Hi all,

I was reading the latest blog entry from Joe Posnanski, about Kevin Youkilis. If you don't read JoePo's blog, well, if you play WiS you'll probably like his writing. Amazing sports (lots of baseball) blogger. Youk is known as the Greek God of Walks, so as you can imagine a main focus of the piece was on OBP. Also its sister stat: out percentage (1.000 - OBP). Out percentage is very straightforward, it tracks how many times a player makes an out.

How does this relate to WiS baseball simulation? In the comments section of the article, a poster posed this question: "Who would be on the all-time "Not Making Outs" squad?" (a.k.a the career OBP leaderboard). Of course the enternal greats top that list (Williams, Ruth, McGraw, Hamilton, Gehrig). But there are also many unexpected names. Heck, casual fans probably have no idea who John McGraw and Billy Hamilton were.

To filter the list into potentially underrated players, guys like Youkilis pre-2007, another commentator took out all the HOF names and THAT list is what I really want to show you all. The list on JoePa's site only goes thirty deep, I extended that into the top 100 all-time OBP careers. The non-HOF names from that list are:

Barry Bonds, Bill Joyce, Ferris Fain, Max Bishop, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Todd Helton, Frank Thomas, Edgar Martinez, Albert Pujols, Cupid Childs, Roy Thomas, Lefty O'Doul, Manny Ramirez, Charlie Keller, Eddie Stanky, Lance Berkman, Roy Cullenbine, Jake Stenzel, Jeff Bagwell, Denny Lyons, Riggs Stephenson, Joe Harris, Joe Mauer, Jason Giambi, Joe Cunningham, Pete Browning, Jim Thome, Lu Blue, Chipper Jones, Larry Walker, Bill Lange, Brian Giles, George Selkirk, Nick Johnson, Elmer Valo, John Olerud, Mike Smith, Ed Morgan, John Kruk, Bobby Abreu, Mike Hargrove, Johnny Pesky, Mark McGwire, Stan Hack, Eddie Yost, Ken Williams, Miguel Cabrera, Wally Schang, Gary Sheffield, Bob Johnson, George Grantham, Tip O'Neill, Jack Fournier, Mike Tiernan, Augie Galan, Dave Magadan

Look beyond the modern, sure to be inducted players (Chipper Jones, ect.) and the PED users (Bonds et. al.) and any long-time WiS user will recognize a great majority of the remaining names. Stanky, Cullenbine, Blue. You see it? It's a list of WiS cookies!

Not trying to proclaim a bold discovery, we all know OBP is a huge stat for this game. It was just fun to see that list and know so many of those players whom 90% of baseball fans have no idea about.

WHo's Jake Stenzel?

That is why I am excited the White Sox got Youkilis.  He wears down pitchers and gets on base. Cool stats. I could imagine guys like Larry Walker, Pujols, Cabrera and Mauer being on that list.

Tip O'Neill had a career obp of .392?  I would have never guessed that dispite knowing about his 1887 season. 

boogerlips, an 1890s progressive is an anachronism.
The progressive movement really starts in the early years of the 20th century with the muckraking journalists, and later political activists in both major parties, though eventually Teddy  (walk softly but carry a big bat) Roosevelt '12 (.340) and Robert LaFollette '20 (.390 but no power hitting) became their standard bearers.

So in the 1890s it is more appropriate to refer to populists, rather than progressives.

The real innovations in the game from that period however, social security, minimum wage, union representation, child labor laws, the 40-hour work week with overtime pay, and health and safety laws, came from the playbook of the under-rated Eugene Debs '12, whose new methods for improving to game had to wait for HOF er FDR '32-'45 to become mainstream and widely adopted. Debs' team included the great Honus Wagner by the way, and Helen Keller was one of its most respected bench coaches, and she could hit better than a lot of batters with eyesight. 

Tip O'Neill was a triple threat - hit, run and Speaker of the House in the 1980s, where he had that great playoff series against Reagan. Reagan won though and that was the end of the New Deal Coalition dynasty that had dominated the game since the '30s.

That team had been seriously weakened already by the ferocious infighting of the 1968 playoffs, when its team captain, power hitting LBJ (45 HRs, but the same number of errors), stopped listening to reason from the younger players who were denied a role, and placed management in the hands of Richard M.Daley '68 (.199), a man more appropriate to the minor leagues. They blew a big lead in the standings and lost the Series to Nixon's team, though Nixon '74 (.064) had to later be banned from baseball. 

Tip O'Neill is famous for having said "All ground rules are local."

Correction, I of course meant Robert LaFollette 1924, not 1920 and in '24 despite great hopes for the season, he hit a measly .165 (16.5% of popular vote). 

But since a friend sitemailed me asking if Jake Stenzel is not more known than LaFollette here, I mention only the 1896 season, in which Stenzel hit .361, but was outpaced by William Jennings Bryan who hit .469 that year, only to lose the Series to a Republican team well financed by Wall Street banks.

Luckily, things have changed a lot. With the free agent system, both teams in the Series in early November can expect to be well compensated. And the fans ? 

italy_prof, quit making me more educated with your informative posts. Trying to get us learned through baseball, I see the game you're trying to play. Seriously though, great stuff!

Posted by italyprof on 6/28/2012 3:57:00 AM (view original):
boogerlips, an 1890s progressive is an anachronism.
The progressive movement really starts in the early years of the 20th century with the muckraking journalists, and later political activists in both major parties, though eventually Teddy  (walk softly but carry a big bat) Roosevelt '12 (.340) and Robert LaFollette '20 (.390 but no power hitting) became their standard bearers.

So in the 1890s it is more appropriate to refer to populists, rather than progressives.

The real innovations in the game from that period however, social security, minimum wage, union representation, child labor laws, the 40-hour work week with overtime pay, and health and safety laws, came from the playbook of the under-rated Eugene Debs '12, whose new methods for improving to game had to wait for HOF er FDR '32-'45 to become mainstream and widely adopted. Debs' team included the great Honus Wagner by the way, and Helen Keller was one of its most respected bench coaches, and she could hit better than a lot of batters with eyesight. 

Tip O'Neill was a triple threat - hit, run and Speaker of the House in the 1980s, where he had that great playoff series against Reagan. Reagan won though and that was the end of the New Deal Coalition dynasty that had dominated the game since the '30s.

That team had been seriously weakened already by the ferocious infighting of the 1968 playoffs, when its team captain, power hitting LBJ (45 HRs, but the same number of errors), stopped listening to reason from the younger players who were denied a role, and placed management in the hands of Richard M.Daley '68 (.199), a man more appropriate to the minor leagues. They blew a big lead in the standings and lost the Series to Nixon's team, though Nixon '74 (.064) had to later be banned from baseball. 

Tip O'Neill is famous for having said "All ground rules are local."

Great post...

But did you Know Tip O'Neill was named after James Edward "Tip" O'Neill?

I didn't zubinsum, I thought it was just a great coincidence that along with BL's question I could use to riff on. That really is cool - I should learn more about the team, the player and the family the SoH grew up in. Thanks.