Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

We all know Clemente is the King with a -6 in RF. But who is ummmm, how to put that politely....

It was mentioned in another thread that Ben Revere routinely gets a +3. That got me thinking.

Who posted the highest + throwing arm in all of strat history.

And while we are having this discussion might as well toss catcher in here as well. What catcher does even Cecil Fielder get excited to see behind the plate?

Gates Brown is a +4. Definitely should have been a +5

Easily a +8

http://youtu.be/wfLIyT8HExY

Bob Johnson has a +5 for his 1936 card -- even though he had 13 assists that season, which ranked second among left fielders that season. He was consistently among the league leaders in assists throughout his career, and led the league both before and after that season. In the Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James selected him as having the best outfield arm in baseball for the 1940's. Arm strength shouldn't vary much year-to-year. With that in mind, how does Strat justify giving him a +5?

Pepper Martin's +5 for his 1936 card, in which he was in the top 10 in the NL for outfield assists, is also pretty incomprehensible to me. Usually, if a third baseman is moved to the outfield, it's because of his arm, not in spite of it.

I know this is a thread about outfield arms, but SOM did a similar disservice to the 1926 Bob O'Farrell card as they did to Johnson. He is rated +1, despite throwing out over 50% of steal attempts; not to mention he was known throughout his career for his defense and throwing arm.

The youtube video was funny and brought back some memories seeing him hit the umpire.
One year I was pitching and the home plate umpire was same guy who had been my coach the year before.
I was warming up and he was standing back by the backstop fence talking to some friends.
I foolishly threw a fork ball and slider back then. Bounced every other warmup pitch in the dirt and straight between catchers legs who had enough trouble catching that fork ball when it was up off the ground. Every one of those warmup pitches found their way to hitting that former coach turned ump in the legs. I felt bad but not bad enough to quit throwing it. Credit to him all those wild warmups never translated in to getting squeezed on strike zone.

Wow, those Johnson and O'Farrell cards definitely should like erroneous ratings.
That is why you need an agent. So they can question official scorer judgements and Strat ratings without making you seem petty.

Wonder if any player has ever contacted Strat and protested their ratings.

+5 catchers abound. Chance and Jake Stahl come readily to mind.

I wonder if Dr. Strangeglove could throw? He might be up there, I'm sure he played the of at some point.

Actually, I just checked and he played lf in '59 and '61. He actually had OPS+ of over 140 in both years. We really should have one of those two cards.

He was just before his time. A Dave Kingman type hitter who could have been a good dh, although Bill James rated him as the worst percentage player in history, he wasn't big on OBP and may have been the worst fielder ever.

He did have a huge "1" in Cadaco's All Star Baseball when I was a kid, although his '7's and 13's sucked. He could start at 1b in atg and be backed up by Mary Throneberry!

Having mellowed a lot in my old age I am inclined to give Chance a pass on the +5 catcher arm since he was not primarily a catcher. Can anyone remember some players where catcher was the primary position and still got the +5?

Strat tends to give anyone who played a position sparingly a bad rating. So be interesting to see if anyone remembers a catcher who logged at least 80-100 games behind the plate and got the old +5 vote of no confidence.