Tue Mar 19, 2024 10:02 pm
How about Lefty Grove, 1931? I think his pretty mundane and rarely used 8.89M card seriously under-represents the value of Grove's performance.
What did Grove accomplish in 1931? Grove went 31-4. He also saved 5 games, so he had a positive impact on 36 wins. Grove posted a 2.06 ERA against a league average of 4.38, amounting to an ERA+ of 217. Sandy Koufax's best ERA+ was 190, so by that measure, Grove excelled Koufax at his best. Grove also led the league in wins, shutouts, strikeouts, and WHIP. Grove won the MVP award by a virtually unanimous vote, beating out Lou Gehrig—in a year when Lou drove in an AL record 185 runs. This shows that contemporary observers were mighty impressed with what they saw Grove achieve.
Doesn't that performance merit a genuinely spiffy card?
I think Grove's mediocre card is part of a larger ATG pattern, which is to understate the value of pitching performances in the 1930s, an era dominated by hitters. A similar case could be made for their valuation of pitchers from 1920-1929, the first decade of the lively-ball era. ATG's top pitching cards are disproportionately assigned to the deadball era and pre-1901, when HR were scare and BA was often quite low. A strong case could be made that ATG doesn't make sufficient adjustment for the hitting conditions of different eras of baseball.
Grove's 8.89M card for 1931 is the second highest priced of the 1930s, with the highest being Hubbell at 9.00M for 1933. OTOH, there are seven pre-1920 SPs (deadball era) who cost 12M+. Five pre-1920 SPs cost 11M+. Six cost 10M+. And a whole slew of deadball era pitchers cost more than 9M. Were every one of these pitchers really worth more than any pitcher who pitched between 1930 and 1939? Or were many of these deadball era SPs just plying their trade in an era favoring pitchers over hitters?
BTW, I agree with earlier posts contending that Bob Gibson deserves a better card for his amazing 1968 season, with its microscopic 1.12 ERA.