Tuesday, January 16, 2007 |
More Ammo For Matt Welch: Bill James On Bobby Grich
DL: Pete Palmer has rated Bobby Grich ahead of both Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew. What is your opinion of that?BJ: Grich was an underrated player at a very high level, a kind of hidden superstar. We all have a lot of affection for him in that role. We all kind of like "discovering" the underrated players, the hidden stars. Grich, because he is very underrated as a hitter AND brilliant defensively, is one of few hidden stars who can plausibly be asserted to be better than many of the Hall of Famers. He's a favorite of mine and of yours, I suspect, and of Pete and of many other people who like to study the game really intensely. But Grich was not the hitter that Carew was or Reggie...I guess Reggie was the greatest hitter of the three, but Carew is close and Grich is fairly close in a shorter career. It is then a question of "is his defensive benefit...the margin by which he is a better defensive player than Rod or Reggie...is that greater than the margin by which they outshine him as hitters?" And the truth is, none of us really knows. There is no terribly compelling logic about that issue, I don't think. Pete, based on what you say, apparently thinks that his defense is good enough to make up the difference, or more. I don't think I could agree. I think I would have to rate them: 1. Reggie, 2. Carew, 3. Grich. But I don't know that I could convince a skeptic that the weight that I am placing on defense is the right amount, any more than Pete could convince a skeptic. He has his logic, I have mine. I'm sure that the students of the game in the next generation will have a clearer view of the issue than we have now.
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