Two Birthday Boys
Today would have been Edd Roush’s 130th birthday if he’d managed to break a few longevity records. He nearly did, getting to the age of 94 before passing away in 1988.
Roush had a great career, mostly for the Reds, winning a pair of batting titles, leading the league in doubles, triples, slugging percentage and on-base percentage at various points. He played for a World Series champion in 1919, albeit one that was helped considerably by the other team largely trying to lose. Overall, it was a career worth celebrating.
The same could be said for Adrian Gonzalez, who turns 41-years old today. He never got a championship ring, but he had similar accolades to Roush. He led the league in hits, RBI, and walks, won four Gold Gloves and made five All-Star teams. He also made nearly $150 million during his career, which is, well, pretty awesome.
The two shared more than just a birthday. They were both lefties hitters, both started their careers with brief stops in the American League but mostly played in the National League, played about 1,900 career games, had about 8,100 plate appearances, and had a career OPS+ in the high 120s.
Obviously, they played in entirely different eras, and contributed to their teams in different ways. Roush played a valuable defensive position, center field, in a middling way, while Gonzalez played a low-value defensive position, first base, excellently. Roush had an excellent batting average and rarely struck out, but also didn’t draw many walks. Gonzalez had a decent batting average augmented by a lot of walks, but struck out a lot. Roush was fast, stealing 268 bases in his career, and his power was all in doubles and triples, while Gonzalez was painfully slow, stealing just 6 bases in his career, but had tremendous home run power.
Put all of that together, and you have two players with careers of very similar length and very similar value, just compiled in different ways in vastly different eras. Roush’s career WAR was 45.8, while Gonzalez posted a mark of 43.5. According to Jay Jaffe’s JAWS rankings, Roush was the 41st-ranked center fielder in baseball history, while Gonzalez was the 40th-best first baseman.
Edd Roush is in the Hall of Fame. He was elected by the Veteran’s Committee in 1962, and got to share his induction with all-time greats Jackie Robinson and Bob Feller. I’m not entirely sure why he’s in the Hall of Fame, because his career wasn’t appreciably better than a few other outfielders from the pre-WWII era, like Ben Chapman or Fielder Jones or Wally Berger.
Adrian Gonzalez has just reached eligibility for the Hall, and will appear on the ballot for the first time later this year. If I was in his position, I wouldn’t be making hotel reservations in Cooperstown anytime soon. His careers ranks in the general vicinity of Dolph Camilli and Carlos Delgado and Don Mattingly and Mark Grace, and each of them has been passed over for Cooperstown pretty emphatically over the years.
But hey, you never know what might motivate the Veteran’s Committee in the future. Just look at Edd Roush.