Jason Tyner...

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

..is getting another chance to hit singles in the majors, getting called up to the Indians over the weekend.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Nothing wrong with hitting singles if you hit enough of them. You have to hit an awful lot of them, if that's all you bring to the plate.

[Theoldmole]

Ichiro...?

[Theoldmole]

Who are the Hall of Famers with least differential between BA and SP?

[metirish]

Jeff Keppinger is doing awfully good out of essentially being a singles hitter.

[Gwreck]

Eddie Collins, maybe (difference of less than 100 points).

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

OldMole - "Who are the Hall of Famers with least differential between BA and SP?"

My guess would be Wade Boggs or Pee Wee Reese.

[Guest sharpie]

Phil Rizzuto has all of the aforementioned beat. .273 average, .351 slugging.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I guess he drove a Ford.

[Frayed Knot]

Tyner's other problem (aside from the total lack of power) is that he never really was (or became) the ball-hawking CFer you'd want that kind of hitter to be. Brett Butler could get away with singles & walks because he could play the position so well - but it's tough to endure that kind of production from a corner spot or even from just a so-so CFer.


Maury Wills, btw, is the guy with the largest pct of his hits as singles in ML history (~88% or a .050 BA/Slg diff) - but of course he falls short of being a HoF-er.

[Fman99]

While he wont ever make the HoF, our own gimpy 2B has a career BA of .298 and SLG of .356.

1637 career hits, 1385 singles.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I'm just surprised that he keep getting chances. Guess he's in that Jose Offerman, Ice Williams world of AAAA players who bubble up now and then for a spell.

[Gwreck]

sharpie wrote: Phil Rizzuto has all of the aforementioned beat. .273 average, .351 slugging.

Ah, see, I didn't think of Phil Rizzuto as a hall-of-famer.

[Frayed Knot]

Doesn't mean Tyner can't be a useful fill-in here and there, just that his type of "narrow" skills have a very small margin for error in order to justify them as a full time player much less a 1st round draft pick.
What Tyner essentially needed was a good OBP to make it as a full-time player since he had little else to fall back on - and when a one-trick pony has his one trick fall short (see also the caution about drafting slugging 1st basemen in the 'Draft' thread) he goes from somewhat valuable to easily replacable in short order.

The Mets ran into the same problem - only at the opposite end of the spectrum from Tyner - with 1st rounder Robert Stratton.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Knot - "Maury Wills, btw, is the guy with the largest pct of his hits as singles in ML history (~88% or a .050 BA/Slg diff) - but of course he falls short of being a HoF-er."

So does Rizzuto (in a just world). Rizzuto was lucky to have some HOF former teammates looking out for him.

[Guest AG/DC]

Tyner is still useful as a Darren Bragg type, getting callups here and there as a fifth outfielder, pinch-runner, defensive replacement who plays hard not necessarily because of some moral superiority, but because he's got to live like he's dying, because every big-league day could be his last. They may even hit two or three times a week if given a chance.

Such guys are useful to have around, at least for managers to remind vets to take a less fom Bush League Billy over there at Locker 12 and not be complacent, but fans can fall way too deeply in love with them.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Not a HOF'er but try and top The Crazy Horse:

Lifetime
AVG. .251
OBP. .283
SLG. .309

[batmagadanleadoff]

TheOldMole wrote: Who are the Hall of Famers with least differential between BA and SP?

I don't know if this is the smallest differential, but Lloyd Waner was .316 AVG. & .393 SLG.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I don't know if this is the smallest differential, but Nellie Fox: .288 AVG. / .363 SLG.

[Vic Sage]

By position: (BA /SLG)

C - Ray Schalk 253 / 316
1B - Hughie Jennings 311 / 406
2b - Jonny Evers 270 / 334
SS - Ozzie Smith 262 / 328
3b - Bobby Wallace 268 / 358
OF1 - Richie Ashburn 308 / 382
OF2 - Tommy McCarthy 292 / 376
OF3 - Max Carey 285 / 386

[batmagadanleadoff]

Vic Sage wrote: By position: (BA /SLG) C - Ray Schalk 253 / 316 1B - Hughie Jennings 311 / 406 2b - Jonny Evers 270 / 334 SS - Ozzie Smith 262 / 328 3b - Bobby Wallace 268 / 358 OF1 - Richie Ashburn 308 / 382 OF2 - Tommy McCarthy 292 / 376 OF3 - Max Carey 285 / 386

Sandy Alomar's career was spread out over too many positions to make your list but still, here's what Sandy did or didn't do with his 5000+ plate appearances:

AVG: .245
OBP. .290
SLG. .288

Sandy's most similar batter, according to Baseball Reference is Bud Harrelson. He was 0-22 as a Met, without any bases on ball. His lifetime Met line is .000 AVG, .000 OBP., .000 SLG. He did score one run as a Met. How? I don't know.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: He did score one run as a Met. How? I don't know.

So I had to look this up. On 4/20/67, Alomar pinch ran for Jerry Buchek, who was injured after being hit by a Cal Koonce pitch and had to leave the game. Alomar was eventually singled in by his eventual most similar player, Bud Harrelson.

The Mets beat the Cubs 6-1. It was Tom Seaver's very first major league win.

[Guest AG/DC]

It's not that Sandy's defense was spread over too many positions to make the list, it's that his entire caree was spread outside of the Hall of Fame.

[Elster88]

sharpie wrote: Phil Rizzuto has all of the aforementioned beat. .273 average, .351 slugging.

Is he in the HoF?

[batmagadanleadoff]

AG/DC wrote: It's not that Sandy's defense was spread over too many positions to make the list, it's that his entire caree was spread outside of the Hall of Fame.

Gotcha.

[batmagadanleadoff]

AG/DC wrote: It's not that Sandy's defense was spread over too many positions to make the list, it's that his entire caree was spread outside of the Hall of Fame.

I said: "Gotcha."

[Guest AG/DC]

Great!

[batmagadanleadoff]

AG/DC wrote: Great!

Gotcha.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

="batmagadanleadoff"]Not a HOF'er but try and top The Crazy Horse: Lifetime AVG. .251 OBP. .283 SLG. .309

Those 1972 Topps cards are a thing of beauty!