Monday This was Dave Concepción’s 76th birthday, which is a perfect time to consider this question posed on Twitter recently: The tweet begins with an erroneous premise, namely that either Concepción or Omar Vizquel, and no one else, must be considered the best shortstop not in the Hall of Fame. I don’t know why the folks at “Stirrups Now!” have grasped onto this premise, but I presume they are fans of Venezuelan shortstops.
Those of us from Houston (especially those of us who where kid baseball obsessives at that time) knew that Thon was great and listening to him getting hit by Mike Torres was just awful. You write "I’m not sure if folks outside of Houston remember that this was the company Thon was keeping before his injury." Frankly, I'm not sure those of us inside Houston know that the company Thon was keeping was of that quality.
I only saw Thon after the injury, but he was famous among me and my friends just because of his hilarious first name— keep in mind, we were 6 or 7 years old at the time. I wrote about him last year for that reason, and it was only then I discovered how good he really was before he got beaned.
Re: the Reserve clause, if we compare it to actual U.S. history, rather than ‘Murican mythology, I think we’ll find it was a VERY American thing for the owners to do
Fair enough. Just trying to make the pretty obvious point that being required to work for a single employer for the rest of you career, unless the employer fired you or literally sold you to another employer against your will, is not a thing most Americans would want to sign up for.
As a Yankees fan, I remember how awesome Derek Jeter was as a 24-25 year old shortstop in 1998-99. I didn’t realize only A-Rod outperformed him at those ages, but that’s pretty crazy. Unfortunately, Jeter tailed off pretty significantly following his 1999 season. He became the .300 hitter with 200 hits, 10-15 HRs and around 3.0-4.0 War with bad defense pretty much the rest of his career, apart from 2009. And sure, a 70 WAR ss with over 3600 hits and five World Series rings is nothing to sneeze at, but if he had followed the trajectory he showed from 1997-99, he would have had a phenomenal career.
I looked up Silver King on BRef and discovered not only did he have FOUR seasons of over 400 innings pitched (and two more over 380), but he pitched 584.2 innings as a TWENTY year old in 1888 for the St. Louis Browns with 45 wins, a 1.63 ERA, 0.874 WHIP and a 195 ERA +!!!
Hey Paul - good list and discussion of shortstops. Vern Stephens was a guy I wrote about who I think is one of the most underrated shortstops of all time not in the HOF.
Those of us from Houston (especially those of us who where kid baseball obsessives at that time) knew that Thon was great and listening to him getting hit by Mike Torres was just awful. You write "I’m not sure if folks outside of Houston remember that this was the company Thon was keeping before his injury." Frankly, I'm not sure those of us inside Houston know that the company Thon was keeping was of that quality.
I only saw Thon after the injury, but he was famous among me and my friends just because of his hilarious first name— keep in mind, we were 6 or 7 years old at the time. I wrote about him last year for that reason, and it was only then I discovered how good he really was before he got beaned.
https://powderbluenostalgia.substack.com/p/the-name-game
Re: the Reserve clause, if we compare it to actual U.S. history, rather than ‘Murican mythology, I think we’ll find it was a VERY American thing for the owners to do
Fair enough. Just trying to make the pretty obvious point that being required to work for a single employer for the rest of you career, unless the employer fired you or literally sold you to another employer against your will, is not a thing most Americans would want to sign up for.
As a Yankees fan, I remember how awesome Derek Jeter was as a 24-25 year old shortstop in 1998-99. I didn’t realize only A-Rod outperformed him at those ages, but that’s pretty crazy. Unfortunately, Jeter tailed off pretty significantly following his 1999 season. He became the .300 hitter with 200 hits, 10-15 HRs and around 3.0-4.0 War with bad defense pretty much the rest of his career, apart from 2009. And sure, a 70 WAR ss with over 3600 hits and five World Series rings is nothing to sneeze at, but if he had followed the trajectory he showed from 1997-99, he would have had a phenomenal career.
I looked up Silver King on BRef and discovered not only did he have FOUR seasons of over 400 innings pitched (and two more over 380), but he pitched 584.2 innings as a TWENTY year old in 1888 for the St. Louis Browns with 45 wins, a 1.63 ERA, 0.874 WHIP and a 195 ERA +!!!
Hey Paul - good list and discussion of shortstops. Vern Stephens was a guy I wrote about who I think is one of the most underrated shortstops of all time not in the HOF.
This is a much better way for me to consume Twitter. You curating and thoughtfully and informatively engaging with the goofiest takes.
Fair enough!