Talk:Dave Bancroft

Mischa, I don't buy your reversal of my change to the Bancroft text. The text previously stated that he is "one of the most controversial players" in the Hall of Fame, but I don't think that statement can be supported, which is why I changed it to "a somewhat controversial selection". The previous text had disparaged Bancroft's hitting ability, but pretty clearly shortstops get into the Hall to a certain extent due to fielding ability, something that Bancroft had. When you read about the most maligned members of the Hall of Fame, it's always Lindstrom or Kelly or Hafey or Haines or Marquard or Schalk or McCarthy. Bancroft does get mentioned sometimes, but to say that he is "one of the most controversial" seems to be a great overstatement. I'm not suggesting that he is as highly-qualified as the average Hall of Famer, but it's hard for me to buy that he is one of the most controversial. The text about his hitting ability is more-or-less duplicated at his Wikipedia entry, but there the text goes on to say that his hitting was similar to other top fielders in the Hall such as Rizzuto and Mazeroski. Bancroft's OPS+ is higher than either of those two. - Randy 22:06, 12 February 2009 (EST)

Even Bill James, who apparently disliked the selection, put Bancroft at # 28 on the all-time shortstop list, which isn't too bad considering that there are 23 shortstops in the Hall. James ranks him higher than Tinker, Ward, Maranville, Wallace, and Jackson. And he might rank Bancroft higher today if he did the ranking again, since at the time he ranked a number of players higher than Bancroft that he might want to reconsider - Pesky, Rizzuto and Dark. - Randy 23:22, 12 February 2009 (EST)