove. Mickey Klutts didn't do much in the majors. But, because Trammell shares his rookie card with Molitor, this card has sold for $700 to $800 when graded a PSA 9! Fortunately, if that's a bit out of your budget, there are SGC 8.5 and PSA 8 copies available for under $200 as of February 2019.

Alan Trammell's other rookie card was the 1978 Burger King release. It was sort of an oddball issue with a strange checklist and often plagued by centering issues. But if you find a well-centered version graded a PSA 9, you'll expect to pay over $250! You can find excellent condition raw copies for $20 to $30, however, and sometimes even lower. Both Alan Trammell rookie cards have plenty of value and are worth adding to any baseball card collection.

Tigers great Alan Trammell was a great shortstop. Yet, the Tigers great was still in the conversation for the Hall-of-Fame until 2018 when he was finally inducted by the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee.  Meanwhile, his double-play partner, second baseman Lou Whitaker, likewise was no longer eligible to be voted in traditionally due to a lack of support from the Baseball Writers Association voters.

Not only is this sad for Tigers fans, but he is more than deserving of being in the Hall-of-Fame than most of his second base peers, including 2011 inductee Roberto Alomar. While he could still enter the Hall through a Veterans Committee decision, it's clear that he's been snubbed for too long.

Was Lou Whitaker Unfairly Snubbed in the Hall of Fame Voting?

A sponsor of Lou Whitaker’s Baseball-Reference page brings up an excellent point. Alomar had an adjusted OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 116 over his career with 7 teams. Whitaker also had an adjusted OPS of 116 over his career with only one team. They both played about 2300 games and Whitaker amassed 69.7 WAR compared to Alomar’s 63.5 WAR in 12 fewer games. Like Alomar, Whitaker was a Gold Glove-caliber defender and won three Gold Glove Awards. Alomar won 10 Gold Gloves, but compiled only 2.4 defensive WAR. Whitaker had 15.4 defensive WAR.

Of course, both second basemen spent much of their careers alongside plus defensive shortstops. Alomar had Cal Ripken in Baltimore and Omar Vizquel during his Cleveland years. Whitaker had Trammell alongside for virtually his entire career. It’s likely that Vizquel actually made Alomar look even better than he was. But it’s a pretty clear consensus that Alomar was a great glove man. Still,  according to the statistics, Whitaker was even more valuable on the defensive side of the ball.

The main reason that Whitaker isn’t in the Hall of Fame is that, to put it simply, he’s a quiet, humble, low-key guy. He never seemed incredibly concerned about being in the Hall, actually saying that if he didn’t make it the first time to not bring his name up again. Obviously, writers remembered this and most left him off of their ballots. Of course, this was just Whitaker’s humility. But his play should’ve been enough to earn him a place, right?

Alomar and Whitaker By the Numbers

With statistics like WAR (wins above replacement) only now becoming mainstream, baseball card statistics (Average, HR, and RBI) have long been the deciding factors in who is chosen for the Hall of Fame and who’s not. But Whitaker’s and Alomar’s “counting numbers” are relatively the same – 244 HR, 1084 RBI and 2369 hits for Whitaker and 210 HR, 1134 RBI, and 2724 hits for Alomar. None of those are the “shoo-in” numbers, as no major milestones like 300 HR or 3000 hits were reached by either of them. The extra 300 hits do help Alomar’s case, but not incredibly so.

Alomar’s career OPS was higher than Whitaker’s, .814 to .789, but the only real baseball card stat where Alomar had the edge was in career batting average (.300 to .276). Their on-base percentages were very similar, Whitaker at .363 and Alomar at .371. Slugging wise, Alomar also had the edge, .443 to .426. So offensively, Alomar had an edge, but not outrageously so.

The Hall-of-Fame Worth of Gold Glove Awards

Really, the only advantage that Alomar had was his ten Gold Gloves. But after doing some research on Fangraphs.com, it appears that Alomar was not quite the glove man that people believed. For his career, his Total Zone rating was -3. That means Alomar's defense was worth a total of 3 runs below average over his career. By Total Zone, Whitaker was worth 77 runs above average. According to Total Zone, Alomar only had three truly very good seasons at second: 1998 with the Orioles and 1999 and 2000 for the Indians. Most of the time, Total Zone had him being worth negative runs in almost every other season that he played.

In any case, Alomar is definitely still worthy of being in the Hall of Fame. But if he is, then the runs that Whitaker saved on defense put him in the same exact category as Alomar, especially as both had career batting lines 16% above league-average. Alomar was always a higher-profile player on some extremely good teams, however, and so he was seen as a much better player by the writers.

It’s incredible to see just how much better Whitaker was on defense than Alomar, according to the numbers. But considering Alomar added more value on offense, they’re fairly equal. In any case, Lou Whitaker belongs in the Hall of Fame. Hopefully, the Veterans Committee fixes this mistake in the future.


How Much is a Lou Whitaker Baseball Card Worth?

While most of Lou Whitaker's baseball cards don't have the same value as his Hall-of-Fame double play partner Alan Trammell, he does have a very valuable rookie card. That is, if that card is flawless! The 1978 Topps Rookie Stars 2nd Baseman #704 rookie card features Lou Whitaker along with Garth Iorg, Dave Oliver,  and Sam Perlozzo.  In graded PSA 9 condition, this card was selling for as low as $40, although in late 2018 to early 2019, one PSA 9 copy sold for  $67 and another one for $92.

PSA 10 Gem Mint copies of the Lou Whitaker rookie card are rare (PSA only has  45 10's in their population report) and a flawless PSA 10 copy sold for a staggering $999 in January of 2019. Other PSA 10 copies have sold in the past for over $650. PSA 8 copies are much more affordable, though, often at a price point of $30 or less. There were near-mint lots of the card available on eBay for a similar price. The demand is definitely there for the Whitaker rookie card, even though he's not in the Hall of Fame.

Without a doubt, Whitaker being inducted into the Hall of Fame by one of the Era voting committees would do great things for his baseball card values. While his rookie card is the only valuable Lou Whitaker baseball card, the price on high-grade examples of his 1978 Rookie Stars card doesn't seem to be doing anything but growing!

In 2015, Baseball Reference unveiled a new feature highlighting the top players by Wins Above Replacement (better known as WAR) for any given franchise. It also gives the Top WAR leaders for any given season.

While Wins Above Replacement isn’t everyone’s favorite stat, it is a great stat when it comes to comparing players in relation to their contemporaries. When I was perusing the Milwaukee Brewers page, I found a name that I didn't recognize. It was a third baseman by the name of Don Money. The name sounded vaguely familiar, and was in fact, "Easy" Money for the Brewers.


Don Money with the Pirates and Phillies

Don Money was originally signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. They traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies for Hall of Famer Jim Bunning and others. Bunning was solid for the Pirates before being traded to LA in 1969, so it would be a good trade for them. As a utility infielder, Money had one above average season for the Phillies, mostly playing third base in 1970 with an OPS+ of 123 (meaning his batting line was 23 percent better than league average). His other three seasons with the Phillies were mediocre, providing most of his value from sheer defensive versatility. He did have a fine season with the glove in 1969 while playing mostly at shortstop.


Don Money with the Brewers

Money was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers after the 1972 season in a trade highlighted by pitcher Jim Lonborg (which also netted the Phillies a good season from pitcher Ken Brett). The Phillies had no idea that they were trading away a future 4-time All-Star. Then again, the guy who took over for Don Money in Philly was some dude named Mike Schmidt.  This third baseman would put up over 100 WAR over his career. Larry Bowa also proved to be fine at shortstop. They did OK in the long term, though.

Still, the Brewers were very happy with that trade. Pitcher Bill Champion had a couple of decent years before giving away all of that value with his next two bad years, becoming a net zero from that deal. Infielder John Vukovich was also terrible, costing the Brewers about a win in 1973 and being about replacement level in 1974.

But Don Money would be a steal, netting the Brewers 27.1 WAR over 11 years. In 1973, the utility man picked up 3.2 WAR, before having a 5 WAR season in 1974, one in which he also netted his first of 4 All-Star appearances. They were all deserved. His other All-Star seasons were 1976 (3.6 WAR), 1977 (5.1 WAR and his best year), and 1978 (4.8 WAR). Not bad for a guy who played all over the infield. In his prime, though, he mostly started at third base, and later first base.


Don Money, All-Star Infielder

By all accounts, Don Money was a very good defensive player. Particularly at third base, Money was such a good fielder that he even picked up the nickname "Brooks" after the Gold Glove third baseman Brooks Robinson. According to the defensive metrics, though, he was very above average in some seasons. But in others, his defense was decidedly below average. Still, his bat was just good enough to consistently keep him an above-average regular.

Money did have some down years. In 1975 he played in only 109 games and his glove wasn’t as good as usual,but his bat still made him an above-average player according to Baseball-Reference - FanGraphs wasn’t as kind. 1979 and 1981 were truly bad seasons. Sal Bando played a lot of third for the Brewers in 1979, and wasn’t great. Money bounced back in 1980 as Bando proved to be done and had a 2+ WAR season even in only 86 games. In 1981, though, he shared time with both Roy Howell and Sal Bando, the latter of whom was truly done - and was about replacement level in 60 games.

The End for Don Money

Money was truly “cashed out” by 1983 and soon after retired from the MLB. The Brewers were okay though, with some Paul Molitor guy taking over full time at third in 1982. While Molitor had already established himself in the bigs as a second baseman, the Brewers decided to go with the better defensive player in Jim Gantner at the keystone, moving Molitor to third. Molitor would go on to be a Hall of Famer, and Gantner was solid, so the Brewers made the correct choices.

Money would actually play a short stint in Japan in 1984. While he actually played fairly well, it was not a good experience for him and his family. .In 1987,  he would return to baseball as a fairly successful minor league manager. Some years later, in 2007, he was named the Southern League Manager of the Year for his work with the Double-A Huntsville Stars. After 2011, he would move into the front office as the Brewers' special instructor of player development.

So, Money did okay. He left Philly to make room for Mike Schmidt. He manned the hot corner for the Brewers well until yet another future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor assumed his role. While he’s no Hall of Famer, Money truly provided some great value and while he was a decently known player in his day, who ended up replacing him on both the Phillies and Brewers overshadowed a true All-Star career.

Dan Quisenberry, better known as "Quiz," was an ace relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals for 10 seasons (1979-1988). During that time, he compiled 24.9 WAR, for an average of nearly 2.5 WAR per season, an incredible feat for a relief pitcher.

Then again, during the eighties, relievers often pitched over 100 innings a season. Quisenberry was the Royals designated closer for 5 of those seasons, compiling at least 33 saves in each of those years and topping out with 45 in 1983. He saved 37 games for the World Champion Royals in 1985.

Quisenberry was a three time All-Star, being selected in 1982, 1983, and 1984. His best season was in 1983, when he compiled 5.5 Baseball-Reference WAR, saving 45 games with a 1.94 ERA in 139 innings. His tough arm angle and devastating sinker made up for the fact that he rarely struck out any batters (3.3 K/9 career). He didn't walk too many batters, though, either (1.4 BB/9 career). He also didn't give up many home runs (only a 0.5 HR/9 career mark).

He started burning out in 1988. That year, the Royals decided to release him after 20 only OK games. The Royals knew something was up, because when he signed later that season with the Cardinals, he was awful, posting a 6.16 ERA in 33 games (-0.7 WAR). He recovered a bit in 1989 for the Cardinals, however, when he posted 0.9 WAR in about 78 innings. But in 1990, he got into only 5 games with the Giants. In most of them, he was bombed. That was the career for Dan.

While Quisenberry isn't a Hall-of-Famer, he had quite a great career as one of the best relief pitchers of the 1980's. He was a part of the truly great Royals teams of the 80's and was a kind of pitcher we may never see again. Also, he's a published poet! Sadly, Quisenberry passed away in 1998 of a brain tumor. He left behind his wife Janie and two children. His wit and humor will be greatly missed, but he left behind a lot of great memories.

How Much is a Dan Quisenberry Baseball Card Worth?

The one Dan Quisenberry baseball card that's worth a fair amount is the 1980 Topps Future Stars #667 card that he shares with fellow Kansas City Royals pitchers Renie Martin and Bill Paschall. This would be considered Quisenberry's rookie card. Renie Martin would only have one good year in relief in 1981, but was worth -1 WAR in his short 6-year MLB career. Paschall pitched in only 11 major league games. Still, because Quisenberry had a notable career, this card can go for $40 to $50 when graded by PSA in Gem Mint 10 condition. You can find the card in good shape ungraded for as little as $2, however.

Other  Dan Quisenberry cards such as his 1982 Topps, 1983 Topps, and 1984 Donruss issues do pop up for sale occasionally in graded PSA 10 condition. Unfortunately, due to being fairly common and because Quisenberry isn't a Hall of Famer, these cards typically don't sell for much more than $10-12. Still, if you're a Kansas City Royals collector, these are nice cards to own for your collection, even if they don't hold much value.

Graig Nettles was quite a valuable player. He racked up 68 WAR in his 22 seasons (1967-1988) in the Major Leagues, a sum rivaled by a good many Hall of Fame players. So, how did a third baseman with only a .750 OPS become so valuable? It had a lot to do with his Gold Glove defense.

Nettles only won 2 Gold Glove Awards in his career, but should've won more. Over 2412 games at third base, Total Zone had Nettles worth 136 runs above average at third base, although he was no longer above average after 1981. Still, Nettles was a great defender both statistically and anecdotally. He brought a lot of value to the Indians and Yankees teams he played for in his defensive prime.

Nettles only had three seasons with an OPS over .800 and those were his age 31-33 seasons with the Yankees. He hit a career high 37 homers in 1977 and hit 32 homers in 1976, the only two times he ever hit more than 30 home runs. He did finish with a fairly high total of 390 home runs in his career. Nettles actually enjoyed a decent walk rate, but his low batting averages kept his career on-base percentage (OBP) around .329. Then again, OBP was not considered as important back in the 70's and 80's. That's also an acceptable mark due to his also hitting for some power.

By any standards, Nettles has fringe Hall-of-Fame credentials with the merits of his glove alone. However, defensive statistics are not always agreed upon. So, having about 20 of his career WAR associated with his defense alone sort of hurts his case. It's possible the Veterans Committee votes him in one day, but his case isn't as strong as some other third baseman. After all, Ron Santo was voted in posthumously in 2012 after deserving to be in the Hall forever.

Nettles is still a player well worth remembering, though. At one time, Nettles was one of the better defensive third basemen in the history of the game. He's still regarded pretty highly among fans, too, especially Yankees fans, as he played in four World Series for them, winning in 1977 and 1978.

What is a Graig Nettles Baseball Card Worth?

Graig Nettles shared his 1969 Topps Rookie Stars card with pitcher Danny Morris. You can grab a PSA 8 graded example for between $40 and $50 (as of 2/2019) as they are fairly plentiful. PSA 9 copies are far tougher to find, and the last one  on eBay sold in May of 2018 for about $300.

The most expensive Graig Nettles card that's sold recently at auction was actually a 1970 Topps Graig Nettles PSA 10 example. There are only 6 in the world, so it's little shock that it got $850 in January 2019 at auction. PSA 9 examples are hard to come by, as well, but PSA 8 and PSA 8.5 examples are cheap. A 1971 Topps Graig Nettles PSA 9 example sold for $500 in December 2018.

The most expensive recent sale of a Graig Nettles card with him depicted on the Yankees was a 1977 O-Pee-Chee Home Run Leaders card he shares with Phillies legend Mike Schmidt. This card as a PSA 10 example sold for $205, but possibly could have sold for more!

Nettles is a fine example of a player who had his best seasons with a big-market team. It also helps that he had a breakout season in one of the seasons where that team, the Yankees, won the World Series. A player’s popularity does a lot for his cards, and Nettles is no exception when it comes to New York Yankees fans.

Bobby Grich was a second baseman in the Major Leagues for the Baltimore Orioles and California Angels. He was one of the better players in his day, but is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He played from 1970-1976 with the Orioles, left as a free agent, and signed with the California Angels where he played the remainder of his career, 1977-1986. He had a .266/.371/.424 batting line in about 8200 plate appearances for an OPS+ of 125. (OPS+ is your on-base plus slugging percentage relative to league average, meaning that he was 25% better than league average.) Grich was also a very solid defensive second baseman who won 4 Gold Glove awards at the position.

Much of Grich's value came from his on-base percentages, which until the past couple of decades, was not as highly valued as batting average. Grich did have a little power, though, hitting at least 12 home runs in 12 of his 17 seasons. He even hit 30 in 1979 and 22 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. In his career he amassed 71 WAR according to Baseball-Reference. By that count, Grich should easily be in the Hall of Fame, and many fans agree that he's been quite underrated for a long time.

Bobby's still quite active in the game today, working in the now Los Angeles Angels' front office. He's also active in the Anaheim, CA community. He's a great guy who was a great player and his career was vastly underrated by baseball writers when it came to Hall-of-Fame voting. No doubt, though, he'll forever be remembered by the Orioles and Angels fans that watched him play. Thanks for the memories, Bobby.

"Every season has its peaks and valleys. What you have  to try to do is eliminate the Grand Canyon.” - Andy Van Slyke

In my various baseball player profiles that I've written, I've mostly written about Hall-of-Fame caliber players past and present, some of which have been snubbed from being in the great Hall. Today, I'm writing about a very good player, but not a Hall-of-Famer: Andy Van Slyke. The main reason I'm writing about him is that his acquisition from the Cardinals is easily one of the best trades the Pittsburgh Pirates ever made.

Of course, at the time of the trade in 1987, Tony Pena was an amazing catcher. He was consistently worth 3.5 or more wins between 1982-1986 for the Buccos. So when the Cardinals traded for him in the 1986-1987 off-season, they didn't expect Pena to be worth only about 2 WAR total over the next three seasons. Although Pena would actually continue to have a long respectable career, he was never the same after leaving Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, Van Slyke was an okay player with the Redbirds. He'd had decent 1985 and 1986 seasons, producing an average of 3.4 WAR between those seasons. He wasn't an all-star, but he was a plus-defensive outfielder with the speed to steal 30 bases each season. While Mike LaValliere, who actually was traded alongside Van Slyke, was no Tony Pena, he would actually be worth about 2 WAR a season for the next few years. As it would turn out, LaValliere's great on-base skills would make him pretty valuable. Plus, he was a very good defensive catcher. Pena for LaValliere was already a great trade.

Van Slyke, on the other hand, emerged into a perennial All-Star for the Bucs. He would compile 30.9 WAR in the Steel City over 8 seasons. After injuries derailed his 1993 season, he had a very poor season in the strike-shortened 1994 campaign. He split 1995 between Philly and Baltimore before retiring for good. Since retiring from playing baseball, he's served as a Major League coach for the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners. He's also become an author.

While Andy wasn't a Hall-of-Famer, there's no doubt that Cardinals fans certainly are not happy their team made that trade. While he wasn't missed in 1987, there were certainly times afterward where Van Slyke's presence would have been welcomed over guys like Milt Thompson. Still, the Pirates definitely benefited from what was a roster crunch from St. Louis, and they received a player that became a beloved part of their franchise.


Do Andy Van Slyke Baseball Cards Have Any Value?

Because he was such a good-looking, well-liked, charismatic ballplayer, Andy Van Slyke baseball cards are actually probably worth more than you think. He didn't hit over .300 in his career, or hit a lot of home runs, or steal a lot of bases. But when it comes to Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals collectors, Van Slyke is a player much in demand.

While Van Slyke does have a couple of good rookie cards to collect, the Andy Van Slyke card with the most value is actually the 1993 Topps Finest Baseball's Best refactor. One graded PSA 9 copy sold for $40 in November 2018, but another PSA 9 copy sold in January 2019 for a staggering $127.50! Being depicted on the Pirates and being in a condition-sensitive set for grading makes this card a key to any Andy Van Slyke baseball card collection.

Andy Van Slyke's most valuable rookie cards are in 1984 Topps and 1984 Donruss. They get about $20 each at auction for PSA 10 examples. The 1984 Fleer rookie is much less expensive. There's also the 1982 TCMA pre-rookie card, which also doesn't get much at auction.

Another Andy Van Slyke baseball card with value is the 1987 Topps Tiffany - his most valuable Cardinals card - worth about $30 in graded PSA 10 condition.  There's also the 1994 Bowman's Best Red Refractor - worth about $20 for a PSA 9 example. Other PSA 10 graded examples of other Van Slyke cards exist, and while they sell, are available in the $5 to $10 range already slabbed.

While Van Slyke may never be a Hall of Famer, his baseball cards have surprising value. It goes to show how a player's personality, popularity, and good looks can endear him to many collectors. He played for some very good Pirates teams, too. His acquisition is easily one of the better Pirates trades of all time.

Scott Rolen was a 7-time All-Star third baseman who played for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Reds. He compiled exactly 70 WAR (according to baseball-reference) in his 17-year career. He was a rare player who both hit for power (career .855 OPS) and played outstanding defense (career +145 runs above average according to TotalZone). Defensive Runs Saved, which started in 2003, sees him as being worth 114 runs above average from 2003-2012, and UZR agrees that he’s been worth about 13 runs above average since 2003. The metrics, fans, and writers (who voted him for seven Gold Gloves) all agree that he’s one of the best defensive third basemen that baseball has ever seen.

Rolen was also involved in three major deals in his career. First, he was dealt by the Phillies to the Cardinals for Placido Polanco, Bud Smith and Mike Timlin. Only Polanco would be much use to them (7.2 WAR in his first stint with the Phillies). Rolen would be worth 25.8 WAR over 6 seasons with St. Louis and won a World Series with them in 2006.

The second deal was a challenge trade with the Blue Jays for Troy Glaus. Rolen and Glaus each dealt with injury issues in 2007. At first, the deal looked good for the Cardinals, who got a 4-win season out of Glaus in 2008, while Rolen would only see 203 games with the Blue Jays between 2008 and 2009 due to more injuries. However, in limited playing time, he was still worth 5.4 WAR in those games, making him a still above-average starter because of his strong defense.

Mid-season 2009, Rolen was hitting quite well and the Blue Jays decided to flip him to the contending Cincinnati Reds for Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart. While the pitchers didn’t work out, Encarnacion went from a bust for the Reds to three years later becoming a hitting star with the Blue Jays. Rolen played decently in the final 40 games of the season for the Reds and signed an affordable three-year deal to remain with the team. While he missed some time during 2010, Rolen put up a fine season and won a Gold Glove. 2011 went well until he got hurt again, and 2012 was also another lost year for him before he decided to retire.

There’s a good chance that Rolen will become a Hall-of-Famer one day. He’s the best third baseman of his generation, although Adrian Beltre has been in the midst of a late-career surge to try and take that title. Rolen was consistently excellent throughout his career and playing well even in injury-plagued seasons. He’s a solid player whose contributions to his teams, especially the Cardinals, should be fondly remembered.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Gaylord Perry is one of the most well-traveled Hall of Fame pitchers of all time. Of course, he spent most of his illustrious career with the San Francisco Giants (1962-1971), but also played for the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees (for only 10 appearances), Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, and the Kansas City Royals. He won over 300 games in his career with a career 3.11 ERA. Gaylord compiled 93.7 WAR in his 22 seasons, more WAR than Steve Carlton or Bob Gibson.

Perry didn't strike out a ton of guys (5.9 K/9), but didn't walk many guys, either (2.3 BB/9). He just knew how to keep hitters off balance and how to pitch complete games (303 of his 690 career starts were complete games.) He pitched over 300 innings in a season six times in his career. His durability and consistency were extraordinary and he continued to be an effective pitcher even after turning 40. He will be best remembered as a Giant (37 WAR), but he was actually even better as an Indian (29 WAR in half of the innings pitched).

Thanks for an amazing career, Gaylord Perry.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons user Ghetto9678

Not much more can be said about legendary pitcher Greg Maddux, who was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame in 2014, which was his first season of eligibility. To say he is a paragon of pitching excellence would be an understatement, and his career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) total of 106.8 ranks 25th on Baseball-Reference surrounded by guys like Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, and Lefty Grove.

However, Maddux didn't dominate by striking guys out. He wasn't an extreme ground-ball pitcher, either. He simply didn't walk guys and induced weak contact by keeping hitters off balance. No one has been better in the game at doing that since Maddux, and anyone would be hard-pressed to repeat his long trend of excellence.

He started out fairly well with the Cubs, but it was after signing for some big money with the Atlanta Braves in 1993 that his best years began. From 1993-2003, he amassed 66 WAR, for an average of 6 WAR per season. That is a pretty ridiculous peak, and that's not even including his 9.2 WAR year with the Cubs in 1992. Even after leaving Atlanta in 2004 and returning to the Cubs, Maddux was still an above-average pitcher in 2004 and 2005. He would only have one more truly good season, 2008 with the Padres (2.6 WAR), but that was mostly due to arm fatigue from pitching all of those thousands of innings over such a long period of time.

It should also be noted that Maddux had quite a postseason career, as well, due to all those years with those many Braves playoff runs. While he wasn't the most dominating pitcher, he had a career 3.27 postseason ERA in 198 innings, but an 11-14 record due to an incredible lack of run support.

Greg Maddux is one of the greatest pitchers that has ever played the game of baseball. I was lucky to see many of his starts on TBS in my youth and will never forget the impeccable command he had with his pitches and his amazing ability to read hitters and keep them off balance. He definitely deserved his Hall-of-Fame induction in Cooperstown!

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Kenny Lofton may never be a Baseball Hall of Famer, but he was one heck of a player. Lofton would compile 68.1 Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement (WAR), which is a total higher than a good deal of Hall of Fame position players, including Andre Dawson and Dave Winfield. Granted, much of that WAR total comes from simply playing almost 17 seasons in the Big Leagues. But, he was a fairly consistent player, and even in his age 40 season, he was still quite productive, to the point that he probably could have played one or two more seasons.

Lofton didn't reach 3000 hits; he had 2428 career hits). But, he walked quite a bit (career .372 OBP) and stole a ton of bases (622 career). One interesting thing to note about Lofton is that after 1999, he was never again an All-Star. Yet, Lofton would continue to play at an All-Star level, despite suffering various injuries and not hitting above .300 for the most part anymore. So, while Lofton's OBP and isolated power levels (slugging percentage minus batting average) remained rather constant, his speed steadily diminished and his value became less and less clear to many teams.

Lofton only put up two 3+ WAR seasons after 1999 (2000 and 2005), but he was still worth almost 2 WAR in those seasons despite not playing full seasons. He wasn't quite the center fielder in the second half of his career, but he was still useful. He wasn't a complete defensive negative until 2006 and 2007. Even then, his bat was still valuable and he could still steal 20-30 bases.

Kenny Lofton is one of the best examples of a player that had a crazy early peak and simply hung around for another 5-7 years but still added considerable value to his ball-clubs. He really bounced around after leaving Cleveland after the 2001 season - although he'd return at the end of the 2007 season to help the Indians in their playoff run. He played for the Giants, White Sox, Pirates, Cubs, Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, and Rangers before rejoining the Indians at the end. On all of those teams, he was well above replacement level. Lofton was still a starter-caliber player until at least 2005, yet he wasn't considered as one. If he'd been given more playing time, it's likely he WOULD be going into the Hall of Fame without a doubt.

Kenny Lofton was one of the best and most consistent ballplayers that I ever watched growing up. If it were up to me, he'd be in the Hall, as he's somehow become one of the most underrated players of his generation.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Roy Halladay was one of the best pitchers in baseball at one time. In 2003 and 2010, Halladay won the Cy Young Award and was in the conversation in 5 other seasons. Over his 16 year career, he's pitched over 2700 innings with a 3.38 career ERA, 203 wins with a solid 3.58 K:BB ratio. While he's never had particularly high strikeout rates (only 6.9 K/9 in his career) he's been very good at getting groundballs (54% career) and induces plenty of weak contact.

Halladay compiled 65.9 WAR according to Baseball-Reference, which exceeds the total of Hall-of-Fame pitchers Bob Feller, Juan Marichal, and Hal Newhouser. FanGraphs agrees with this total with an even higher number, 67.6 WAR, which is based on his career 3.39 FIP. It goes to show that both the traditional ERA and sabermetric FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) metrics both agree he has been an exceptional pitcher over his career.

Halladay's 2012 wasn't wonderful, but even then he was still worth 2.5 WAR according to FanGraphs. His 2013 was pretty disastrous, however, compiling a -0.8 WAR. As it turned out, Halladay threw his last Major League pitch in 2013. The Steamer projection systems still saw Halladay being able to pitch 25 starts at a 3.8 FIP (3.9 ERA) level, compiling about 2.2 WAR. In early 2014, however, he decided to hang them up, signing a one-day contract with the Blue Jays to officially retire with Toronto. In any case, Halladay is definitely Hall-of-Fame material.

Tragically, however, in 2017 Roy was killed in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico while piloting his own private plane. Even more tragically, it was found during Roy's autopsy that he had died with several suspicious drugs in his system. Whatever reasons for those drugs to be in his system, it was a very untimely death for someone who was only 40 years old. He left behind a family and  a good position as a mental coach for the Blue Jays' young pitchers.

Roy became eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019. He was  elected posthumously on his first ever ballot. Perhaps a good part of that was out of respect for his untimely passing. In any case, though, Roy Halladay belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Thanks for the memories, Roy.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner ofIntent-sive Nature & theBrand Shamans network

Darryl Strawberry was once well on his way to becoming a Hall-of-Fame ballplayer. Yes, he had a litany of off-field problems even in his early days with the New York Mets, but from 1983-1990 he was worth 36.5 WAR in 8 seasons, and some of those were only partial seasons. In 1991 he left the Mets and joined the LA Dodgers, enjoying a fine first season with them, as well, compiling 3.6 WAR.

In 1992, however, everything began to fall apart. Injuries began to ravage his career and the Dodgers cut him loose mid-way through his fourth season (1994) after playing in only 65 games between 1992 and 1993 and didn't even play a game with the Dodgers before his release in 1994. He did latch on with the 1994 Giants, playing in 29 games before the labor strike ended that season. 1995 didn't start well as he was suspended because of his use of cocaine and was dealing with child support issues, but was able to get into 32 games for the 1995 Yankees. In 1996, he started the season in independent ball, but the Yankees came calling again, and he got into 63 games and played fairly well. It was that season he was part of the 1996 Yankees championship, which he enjoyed with former Mets teammates David Cone and Dwight Gooden.

In 1997, Strawberry missed all but 11 games due to injuries, but in 1998 played the last truly great season of his career. He played in 101 games, batting .247/.354/.542, but due to his lack of mobility in the outfield, he mostly played designated hitter, which made him only worth 1.7 WAR for the Yankees because of the defensive penalty counted against players for playing DH. He won yet another Championship, but later that year was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was after that his career was essentially over. But he did make a comeback from his cancer treatment, and he got into 24 games with the Yankees in 1999 and hit a key home run in the 1999 ALCS. Strawberry won one final ring before retiring for good. In that same year, though, he was arrested for a rather peculiar and ridiculous incident which led to two years’ probation.

After his retirement his life was a mess. His cancer treatment was on-going and his drug use increased. Among other things, he was imprisoned for 11 months, and at one point lost the will to live and stopped his chemotherapy treatments. Fortunately for him, he did eventually straighten his life out by 2005, meeting his new wife in the process. He now has an organization, the Darryl Strawberry Foundation, which is dedicated to kids with autism. He's also been playing golf and has made quite a few public appearances over the past few years, including appearing on Pros Vs. Joes and the Apprentice.

Darryl Strawberry probably would've been a Hall-of-Famer if the injuries hadn't ravaged him so badly after 1992. As it is, though, he enjoyed four World Championships and has one of the more fascinating player stories in recent baseball history. It is great to see that after all he went through that he was able to turn his life around. It's just a shame that his career as a ballplayer just didn't turn out the way it could have.

Good luck in everything you're doing, Darryl.

Not many people probably remember Scott Seabol. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 88th round in 1996. That's an absurdly late pick, honestly; I don't think the draft EVER goes that far anymore. He had a couple of big minor league seasons in the Yankees organization before being called up in 2001. He received only 1 at-bat as a pinch hitter and made an out on a ball in play.

In 2002, he had a sub-par year in the minors and was let go by the Yankees after the season. The Brewers signed him as a free agent and was released in May after 25 pretty bad games in the minors. The St. Louis Cardinals picked him up and he mashed at AAA for the Memphis Redbirds for the rest of 2003, 2004, and 2005 with an OPS consistently around .900. He was called up in 2005 and got into 59 games as a bench player and didn't do much. The Cardinals let him go in December.

In 2006, the Marlins signed Seabol and put him at AAA Albuquerque where yet again mashed to the tune of a .998 OPS in 71 games. He was let go in July in order to pursue an opportunity in the Korean Baseball League. Seabol's time in the KBO wasn't good: in 47 games, he hit just .163/.237/.301 with 6 HR.

Apparently, though, the Marlins still wanted him back at AAA in 2007, where he had a .943 OPS in 139 games. This afforded him an opportunity in the Japanese baseball leagues with the Hiroshima Carp. His first year with the Carp went OK, but he only had a .755 OPS. The next season he was terrible with only a .628 OPS and returned home after the season to retire.

It's fair to say that Seabol deserved better chances in his playing career. He just never got a fair shake, honestly, by MLB teams. He seemed to be a defensive-neutral player at both first and third base and could certainly hit for a good deal of power. It's hard to say he was a true 4-A player - someone that's too good for AAA but not good enough for the Majors.

The main issue for Seabol is that he seemed always blocked in what ever organization he signed with. He just had tough luck, though he made OK money at AAA. He had a decent baseball playing career and at least got his cup of coffee in the Majors.

The good news for Scott Seabol is that he actually would later become a coach in the Yankees minor league system. In 2018, he was named the hitting coach of the Single-A Charleston RiverDogs.

I wish you well, Scott Seabol, and hope life is treating you well!

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons