Do Something About Gates Brown
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 12:04 pmGates Brown. I would have expected a lot more discussion about this museum piece of a card than there is in this forum. But something, SOMETHING has to be done about his ATG card. It is ruining the fun of 365 ATG.
I was a Detroit Tigers' fan in the magical 1968 season. With his timely, often game-winning pinch hits, Gates Brown was a hero to us fans. As a pinch hitter.
Gates sometimes would take a turn as a starting left fielder in the second game of a double header. It was something to be dreaded, because by that point in his career, Gates couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way of a cool breeze.
I looked it up. Gates played a total of 2 innings at first base that season, at the end of one game against the old Washington Senators. Those 2 innings accounted for the entirety of his playing first base for his whole career.
Yet Gates Brown '68 is given a 4e25 rating at 1B. You know who else gets a 4e25 rating in ATG? Ken Phelps. Mike Hargrove. Cliff Johnson. Guys who actually were first basemen.
With the release of ATG 9, Strat stripped many players of their ability to start at certain positions, presumably because they did so infrequently in their card season that it wasn't realistic. How did Gates at first base slide past that update?
I play in a league with a team that starts Gates at first base against RHP in every game. The team plays home games in the Polo Grounds. Over 237 AB after Game 93, Gates' OPS is 1.150. I should add that his RH platoon mate at 1B is the redoubtable Ken Smith '82, an all-time great by the very definition of the phrase.
Please - don't let Gates Brown (and some others) re-write baseball history. He did not send regular Tiger first baseman Norm Cash to the bench in '68, and he was NOT better than Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, or even Big Papi. Please, when you release your next ATG edition, please remove 1B from Gates Brown's card.
(Although, Gates did handle 3 chances errorlessly in his 2 innings at 1B...maybe he should be a 1e0.)
I was a Detroit Tigers' fan in the magical 1968 season. With his timely, often game-winning pinch hits, Gates Brown was a hero to us fans. As a pinch hitter.
Gates sometimes would take a turn as a starting left fielder in the second game of a double header. It was something to be dreaded, because by that point in his career, Gates couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way of a cool breeze.
I looked it up. Gates played a total of 2 innings at first base that season, at the end of one game against the old Washington Senators. Those 2 innings accounted for the entirety of his playing first base for his whole career.
Yet Gates Brown '68 is given a 4e25 rating at 1B. You know who else gets a 4e25 rating in ATG? Ken Phelps. Mike Hargrove. Cliff Johnson. Guys who actually were first basemen.
With the release of ATG 9, Strat stripped many players of their ability to start at certain positions, presumably because they did so infrequently in their card season that it wasn't realistic. How did Gates at first base slide past that update?
I play in a league with a team that starts Gates at first base against RHP in every game. The team plays home games in the Polo Grounds. Over 237 AB after Game 93, Gates' OPS is 1.150. I should add that his RH platoon mate at 1B is the redoubtable Ken Smith '82, an all-time great by the very definition of the phrase.
Please - don't let Gates Brown (and some others) re-write baseball history. He did not send regular Tiger first baseman Norm Cash to the bench in '68, and he was NOT better than Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, or even Big Papi. Please, when you release your next ATG edition, please remove 1B from Gates Brown's card.
(Although, Gates did handle 3 chances errorlessly in his 2 innings at 1B...maybe he should be a 1e0.)