Boston Red Sox fans may not want to hear this, but Jim Rice is the most overrated modern day player to make the Baseball Hall of Fame. That’s the word from Scott Barzilla, author of The Hall of Fame Index, a terrific book that dives deep into baseball numbers and “offers a revolutionary compendium of statistics that rates a players fitness for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame”.
And in Scott Barzilla’s view, Jim Rice, the Boston Red Sox slugger who played from 1974 -1989, was “a player with a relatively short peak” – a guy who was the best player on his team only once. In an interview with Barzilla, he told me, “When I was doing research I took the top 25 players from each position. He didn’t qualify.”
Barzilla noted, “Rice drove in a lot of runs, but he didn’t draw walks and grounded into a lot of double plays. Simply put, he didn’t create enough runs.” In fact, Rice created just 1367 runs – well below Dave Parker, Andre Dawson and Harold Baines. When you add up Win Shares, Wins Above Replacement Players and other statistical variables, Barzilla ranks Rice with a total player value of 358.37 for left fielders. By contrast, Rice’s teammate Carl Yastrzemski had a total player value of 568.80, while Boston’s Ted Williams registered 760.13, for 3rd place overall in the history of left fielders. The only two better left fielders were Stan Musial of the Cardinals at 794.83 and the best of all time: Barry Bonds. The Giants slugger ranked first overall with 966.87. Critics may argue the numbers are stained by the stigma of steroids – but statistically speaking, Bonds was far and away the best ever at his position.
By contrast, the most underrated player in baseball, according to Scott Barzilla, is Bobby Grich, an infielder who played with the Baltimore Orioles from 1970 – 76, then the California Angels from 1977 – 86. Grich was a four time Golden Glove Award winner and lifetime .266 hitter. He “was one of those players who was a good fielder and a good hitter,” Barzilla told me.
The Hall of Fame Index is Scott Barzilla’s third baseball book. He also wrote Checks and Imbalances and The State of Baseball Management. Additionally, Barzilla authored a book about his experiences as a teacher called, Combating Ignorance.
Currently he contributes to numerous blogs, including The Daily Hurricane and Baseball Reflections. Scott Barzilla is also the editor at Hardball Chat. Barzilla lives in Texas, where he is also “chasing a dream of becoming a statistical analyst with the Houston Astros,” and we wish him the best of luck!
