Email a copy of 'Jack Of All Trades: Fred McGriff' to a friend
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By Howard Megdal | at
Email a copy of 'Jack Of All Trades: Fred McGriff' to a friend
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Red_Line_9
Fred McGriff’s career will continue to look better as the seasons pass. He was greatly admired during his playing days, but seemed to have a lower profile than some other big names. Can’t call him underrates..just maybe overlooked.
I always wonder when the conversation come around to Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio and that era why Stan Musial isn’t mentioned more often. Was it playing for the Cardinals in the Midwest away from the Eastern press? What reverence would he hold had he spent his career on a Red Sox or Yankee roster?
Tim
I think Fred has been slightly underrated. If you look at the numbers from his first 7 or 8 years (some of his OPS+ totals were mentioned in the article), he was probably the second best hitter in baseball behind only Barry Bonds over that stretch.
I think the fact Fred was consistently great, but never had a monster season, and the fact that the steroid era that followed his prime ended up greatly diminishing some of his earlier seasons and overall career numbers, have conspired against him.
I think he deserves into the Hall, but I don’t think he’ll end up getting in.
Michael Procton
Absolutely. Tom Glavine recently said the same thing in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Q: When you faced Jeff Bagwell, did you think of him as a Hall of Famer?
A: Jeff was always a good player. He certainly was a guy you didn’t want to let beat you. But the Hall of Fame criteria is more than that. It’s how you stack up based on the history of the game, which is always tough to judge. I don’t know what his numbers are compared to Freddie McGriff’s, but I think those are two guys as time goes on will garner more and more attention, especially Freddie. I think people would be surprised if they saw the numbers Freddie McGriff had and where he stacked up in the history of the game.
Q: He was only seven homers shy of 500. But maybe his quiet, laid-back demeanor didn’t help him?
A: Yeah and he didn’t exactly play in the biggest markets. His time in Atlanta was probably when he got the most exposure. … You start throwing out numbers. You think they’re attached to some of the other great players in the game and they’re attached to Freddie. That’s the kind of thing that over time is only going to help his cause and probably the same is true for Jeff. The fact those guys did it in an era when they were clean is going to help them too.
venn177
But is he a Hall of Famer?
Also anyone else who lives in the Tampa Bay area: Do those commercials with Fred McGriff ever get annoying for you?
aap212
I think he’s exactly the line. By which I mean I’m not sure if he’s a hall of famer, but anyone worse isn’t and anyone better is.
Now pardon me while I take a bow for my epic cop-out.
moonraker45
amazing.
Cameron Nelson
Give hima few more years and he’ll probably go in. There’s guys in the hall worse than Crime Dog, but he won’t go in this election, maybe even next election. But he won’t get Blyleven’d.
14 Rocks
On the day the Braves traded for McGriff the broadcast booth caught on fire and so did the team. He is one of my all time favorite Braves.
Torgos_Executive_Powder
I was six years old, and that was my first game. My most vivid memories: 1. Asking my parents why they couldn’t just play the game at the Georgia Dome and 2. Sitting in the parking lot at AFCS for what seemed like ages.
Gary
He hit a HR in like his 2nd at-bat that night against the Cardinals which I think tied the game. It was basically what put the fire into the team and off they went. Within three weeks they had closed the gap with the Giants.
aap212
Awesome feature. For a guy who was traded so many times, there can’t be any sweeter baseball epitaph than “Put simply, no one who ever traded for Fred McGriff had reason to regret it.” I still would take Toronto’s side of that trade, but what a majestically huge trade that was.
Torgos_Executive_Powder
I’ve never understood this, can someone help me: Why did Atlanta allow McGriff to be taken by Tampa Bay in the expansion draft? It worked out OK, as they were able to sign Galarraga for 1998, but still, for someone as productive and consistent as him, it’s surprising.
aap212
They didn’t. They sold him. When a first baseman slugs .441 at age 33, you can be forgiven for thinking the best is done with. It provided a nice homecoming story for McGriff and the Devil Rays and gave the Braves room to sign Andres Galarraga, who was phenomenal for them that first year before he had his fight with cancer.
Gary
They sold him. It wasn’t that they didn’t want him, but the Braves wanted to add a RH bat to the lineup to protect Chipper Jones from getting turned around to bat RH. That bat was Galarraga and in order to pay him the Braves had to unload salary and open up 1B.
George Veitengruber
I think he’s a HOF player. Never heard steriods, never heard controversy. Played his position well and consistently for a long time. Someone should do a writeup of how he ranks in his generation and against other HOF members.
Dan Lewis
I immediately think of Tom Emanski. Anyone who doesn’t do the same (even if not immediately), I pity.
Chris McShane
Yep, me too.
Guest
You forgot to mention his back-to-back-to-back AAU National Championships.
Dan Lewis
Didn’t forget. That’s part of the Emanski brand — mentioning it is
redundant! 🙂
Gary
Haha…..yes I do think about those commercials as well. My god they still show them on some stations.
das411
Very, very underrated player who should be in the Hall of Fame…just so we can see him wearing that Tom Emanski hat on his plaque!
studio179
Yes, who could forget the hat! It was all about the hat!
Nobody could wear that hat Like the ‘Crime Dog’.
bjsguess
McGriff was a stud. I’m glad articles like this get written so people who didn’t follow baseball at the time can appreciate some of these older players.
That Toronto deal was crazy. Tony Fernandez had a very weird career. The Pads got him when he was 28. Coming off some solid years of posting an OPS in the 750 range, great glove, and good speed (20-25SB’s). He was ready to bust out … but he didn’t. In his 2 years with the team he never posted an OPS above 700. The guy has a good year with the Reds in 94, but then nothing worth noting until 98. But, in 98 and 99 Fernandez has his two best years by far posting OPS+’s of 120 and 124. This occurred during his age 36 and 37 seasons.
A guy is called up to the bigs at 21, starts regularly at 22, hits his peak at ages 36/37, and is out of baseball at 39.
aap212
Yeah, Fernandez gets a little underrated just because he definitely wasn’t a hall of famer. But he was good for a really long time with flashes of greatness.
Given the age you’ve placed yourself at, if you’ve never really looked at Eric Davis’ stats from when he was young, do it now. Even the numbers are fun to look at.
bjsguess
I don’t want to date myself too much but I really started following baseball in 1985.
Eric Davis was an absolute stud. The guy just couldn’t stay healthy. Phenomenal defensively, a demon on the basepaths (80SB’s and 27 HR’s in 86), and just all around good guy.
From 85 to 90 he averaged (per 162 games):
276/367/526 – 36 HR’s and 51 SB’s … and most of his time was spent in CF
There were a couple of guys around that same time that were just amazing combinations of speed and power.
Ian Riccaboni
Great player, better person. I think he’ll get his due in the Hall as time passes.
TheReturnOfMrBlanks
He was a Beast on Super Nintendo’s Ken Griffey Jr presents Major League Baseball.
Him + Justice + Gant + Deion was sweet mix.
Red_Line_9
The additions of Jim Rice and Andre Dawson to the Hall of Fame really raises the question on just what qualifies a player for induction. Not to diminish the careers of both of those men, but there are quite a few players who put up similar if not better numbers. Fred McGriff would be one of those players in my mind.
I have more of a conservative view of who belongs in the Hall. It’s just my personal view. A Hall of Fame induction should never be questionable. I’m not hearing much grumbling about Greg Maddux’s induction. Curt Schilling on the other hand might raise the boo birds.
Patrick OKennedy
“What do you think of when you hear Fred McGriff’s name?”
Crime dog.
Will_Clarks_Gauchos
Will Clark
Nathan
THE THRILL