’80 Phils Had Love Of Glove

Posted by Steve Lombardi on December 6, 2009

A simple list via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Season Finder - most seasons, non-pitcher, with 502+ PA and an OPS+ of 75 or worse. (Yes, I know, how many pitchers have 502 PA in a season anyway? But, I threw that filter in there nonetheless.) Here's the "leader" board for this:

Rk		Yrs	To	From	Age
1	Larry Bowa	9	1970	1982	24-36
2	Ozzie Guillen	8	1985	1997	21-33
3	Neifi Perez	6	1998	2005	25-32
4	Don Kessinger	6	1966	1975	23-32
5	Ed Brinkman	6	1963	1974	21-32
6	George McBride	6	1911	1916	30-35
7	Mickey Doolan	6	1907	1915	27-35
8	Royce Clayton	5	1995	2006	25-36
9	Alfredo Griffin	5	1980	1990	22-32
10	Roger Metzger	5	1971	1976	23-28
11	Mark Belanger	5	1968	1975	24-31
12	Bobby Richardson	5	1960	1965	24-29
13	Luis Aparicio	5	1956	1973	22-39
14	Rey Ordonez	4	1996	2001	24-29
15	Omar Moreno	4	1977	1983	24-30
16	Manny Trillo	4	1975	1985	24-34
17	Bob Boone	4	1974	1986	26-38
18	Tim Foli	4	1972	1982	21-31
19	Aurelio Rodriguez	4	1969	1976	21-28
20	Freddie Patek	4	1969	1975	24-30
21	Sandy Alomar	4	1969	1975	25-31
22	Hal Lanier	4	1965	1969	22-26
23	Roy McMillan	4	1953	1965	23-35
24	Rabbit Warstler	4	1935	1938	31-34
25	Leo Durocher	4	1932	1938	26-32
26	Ski Melillo	4	1930	1935	30-35
27	Freddie Maguire	4	1928	1931	29-32
28	Hughie Critz	4	1925	1934	24-33
29	Everett Scott	4	1921	1924	28-31
30	Ivy Olson	4	1912	1922	26-36
31	Lee Tannehill	4	1903	1911	22-30
32	Monte Cross	4	1901	1906	31-36

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/6/2009.

Ozzie Guillen can thank the shortened season in 1995 for not tying Larry Bowa for the "lead" on this list.

What if we took shortstops out of the list? Here's the result:

Rk		Yrs	To	From	Age
1	Bobby Richardson	5	1960	1965	24-29
2	Omar Moreno	4	1977	1983	24-30
3	Manny Trillo	4	1975	1985	24-34
4	Bob Boone	4	1974	1986	26-38
5	Aurelio Rodriguez	4	1969	1976	21-28
6	Sandy Alomar	4	1969	1975	25-31
7	Ski Melillo	4	1930	1935	30-35
8	Freddie Maguire	4	1928	1931	29-32
9	Hughie Critz	4	1925	1934	24-33
10	Ivy Olson	4	1912	1922	26-36
11	Jason Kendall	3	2007	2009	33-35
12	Willy Taveras	3	2005	2008	23-26
13	Tom Goodwin	3	1996	2000	27-31
14	Darren Lewis	3	1993	1999	25-31
15	Terry Pendleton	3	1985	1996	24-35
16	Rick Manning	3	1979	1983	24-28
17	Julian Javier	3	1962	1970	25-33
18	Bill Tuttle	3	1956	1961	26-31
19	Jim Busby	3	1952	1956	25-29
20	Nellie Fox	3	1950	1963	22-35
21	Lee Tannehill	3	1905	1911	24-30

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/6/2009.

Note Bob Boone here. He and Larry Bowa were teammates in 1974 and 1980 when they posted these types of seasons. Add Garry Maddox to the two of them in 1980 (with his OPS+ of 80) and it is clear that World Champs that season put a premium on defense, over offense, at C, SS, and CF that season. (Yes, I know that Manny Trillo was on the 1980 Phils too. But, he was actually a decent hittter that season. Go figure!)

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 10:07 am and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “’80 Phils Had Love Of Glove”

gerry Says:
December 6th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
The World Champion 1995 Braves had Lemke, 78 OPS+, at 2nd, Blauser, 73, at short, and Grissom, 80, in center. Lemke didn't quite make it to 502 PA, but his main backup, Rafael Belliard, had an OPS+ of 31. Their catchers could hit, so it wasn't a total loss up the middle.

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