Worse contract-Hosmer or Davis

[Redskins Rick]

3 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Channeling the ghost of Harry Heilmann, who won batting titles in '21, '23, '25, and '27.  Except that Heilmann's even years make Eric Hosmer's good years look like Ryan Flaherty...

I love it, how you can pull these old players out for comparison. Kudos.

You have to go a long way to find that one.

[DrungoHazewood]

20 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

I love it, how you can pull these old players out for comparison. Kudos.

You have to go a long way to find that one.

I wonder how long you'd have to walk around Tiger Stadium (Comerica whatever) before you found someone who knew who Heilmann was?  He played almost a century ago, but is a clear-cut HOFer, someone who was on a Giancarlo Stanton, Matt Holliday, Andrew McCutcheon kind of level.  Kind of hard to compare to Oriole fans because of that pre-1954 black hole.

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I wonder how long you'd have to walk around Tiger Stadium (Comerica whatever) before you found someone who knew who Heilmann was?  He played almost a century ago, but is a clear-cut HOFer, someone who was on a Giancarlo Stanton, Matt Holliday, Andrew McCutcheon kind of level.  Kind of hard to compare to Oriole fans because of that pre-1954 black hole.

Since he didnt play for the Dodgers or the Yankees, he never got known by the rest of the baseball fan world.

[Frobby]

56 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Since he didnt play for the Dodgers or the Yankees, he never got known by the rest of the baseball fan world.

When I was a kid, baseball fans knew who Heilman was.   But of course, then it had only been 40-50 years since he’d played, rather than 90 years as it is now.    It’s sort of like most fans today know who Rod Carew was.   40-50 years ftom now, maybe only a few people will recognize the name.    

[Redskins Rick]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

When I was a kid, baseball fans knew who Heilman was.   But of course, then it had only been 40-50 years since he’d played, rather than 90 years as it is now.    It’s sort of like most fans today know who Rod Carew was.   40-50 years ftom now, maybe only a few people will recognize the name.    

Wow, better fan, than I am. I have no recollection of his name.

Having been a big Tony La Russa Baseball Game player, I dont recall coming across his name either, but, I suspect it was there, I just over looked it for the other HOFers.

 

[Frobby]

11 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Wow, better fan, than I am. I have no recollection of his name.

Having been a big Tony La Russa Baseball Game player, I dont recall coming across his name either, but, I suspect it was there, I just over looked it for the other HOFers.

 

My parents bought me the Baseball Encyclopedia in 1968 or so.    My brother and I would have mock drafts where we’d take turns picking players and years and then add up their stats and see who did better.    So, I learned a lot about now-forgotten players like Addie Joss and Mordecai Brown and Harry Heilman.   

[weams]

Mordecai “Three Fingers” Brown, he could spin a ball. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

31 minutes ago, weams said:

Mordecai “Three Fingers” Brown, he could spin a ball. 

 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

My parents bought me the Baseball Encyclopedia in 1968 or so.    My brother and I would have mock drafts where we’d take turns picking players and years and then add up their stats and see who did better.    So, I learned a lot about now-forgotten players like Addie Joss and Mordecai Brown and Harry Heilman.   

I probably checked the 1980 Encyclopedia out of the local library 20 times.  Read it cover to cover.  In '83 I got the Hall of Fame program when I visited, which had bios of all the HOFers. Being 12 I believed them all, including that Tommy McCarthy and Freddie Lindstrom were epic heroes.  Then I bought the Bill James Historical Abstract in 1986 or so, read that so many times the cover came off.  That started me on the path to the truth. 

To this day I'm pretty sure I can name every player who appeared in a game for the 1894 Orioles.  It was magic to read through the Baseball Encyclopedia and discover a long ago time where Orioles hit .432 and they won the Championship three years running.

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

 

My parents bought me the Baseball Encyclopedia in 1968 or so. My brother and I would have mock drafts in which we’d take turns picking players and years, and then add up their stats and see who did better. So I learned a lot about now-forgotten players like Addie Joss, Mordecai Brown, and Harry Heilmann.

 

o

 

3-Finger Brown will never be forgotten.

If he had not gotten his hand mangled in a childhood ranching machine accident, he might have been just another pretty good farmer.

 

 

 

o

[weams]

Quote

Padres GM A.J. Preller said at yesterday’s press conference to introduce Eric Hosmer that Hosmer’s openness to new data was a key component in signing him (link via Dennis Lin of The Athletic). “[H]e’s a guy with an inquisitive mind,” said Preller. “Those are things that, when we sat down with him, were important to us.” Many have suggested that Hosmer, one of the league leaders in ground-ball rate, could more consistently tap into his power and become a more reliable offensive weapon were he to adopt a more fly-ball-oriented approach.

 

MLBTR

[DrungoHazewood]

I wonder what the success rate is among major league players who try to alter their basic approach in mid-career?  I'm generally skeptical of suggestions that players change the fundamental things that made them major leaguers so they can be even better.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I wonder what the success rate is among major league players who try to alter their basic approach in mid-career?  I'm generally skeptical of suggestions that players change the fundamental things that made them major leaguers so they can be even better.

A number of established players seem to be doing well with changing their swing paths in recent years.

Would that qualify as altering their basic approach?

[DrungoHazewood]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

A number of established players seem to be doing well with changing their swing paths in recent years.

Would that qualify as altering their basic approach?

Yes, that's what I'm talking about.  We see the successes.  How many have tried?

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Yes, that's what I'm talking about.  We see the successes.  How many have tried?

Word is that Heyward is one of the failures.

I read a piece last year discussing that very topic but it wasn't very specific.  Was probably a Fangraphs piece.  The conclusions were not very satisfying.