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Players you saw at the end of their careers who were surprisingly good


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#1 bnickle

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Posted 25 July 2018 - 10:46 PM

Im looking for guys who surprised you how good they were once you were old enough to go back and look at their numbers. This will be all age related. Not necessarily looking for HOFers. 


So for me a guy like Dave Parker who I only remembered from his last few years on the As. Didnt realize how good his career was in Pittsburgh until I got older. Fisk is a HOFer and applies too. I never knew how good he was in Boston. 


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#2 You Play to Win the Game

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Posted 25 July 2018 - 10:55 PM

Harmon Killebrew jumps out at me.

#3 Russ

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Posted 25 July 2018 - 10:55 PM

Yaz.

#4 bnickle

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Posted 25 July 2018 - 11:04 PM

Musial and Mantle were two guys I never saw play/ I had heard their names spoken. I knew they were HOFers. But damn did I not realize just how good they were until I was older and dug into the numbers

#5 bnickle

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Posted 25 July 2018 - 11:09 PM

DeCinces applies as a guy I vaguely remember late in his career. Didnt realize how good he was. Same with Dwight Evans



#6 bnickle

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Posted 25 July 2018 - 11:11 PM

Fred Lynn



#7 CA-ORIOLE

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Posted 26 July 2018 - 01:24 AM

- Dwight Evans

- Bobby Grich

- Gene Tenace

- Ken Singleton

- Richie Hebner 

- Mike Marshall

- Willie Randolph

- Roy White

- Paul Blair

- Mark Belanger

- Joe Morgan (didn't realize how great he was) 

 

Off the top of my head I would say I didn't appreciate all of the above nearly well enough. A little surprised more pitchers don't come to mind.

 

I could probably come up with a pretty good list of players I way overvalued at the time. Matty Alou comes to mind.  



#8 NewMarketSean

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Posted 26 July 2018 - 06:26 AM

Reggie Jackson. First game I went to everyone booed him. I thought he hit a HR against us but I can’t find one where he hit a HR against us. I think the game may have been called for rain and not been official.

Everyone booed him. It had been ten years since he was an Oriole for a year and they were still booing him. Lol.
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#9 Thirteen

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Posted 26 July 2018 - 07:23 AM

The Orioles first DH, Tommy Davis (well, at least for a few years in the early '60s)



#10 SBTarheel

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Posted 26 July 2018 - 08:35 AM

Reggie Jackson. First game I went to everyone booed him. I thought he hit a HR against us but I can’t find one where he hit a HR against us. I think the game may have been called for rain and not been official.

Everyone booed him. It had been ten years since he was an Oriole for a year and they were still booing him. Lol.

This is what I remember too. He got booed every at bat, but in 1993 in the Old Timers game on Home Run Derby day( I wish they'd bring this back by the way, that celebrity softball game, while fun, isn't close to as good), he got the loudest ovation and people were doing the "Reggie Reggie" chant . That was his Hall of Fame month, but this always stayed with me for some reason. 

 

Anyway, here's a few for me who I saw at the end of their careers but not even close to what they were in their prime. 

Joe Morgan

Johnny Bench

Steve Carlton

Jim Palmer

Thurman Munson

Billy Martin (manager edition)

 

My son and i were oddly talking about this watching quick pitch this morning. They mentioned Pujols passing Griffey in all time home runs, and he said he didn't realize how great he was. He's only 13 so only known Pujols during the Angels years. 

 

Great topic, Nickle! 


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#11 Mike in STL

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Posted 26 July 2018 - 09:08 AM

George Brett comes to mind. I was 8 or 9 when he got his 3,000th hit, (I think in Camden Yards, IIRC), retired the next year I think. 

 

So I knew as a kid he was a good player. Most well known for the pine tar incident more than anything else which is why his numbers and ability rarely get mentioned.

 

I didn't realize how great he was until he went in the HOF and some of the accomplishments were rehashed. The ones that stuck ou to me at the time were he was the only player to win a batting title in three different decades. Also is one of only four players with a career 3,000 hits, 300 homers, and a .300 batting average. Others are Aaron, Mays, and Musial. Incredible company there. 

 

Looking back I didn't realize he OPS'd over 1.000 a few times which seems crazy for a guy that wasn't known as a bopper. Roped a lot of doubles though. 6th all time. Only guys in the same era with more are Rose and Biggio. Career he walked more than he struck out. 


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#12 The Epic

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Posted 26 July 2018 - 09:12 AM

Doc Gooden lasted a little longer but it still seemed like "the end", you know? 

Same for Mark Langston

Mike Schmidt



#13 The Epic

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Posted 26 July 2018 - 09:13 AM

My son and i were oddly talking about this watching quick pitch this morning. They mentioned Pujols passing Griffey in all time home runs, and he said he didn't realize how great he was. He's only 13 so only known Pujols during the Angels years. 

 

I feel so old. There's kids right now that know nothing of how great Griffey was, either. 



#14 mdrunning

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Posted 31 July 2018 - 01:02 AM

Orlando Cepeda.

By the time I saw him, he was squeezing a few more years out of his career as a DH with the Red Sox in the early 70s. What I didn't know was that he was a key part of the Mays and McCovey Giants of the 60s and was the National League MVP in 1967 after moving over to the Cardinals.

Mike Marshall (the pitcher, not the Dodger first baseman) is another example.

In a bit of a reversal of the thread topic, it was an absolute blast watching Steve Stone, the quintessential journeyman, put together one of the greatest seasons ever by an Oriole pitcher in 1980. Unfortunately, his arm paid the price and he was out of baseball by the end of the next season.

#15 Pedro Cerrano

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Posted 31 July 2018 - 01:47 AM

Harmon Killebrew jumps out at me.


He retired in 1975. :-)

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#16 RShack

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Posted 31 July 2018 - 02:22 AM


In a bit of a reversal of the thread topic, it was an absolute blast watching Steve Stone, the quintessential journeyman, put together one of the greatest seasons ever by an Oriole pitcher in 1980. Unfortunately, his arm paid the price and he was out of baseball by the end of the next season.

 

He said he did that on purpose... he knew he was blowing his arm out... he said he did it because he wanted to see what the best season he could deliver was... once he got straight with Earl (after a little early friction) and looked around at the team he was on, he figured that was the best chance he was ever gonna get... so he decided to give it one mega-try, just to find out... damn the torpedoes, etc.


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#17 bnickle

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Posted 31 July 2018 - 02:45 AM

Fernando Valenzuela certainly applies for me. I only remember him being a scrub

#18 mdrunning

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Posted 01 August 2018 - 12:00 AM

He said he did that on purpose... he knew he was blowing his arm out... he said he did it because he wanted to see what the best season he could deliver was... once he got straight with Earl (after a little early friction) and looked around at the team he was on, he figured that was the best chance he was ever gonna get... so he decided to give it one mega-try, just to find out... damn the torpedoes, etc.

I read that somewhere myself.

 

Stone said that he was willing to trade several mediocre seasons for one truly great one, even if it did cost him down the road. So as a result, he started relying more and more on his curve ball. As he put it. "The Surgeon General should issue a warning against too many curveballs."



#19 mdrunning

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Posted 01 August 2018 - 12:01 AM

Fernando Valenzuela certainly applies for me. I only remember him being a scrub

I clearly remember Fernando-mania in his rookie season in 1981. And then the strike hit. . .



#20 Dystopia

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Posted 08 August 2018 - 01:10 PM

Damn you guys are old. 






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