Documentary Film on “The Blade”

[WillyM]

2 hours ago, tntoriole said:

Yes, this description captures his defensive skills.  He would transfer ground balls to his throwing motion quicker than any defensive infielder I have ever seen.  And his throws were pinpoint...all the time.   And he had such range, using his gliding speed into the hole or to his left past second.  He was very fast...having double digit steal seasons nine times, despit his on base percentage being terrible.  He was also an excellent bunter, likely the best in Orioles history.  But he was an awful offensive player...awful.  

Not only could Belanger range to his left and right for grounders, he had the additional plus of being a very tall shortstop, with excellent leaping ability.

There were many occasions when Oriole pitchers thanked their lucky stars that they had Belanger behind them at short, after he was able to go up and snag a line drive that would have gone over the head of just about any other shortstop.

[theobird]

Belanger was a Great defensive SS. And he played the game fundamentally perfect. Great bunter, baserunner, no bad decisions. He was a weak hitter to be sure. But that is one of my great frustrations of how the game has evolved. Today, players are valued in terms of OPS, slugging percentage and any number of offensive stats. But you still play the game to score more runs than you allow to score. Mark Belanger was exceptional on holding down runs allowed.

[Can_of_corn]

1 hour ago, theobird said:

Belanger was a Great defensive SS. And he played the game fundamentally perfect. Great bunter, baserunner, no bad decisions. He was a weak hitter to be sure. But that is one of my great frustrations of how the game has evolved. Today, players are valued in terms of OPS, slugging percentage and any number of offensive stats. But you still play the game to score more runs than you allow to score. Mark Belanger was exceptional on holding down runs allowed.

Simmons.

Heyward.

Glove first guys are out there and it is disingenuous to say teams, other than the O's don't value defense.

[Frobby]

40.9 rWAR.   That includes his offense.   He was an excellent player.    

[JazzyJake]

Until Ozzie, Belanger was the best SS I ever saw.  Incredible range, accurate arm.  He made Brooks and Davey/Grich even better because of his range and smarts. [as did Paul Blair with the corner OFs].  Belanger hardly ever dove for a ball, didn’t need to.  I think he deserved serious HoF consideration for being one of the best at his position ever, but the HoF is mainly about gawdy batting stats.

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, JazzyJake said:

Until Ozzie, Belanger was the best SS I ever saw.  Incredible range, accurate arm.  He made Brooks and Davey/Grich even better because of his range and smarts. [as did Paul Blair with the corner OFs].  Belanger hardly ever dove for a ball, didn’t need to.  I think he deserved serious HoF consideration for being one of the best at his position ever, but the HoF is mainly about gawdy batting stats.

About 25-30 years ago, Maury Allen wrote a book on the 100 greatest players of all time and included Belanger.     His comment was that any list of the top 100 should include one guy who was in strictly for his defense, and so Belanger was the guy.     

[drjohnnyfeva]

As a kid watching, he was amazing.  I never saw an error or a ball get by him.  But what struck me most about him was his bat was about a 1/4 of his height.  He used the shortest bat I've ever seen a player use and had this awkward swing.  He could bunt, tho.  And he was very quick.  The bat thing could have been a function of his height, but it looked dinky in his hands.

[Rene88]

This is awesome! Thx for posting!

[gtown]

On 6/10/2018 at 8:47 PM, atomic said:

Belanger and Ozzie Smith were so great defensively.  You would think teams would go defense first at Short Stop again.  It would be cheaper and would make your pitchers better.  

Those Orioles teams were stacked offensively and were in a better position to absorb Belanger's weak bat for his great glove. I think it would work with a similarly constructed team, but it takes a truly elite glove and those are pretty rare.

When the 20+ game winners of that era are mentioned, while those pitchers were great, an overlooked component was the defense of Brooks and Belanger .

[SteveA]

52 minutes ago, gtown said:

Those Orioles teams were stacked offensively and were in a better position to absorb Belanger's weak bat for his great glove. I think it would work with a similarly constructed team, but it takes a truly elite glove and those are pretty rare.

When the 20+ game winners of that era are mentioned, while those pitchers were great, an overlooked component was the defense of Brooks and Belanger .

and Blair.

And the players we had at 2B were pretty good too (Adair, Davey Johnson, Grich.   Dauer had no range but he played nearly error-free ball).

And we had other good defenders -- Eddie was a GG first baseman.   Frank could play a little in right. 

[foxfield]

Great great thread.

Belanger was incredible and when I was a kid an inspiration.  He couldn't hit and that was apparent to everyone....even kids.  But he could bunt and he did move runners...in short, he was very sound fundamentally even in an area where he didn't do well.  And as a kid, he was an example that if you worked hard and did everything the correct way, good things would happen.

He exemplified the Oriole way and the game should keep his story alive.  I look forward to this and thanks for posting

[Woody Held]

On 6/10/2018 at 12:15 PM, bird watcher said:

I just glanced at his stats having never done so.  How was he the starting shortstop as long as he was??  His OPS+ was terrible. He had plenty of errors. His SB% wasn’t good. The only positive I could find was his fielding%. Was he really THAT good defensively??

Yes, and he wore Nolan Ryan out, go figure

[Can_of_corn]

2 hours ago, Woody Held said:

Yes, and he wore Nolan Ryan out, go figure

That one is more fable than fact.

[bird watcher]

It seems pretty unanimous that he really was that special with the glove.  

How many shortstops on other teams during his tenure would you have traded him for?  An interesting way to assess his value relative to other SS of his time.  Was he the best total package?  Did his skillset play up on the Orioles because of the talent of rest of the roster?

I am fascinated by a player like him that would likely not play in todays game (or would he?) but is so revered for his skillset.  

[ScGO's]

Is this documentary going to be made free to watch via the internet?