1960 - 1999 player nomination thread

Three upgrades for one carded players. These are just off the top of my head

Julio Franco. 23 year career and we have one bad card. 1994 White Sox 319/.406/.510/.916
John Lowenstein 1982. Yes only 384 plate appearances but only because Earl Weaver, unlike HAL, REFUSED to bat him against lefty pitchers. Only 8 plate appearances were against lefties. 320/.415/.602/1.017
Lonnie Smith 1982 atlanta. one card. His best year .315/.415/.533/.948

Outta Leftfield...
PostFri Oct 06, 2017 8:48 pm
At some point I'd love to see an addition of some seriously good low-priced platoon cards. These would add a refreshing degree of variety to the play at lower caps, e.g. 60, 80, 100M. Currently the same few platoon players are used over and over. Several of these cards might be strong enough to use at 140M and 200M. Many of these players would also fulfill franchise needs.

Rosie,
Should I winnow my long list of platoon cards down to, say, two or three nominations? All the examples I gave were from the 90s, but I could have looked at the 80s. Should I look for some cards from 1981?

Or, you can pick. Just let me know what would be helpful.

OL

Another big upgrade is Ken Singleton 1977 328/438/507 THREE CARDS, (3rd in MVP) none of his 4 top ten MVP years represented.

But my number one upgrade is Hank Aaron. In 1971 he led the league in slugging, OPS, and OPS+, and it was his career high in each of those three categories. And, his splits show he leans slightly towards righties.

Trying to build a team for a lefty power park in the Post WWII expansion set? There aren't a lot of good options at catcher who can both hit and play D after Berra and Mauer, who is a little too expensive for caps of $100 mil or less. There are some players who have good seasons, but they just don't perform well in the online game, such as Darrell Porter. How about adding these guys to the mix:

1993 Rick Wilkins .303 30 73 .376 .561 .937. The post WWII & expansion Cubs are woefully short on good catching. But for one season, Rick Wilkins became one of just a handful of major league lefty hitting catchers to hit .300 and smash 30 HRs in the same season. While he was platooned most of the year, hitting just .226 against lefties, Wilkins' 1993 season still ranks as one of the best for a Cubs catcher other than those of Gabby Hartnett. It's too bad injuries limited him thereafter.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/3415/1690/1/90


1985 Rich Gedman Red Sox .295 18 80 .362 .484. .846. Career highs in HITS, BA, DO, RBI & OPS.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/834244/1680/1/80

1982 Terry Kennedy San Diego .295 21 97 .328 .486 .814. Career highs in HITS, DO (42!) HRs, SLG & OPS and just missed career highs in RBI and BA. In 1982 Kennedy actually hit lefties better than righties. The expansion Padres need help virtually everywhere, but until we get the 1987 Benito Santiago card (.300 18 79 .324 .467 .791) Kennedy would give them a big upgrade at catcher.
Kennedy http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/36332/1982/2/1982
Santiago http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/803449/1680/1/80

Outta Leftfield...
PostFri Oct 06, 2017 8:48 pm
At some point I'd love to see an addition of some seriously good low-priced platoon cards. These would add a refreshing degree of variety to the play at lower caps, e.g. 60, 80, 100M. Currently the same few platoon players are used over and over. Several of these cards might be strong enough to use at 140M and 200M. Many of these players would also fulfill franchise needs.

Rosie,
Should I winnow my long list of platoon cards down to, say, two or three nominations? All the examples I gave were from the 90s, but I could have looked at the 80s. Should I look for some cards from 1981?

Or, you can pick. Just let me know what would be helpful.

OL

Yes please refine it. Tks!

Love the 1971 Hank Aaron card...

1993 Rick Wilkins would be a great addition...

Here is a link to view the 1969 Fritz Peterson card (my number one upgrade)...
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/739467/1670/1/70

A couple of low-priced platoon options...
1981 Bill Almon (SS 2L) and 1969 Horace Clarke (2B 4L)
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/730161/1670/1/70
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/32119/1660/1/60

Yes please refine it. Tks!

As requested, here are recommendations for (presumably) cheap platoons drawing on actual cards from the 1970s and 1990s mystery card sets. I decided to go with a pair middle infielders who could actually be platooned and also a pair of catchers. I've gotten diamonddope.com diy BR and NERP numbers based on their actual mystery-cards. I chose to place them in a balanced moderate hitters park, Bank One Ballpark '05 (11/13 -11/13). None of the players listed below has a card in ATG, and each made an impact as a player and had a career of 11 years or more.

At C I propose to nominate
1. Rick Wilkins, Cubs 1993 -LH-hitting C, .937 OPS, 4R, 2 inj. BR = 19.58 / NERP = 30.68 vs RHP (11 year career)
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/3415/1690/1/90
2. John Wockenfuss, Tigers 1977, RH-hitting C/1B/RF/LF, .831 OPS, 9L, 2 inj. BR = 19.72 / NERP = 30.42 vs LHP (12 years)
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/743120/1670/1/70

At Middle Inf I propose to nominate:
3. Bill Spiers, Astros 1997 -LH-hitting 3b/SS/2b/CF, .919 OPS, 3R, 2 inj. BR = 15.74 / NERP =24.72 vs RHP (13 years)
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/3741/1690/1/90
4. Mariano Duncan, Reds 1990 -Switch-hitting 2B/LF/SS/3B, .821, 8L, 2 inj. BR = 25.31 / NERP =33.83 vs LHP (12 years)
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/8482/1690/1/90

If there's interest, I could easily create a corner OF platoon pairing as well, but I thought I'd start with C and IF since these are areas of greatest need. How SOM will rate these guys at specific defensive positions in a given year is anyone's guess, but they can definitely hit in a platoon situation.
[Update: After george barnard kindly pointed out that we have the '96 Hundley (I'd proposed '97), I swapped Rick Wilkins into the righty-killer spot at C. Surprisingly, their BR / NERP numbers are almost identical, with Wilkins actually a hair better]

We already have the '96 Hundley.

We already have the '96 Hundley.

Oops! Has he been chosen but not added yet? I must have missed that. I'll put in a different catcher, though I think the '97 may be a slight better card. [Edit: As indicated above, Hundley is replaced by Wilkins, Cubs 93].

How about slappin' some leather? These are arguably the best offensive seasons for players known throughout their careers for playing outstanding defense:

Infielders:

1961 Ken Boyer, Cardinals .329 24 95 .397 .533 .930. From the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s, the debate raged as to who was the best third baseman in the NL, Ken Boyer or Eddie Mathews. Mathews had more power, but Boyer was the superior fielder, winning 5 Gold Gloves, including one in 1961. We have Mathews' best card, why not Boyer?

1969 Don Kessinger, Cubs .273 4 53 .332 .366 .698. Career highs in ABs (bulletproof!) DO (38!), RBI, SLG, OPS, OPS+ & TBs and near career highs in BA, OBP & SBs; Kessinger helped form the defensive backbone with former Gold Glove winners Ron Santo and Glenn Beckert of the ill fated '69 Cubs. Kessinger won the first of his 2 Gold Gloves in 1969 and as a switch hitter, was an above average hitter compared to other shortstops of his era.

1969 Mark Belanger, Orioles .287 2 50 .351 .345 .696 Career highs in HITS, RBI, BA, OPS; Gold Glove
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/730727/1670/1/70

1970 Luis Aparicio, White Sox .313 5 43 .372 .404 .776 HOF SS, best season, career highs in BA, SLG, OBP, OPS & OPS+. Last of 9 Gold Gloves. Most HOFers have their best card, but not Aparicio. CWS desperately need expansion SS.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/730257/1670/1/70

1974 Mike Jorgenson, Expos .310 .444 .488 .931 in 366 PA, a 1 at 1B and a 3(0) corner OFer. The grown up version of Ken Smith, Jorgenson can actually hit lefties and righties equally well, knock in some runs and has a crazy high, for the '70s expansion era, .444 OBP.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/736118/1670/1/70

1975 Larry Bowa, Phillies .305 2 38 .334 .377 .711, 24 SBs; Career highs in BA, OBP, SLG & OPS. A 16 year switch hitting perennial 1 fielding SS, with just 2 cards, neither being among his two best seasons.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/731139/1670/1/70

Also, let's add 1979 Paul Molitor to the mix, who, while not known as a great defender, was actually a 2 at 2B that year:

1979 Paul Molitor, Brewers .322 9 62 .372 .469 .842 33 SBs 16 TR. Not only is Molitor a great lead off option, but the Brewers could use an upgrade at 2B in franchise leagues.

1980 Garry Templeton, Cardinals .319 4 43 .342 .417 .759 31 SBs. Career high OBP, 2nd career high in BA, SBs. A switch hitting, flashy, but erratic, fielder with great range, 1e42.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/841939/1680/1/80

1980 Buddy Bell, Texas .329 17 83 .379 .498 .877 Gold Glove Career high in BA, SLG, OPS & OPS+. 2nd career high in OBP.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/830734/1680/1/80

1981 Bobby Grich, Angels .304 22 61 .378 .543 .921 Led league in HR, SLG and OPS+, which is very rare for a 2nd baseman. Career highs in BA, SLG, OPS & OPS+ Silver Slugger.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/834657/1680/1/80

1993 Andres Galarraga, Rockies .370 22 98 .403 .603 1.005 Career highs in BA, OBP, SLG and OPS.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/3504/1690/1/90

Outfielders:

1961 Vada Pinson, Reds .343 16 87 .379 .504 .883 23 SBs. Pinson won a gold glove in 1961, despite being in the NL when Mays, Clemente and Aaron, all outstanding fielders with 27 gold gloves between them, were in their prime!
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/39584/1660/1/60

1968 Willie Mays, Giants .289 23 79 .372 .488. At 37 years of age, father time had begun to take his toll on the great Say Hey Kid, but even at his advanced age in the year of the pitcher, Mays put up good enough numbers to rank among the league leaders in most offensive categories. Mays played in 148 games and won his last Gold Glove. While obviously not as good as his other cards, wouldn't it be great to have a very good Mays card in the expansion set?
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/37703/1660/1/60

1971 Hank Aaron .327 47 118 .410 .669 Like a fine wine, Hammerin' Hank just got better with age. While other stars showed noticeable decline, at 37 Hank was still going strong. The pre-steroid era all time career home run leader posted career highs in home runs with 47, OBP at .410, SLG at .669, OPS at 1.079 and OPS+ at 194! All this, plus a .327 BA! All this offense and he could still field his position very well. It is one of Aaron's best seasons, and easily his best expansion era season.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/730000/1670/1/70

1971 Tony Oliva, Twins .337 22 81 .369 .546. 915 Led AL in BA & SLG. Career high in BA & OPS+ and near career highs in OBP, SLG & OPS.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/739082/1670/1/70

1974 Rick Monday, Cubs .294 20 58 .375 .467 .842. Monday had a fine 19 year big league career with the A's, Cubs and Dodgers and this was his career high BA as a regular at a time when hitting .294 meant that you were a good hitter. The Cubs are woefully short on good lefty sticks and Monday hit .313 vs lefties that year and .285 against righties. This card would be an improvement over Monday's 1975 card, where he hit just .267.

1978 Amos Otis, Royals .298 22 96 .380 .525 .905 32 SBs. Career highs in RBI, OBP, SLG, OPS & OPS+. Near career highs in BA, BB, HR. Although a 2(-4) in CF, this is very usable well balanced card.

1983 Andre Dawson, Expos .299 32 113 .338 .539. 877 25 SBs Career high in HITS; Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. While there are similar stats for other ATG Dawson cards, the 1983 card is far more usable, as it is more equally balanced than his other CF cards, and was the best offensive year for Dawson as a 1(-4) in CF.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/832850/1680/1/80

1984 Dave Winfield, Yankees .340 19 100 .393 .515 .908 Career high in BA; One of Winfield's best seasons for DO, OBP & OPS.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/843076/1680/1/80

1986 Jesse Barfield, Blue Jays .289 40 108 .368 .559 .927 Career highs in BA, DO, HR, RBI, SLG, OPS & 2nd best career high in OBP. Won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/304 ... 101/428933

Honorable Mention:

1981Joel Youngblood, Mets .350 .398 .531 .929 in just 161 PA, Though not a gold glover, Youngblood was a consistent SOM 2(-3) corner OFer. A 14 season big leaguer, mostly with the Mets and Giants. Best full season was 1983 with the Giants, .292 .356 .499 with 17 HRs. Below is a link to his 1983 card:
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/743324/1670/1/70

If light hitting defensive whiz Roger Metzger, with one gold glove, gets his best offensive card, the above players would seem to be deserving of such as well.