Have you noticed the similarities between Harold Baines and Rusty Staub?  Both Baines and Staub were left-handed hitters who had very long careers involving some excellent seasons and some sub-standard seasons.  Baines had 2,866 career hits—normally a Hall of Fame number—and Staub had 2,716.  Most of their seasons look about the same.  Both were right fielder-DHs, although Staub had 600 more games in Right Field (1605 to 1042) and Baines had 1000 more games as a DH (1643 to 478).  Both had significant power, what we might call Al Kaline-Roberto Clemente type power, but not Killebrew/Thome/Cabrera type power.  Both men were 6’2", similar build although Staub put on more weight in mid-career.  Staub’s career high in homers was 30; Baines, 29.  Each man drove in 100 runs three times, and 90+ several more times.   Each man made the All-Star team six times.  Neither man was a Gold Glove type fielder, because, in both cases, they were way too slow to be truly outstanding defensive outfielders.  Both stole less than 50 bases in long careers, and grounded into almost 300 double plays (298 and 297).   Both played most of their careers for not very good teams.  Both men were very well liked; in fact, I would say that both men were unusually well liked.   Their birthdays are only a couple of weeks apart, Baines being born on the Ides of March and Staub on April Fool’s Day.

       Baines was a #1 player, first player taken, in the draft.  Staub started his career before the draft, but played 150 games in the major leagues at the age of 19, which is actually a very similar thing when you think about it.  What it means is that they were both guys that the scouts absolutely loved, as teenagers.  Both of them are "hurt", in a sense, by the fact that they have very low-value seasons included in their major league records, seasons that wouldn’t be there if they had not been in the majors before they were major-league ready.  It drags their Wins Above Average down, that they had early-in-career below-average seasons.

       Baines has the advantage in superficial stats or counting stats; Staub, because he played in a lower run context, has the advantage in analytical stats.  Baines beats Staub in batting average (.289 to .279) and slugging percentage (.465 to .431), and leads in homers (384-292), RBI (1628-1466), and runs scored (1299-1189), although all of those numbers are comparable.  I said that "Staub’s career high in homers was 30; Baines, 29.  Each man drove in 100 runs three times, and 90+ several more times."  But Baines hit 20 or more homers ten times and drove in 90 or more runs eight times, whereas Staub hit 20 or more homers only four times and drove in 90 or more runs only six times.    

Doubles and triples are almost the same (488-499 and 49-47), stolen bases not meaningful.   Staub has meaningful advantages in walks (1288 to 1062) and strikeouts (888 to 1441) and a slim edge in on base percentage (.362 to .356).  Staub is comfortably ahead in Win Shares (356 to 307) and WAR (45.8 to 38.7).  Staub’s advantage is 17% in Win Shares, 18% in WAR.   Staub’s low-run context is mostly because he played through the low-run years of 1963 to 1968, but also is park-based; his career OPS is 4 points higher on the road than at home, whereas Baines is 17 points higher at home (which is still a relatively small home-field advantage.) 

              Someone will say that Baines’ Hall of Fame election has to re-open the door for Staub, but this is based on a false assumption about how the Hall of Fame selection process works. To say that implicitly assumes that the door is open to those who are above a certain quality line, and is blocked to those who are below a certain quality line.  In practice, the Hall of Fame limits its membership by structuring the process so that a limited number of people can be elected.  In essence, the Hall is relying on the fact that only a LIMITED of number of players can be elected to ensure that only the BEST players are elected.   Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.   Baines’ election doesn’t really do anything to Staub’s status.  What it really does is block the door for some more-deserving candidate.   Baines used the slot that could have gone to Ted Simmons. 

              In closing, a Harold Baines/Rusty Staub Mashup.  Since Staub started his career in 1963 and Baines in 1980, we’ll start the mashup in 1972; the new player is 19 years old in 1972.   I start with the career records of the two players, and then choose the best player at each age.  However (a) I allow a limited number of seasons to be "carried forward" so that if both players have good years at a certain age, then the extra season gets used later, and (b) this puts the 1981 strike season in the middle of the career, and in 1981, when he would have been 28, the "new player" can’t play more than 106 games, 108 games, something like that.   So I move short seasons before age 28 forward to age 28, so that you get a career that actually could have happened.  Also have to reverse a couple of seasons late in the career for the 1994/1995 strike.  See if you can figure out which seasons are Baines’, and which are Staub’s:

Rusty Stains

Born    March 23, 1953

Height:  6’2"                Weight:  185

Right Fielder-DH              Bats: Left

Selected to Hall of Fame:       2006