October 3, 2010

Robinson 81, Nettles 80

            At this level it’s not supposed to be easy, and it wasn’t.   Brooks Robinson took a 19-10 hit in “power” and a 16-7 lick in “Plate discipline”, but held off Graig Nettles at the wire for an 81-80 victory, moving into the championship game on Tuesday. 

            Nettles’ standing in history is a controversial subject, and has been for many years.   I would say that he has three kinds of fans who think that he is underrated:  Yankee fans, who valued his contributions to the Yankee World Championships of 1977 and ’78; sabermetricians, who liked Nettles combination of power, walks and defense; and fans of the eccentric, who value Nettles’ uniqueness and humor.    On the other side there are as many groups:  traditionalists, who can’t relate to the idea of a .248 hitter as a great player no matter what else he does; Brooks Robinson fans, many of whom resented Nettles’—not the nicest man in the sport—being compared to Brooks, who was; Yankee-haters, no doubt; and. . .well, skeptics.   People who just need to be convinced that the sum of Nettles’ skills is something out of the ordinary.

            We have, as baseball fans, normal and traditional ways of finding the sum of a player’s skills.   The thing about Nettles, I think, is that he is so unusual that the normal methods don’t work fluidly.    In 1984 Graig Nettles was 39 years old and hit .228—and nobody even thought about taking his job away from him.   How unusual is that?  You can’t do an ordinary, intuitive summing-up on him, because he’s just not ordinary.   Ordinarily, a great player starts out at average and goes up.   He starts out, if he’s a third baseman, hitting .265 with 12 homers and 8 stolen bases.    Then, if he hits 25 homers instead of 12, we add something for that, and if he hits .290 rather than .265 we add something for that, and if he steals 12 bases a year rather than 8, we add something for that, and if he is a Gold Glove third baseman, we add something for that.   If he hits .290 with 25 homers and 12 steals and is a Gold Glove third baseman, he’s Ken Boyer.

            Graig Nettles was really not Ken Boyer.   He started at .265, and went down.   He started at 8 stolen bases, and went down—but then he had not Ken Boyer’s power, but more, and not Ken Boyer’s defense, but better.   He was a mixture of 10s and 2s, being compared to guys who were 6s and 7s.   It’s not obvious what the total is.

            What does it mean to say that someone is a “great” player?   It means, does it not, that he is something more than merely a good player?  This is a list of the highest assists totals of all time at third base:

            Nettles one and three. . .but is that real?   What about. . .team strikeouts?   What about the ground ball tendencies of the team?   Don’t we have to factor all that in?

            We have to factor all that in if we are attempting to determine who had the greatest range of all time at third base.   If we are asserting that Graig Nettles had more assists in 1971 and 1973 than anyone else ever because he had more range at third base than anyone else, then yes, we need to factor all those things in.

            If, on the other hand, we are merely trying to assert that Graig Nettles was an exceptional defensive third baseman, then it may be enough to let the facts speak for themselves.   Let us suppose that the data point was ERA, and the list was the lowest ERAs in a season since 1920.   The list would, of course, begin with Bob Gibson.   If we were trying to assert that Bob Gibson was in fact the greatest pitcher since 1920, then it would be necessary to adjust for context, league ERA, park effects, un-earned runs, etc.   If we are merely asserting that Bob Gibson was an exceptional pitcher, then we can let the facts speak for themselves.

            Graig Nettles couldn’t win the Gold Glove in 1971 or 1973, because Brooks Robinson had a death grip on the Gold Glove in that league at that time.   Brooks Robinson was a fantastic defensive third baseman—even then—and he was 36 years old by 1973.    He may not have been better than Nettles, but in any case he won the award.   Nettles won only two Gold Gloves, those coming in 1977 and 1978, after Brooksie hit 40.    That certainly slowed down Nettles’ acceptance as an all-time great third baseman. 

            Still, I believe that the basic, #1 reason that Graig Nettles has been left out of the Hall of Fame is simply that people are still hung up on batting average.    He was a .248 hitter, he was slow, he won only two Gold Gloves; people can’t see that as a great player—but I believe that he was.    He was more muscular than Brooks, bigger in the upper body, but he could do the things that Brooks Robinson could do.   He could field a scorching ground ball behind third base and throw the guy out.   He could leap and snare.   He played the game with a chip on his shoulder, projecting arrogance in victory and defiance in defeat.    When he was 39 years old and hit .228, his won-lost record was 13-10.    When he was 40 it was 17-9.   He was one of the greatest defensive third basemen ever, he was a very effective offensive player despite his low average, and he was good for a long, long time, from 1970 through 1985.    He was extremely consistent.  He was very unusual, very unique, and he was a Hall of Famer in my book.