SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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(This is not her in my series of posts from my review of my WORD documents to see what's a 'keeper'. Items that might still be of interest that I put together in past years- in some cases many years- relating to other than SU Sports will be posted here to give us a bit of break from viruses and riots.)
DiMaggio, Williams and Musial
I don't agree with a lot of the stuff the SABRmatricians have come up with over the years. Despite being the inventor, (sort of), of "Net Points" for basketball, I'm not impressed with the notion of creating a master stat that combines all the rest so that player can be objectively rated. I think you will always need more than numbers to do that. (SABR = Society for American Baseball Research)
But I do like the fact that the SABR people have complied road numbers vs. home numbers. Home numbers are dominated by the conditions of the home ballpark. Road numbers on the other hand are complied in all sorts of ballparks and are a better measure of the quality of a hitter. And Joe DiMaggio was probably disadvantaged by the contours of his home ballpark than any other player. Joe hit .317 with 148 home runs in 13 years at home, .333 with 213 home runs on the road. If you double the road numbers, it indicates he would have hit 426 homers if he played his home games in an average ballpark. He played only 13 years because of his PCL career, his war service and the foot injury that never healed properly and caused him to retire at age 37. If he'd played in an average ballpark for, say 20 years, he'd have hit about 640 home runs. A guy who hits .333 with 640 home runs while playing the outfield so smoothly that people say they never saw him make a difficult play, (because he made them all look easy), ran the bases as well as anyone of his time, (stealing bases were out of favor as a strategy), and was the unchallenged leader, (they said his stare could freeze you if you screwed up on the field), of a team that won 10 pennants and 9 World Series in the 13 season he did play is quite a player, don't you think?
His two great contemporaries were Stan Musial, famous for destroying the Dodgers in Ebbets Field and winning 7 NL batting titles, and Ted Williams declared by Joe and himself to be the greatest hitter of all time, (Joe agreed to call him that if Ted would call Joe the greatest player). Here are their road numbers per 154 games, (representing their performance in an average ballpark for what constituted a full season in their time):
DiMaggio 623ab 71w 208h 37d 10t 38hr 379tb 147rbi 133rs .333ba .405obp .610slg 242rp
Williams 522ab 135w 171h 28d 5t 37hr 320tb 119rbi 113rs .328ba .468obp .615sp 195rp
Musial 571ab 77w 186h 34d 9t 23hr 307tb 92rbi 97rs .326ba .408obp .537sp 166rp
Of course, Ted and Stan played it out to the bitter end. Joe D was famous for "quitting on top", retiring after his first bad year. Let's look at the road numbers per 154 games for each player’s best five consecutive years, (as measured by "runs produced"):
DiMaggio, (1936-40) 662ab 54w 228h 39d 12t 44hr 423tb 165rbi 147rs .344ba .394obp .639slg 268rp
Williams, (1942,46-49: 1941 didn't make the sample for either Joe, who produced more runs in 1936 than in 1941 or Ted, who produced more runs in 1949 than in 1941) 505ab 154w 190h 32d 5t 38hr 346tb 127rbi 134rs .376ba .522obp .685slg 223rp
Musial, (1948-52) 609ab 87w 219h 38d 10t 34hr 379tb 115rbi 123rs .360ba .440obp .622slg 204rp
DiMaggio was totally better than Stan Musial, who was a very great player. The only thing Williams really did better than DiMaggio was walk, which is not necessarily the best thing to do when you are in the middle of the order and trying to drive in runs. Joe D may have been overrated as a person but not as a ballplayer.
DiMaggio, Williams and Musial
I don't agree with a lot of the stuff the SABRmatricians have come up with over the years. Despite being the inventor, (sort of), of "Net Points" for basketball, I'm not impressed with the notion of creating a master stat that combines all the rest so that player can be objectively rated. I think you will always need more than numbers to do that. (SABR = Society for American Baseball Research)
But I do like the fact that the SABR people have complied road numbers vs. home numbers. Home numbers are dominated by the conditions of the home ballpark. Road numbers on the other hand are complied in all sorts of ballparks and are a better measure of the quality of a hitter. And Joe DiMaggio was probably disadvantaged by the contours of his home ballpark than any other player. Joe hit .317 with 148 home runs in 13 years at home, .333 with 213 home runs on the road. If you double the road numbers, it indicates he would have hit 426 homers if he played his home games in an average ballpark. He played only 13 years because of his PCL career, his war service and the foot injury that never healed properly and caused him to retire at age 37. If he'd played in an average ballpark for, say 20 years, he'd have hit about 640 home runs. A guy who hits .333 with 640 home runs while playing the outfield so smoothly that people say they never saw him make a difficult play, (because he made them all look easy), ran the bases as well as anyone of his time, (stealing bases were out of favor as a strategy), and was the unchallenged leader, (they said his stare could freeze you if you screwed up on the field), of a team that won 10 pennants and 9 World Series in the 13 season he did play is quite a player, don't you think?
His two great contemporaries were Stan Musial, famous for destroying the Dodgers in Ebbets Field and winning 7 NL batting titles, and Ted Williams declared by Joe and himself to be the greatest hitter of all time, (Joe agreed to call him that if Ted would call Joe the greatest player). Here are their road numbers per 154 games, (representing their performance in an average ballpark for what constituted a full season in their time):
DiMaggio 623ab 71w 208h 37d 10t 38hr 379tb 147rbi 133rs .333ba .405obp .610slg 242rp
Williams 522ab 135w 171h 28d 5t 37hr 320tb 119rbi 113rs .328ba .468obp .615sp 195rp
Musial 571ab 77w 186h 34d 9t 23hr 307tb 92rbi 97rs .326ba .408obp .537sp 166rp
Of course, Ted and Stan played it out to the bitter end. Joe D was famous for "quitting on top", retiring after his first bad year. Let's look at the road numbers per 154 games for each player’s best five consecutive years, (as measured by "runs produced"):
DiMaggio, (1936-40) 662ab 54w 228h 39d 12t 44hr 423tb 165rbi 147rs .344ba .394obp .639slg 268rp
Williams, (1942,46-49: 1941 didn't make the sample for either Joe, who produced more runs in 1936 than in 1941 or Ted, who produced more runs in 1949 than in 1941) 505ab 154w 190h 32d 5t 38hr 346tb 127rbi 134rs .376ba .522obp .685slg 223rp
Musial, (1948-52) 609ab 87w 219h 38d 10t 34hr 379tb 115rbi 123rs .360ba .440obp .622slg 204rp
DiMaggio was totally better than Stan Musial, who was a very great player. The only thing Williams really did better than DiMaggio was walk, which is not necessarily the best thing to do when you are in the middle of the order and trying to drive in runs. Joe D may have been overrated as a person but not as a ballplayer.