I nominate Boston red Sox great Carl Yaztremski.
Yes , we can nominate Hall of Famers.Yaz's name just doesn't seem to come up very often as one of the all time best , but I sure think he was.
By the way , the year he won the triple crown he made 50K

[This message has been edited by tommeehawk7 (edited 6/26/2014 4:14p).]

By definition, can a HoF be underrated?!

From my era, Tim Raines or Edgar Martinez.



[This message has been edited by mm98 (edited 6/26/2014 8:35p).]

Kevin Appier.. Andre Dawson

coldtaters / bevoSnowman / etc:
You think a guy with 18 All-Star games, an MVP, an All-Star game MVP, 7 Gold Gloves, his number hanging up in Fenway, and a first-ballot HOFer is underrated??

btw, $50K in 1967 is equal to about $3,950,000 today, which would probably be more than he would get that early in his career under today's CBA

Edgar Martinez is on the list for sure

B-G-O

quote:

---

B-G-O

---

To follow the OP's lead, Nolan Ryan

Of all time? Josh Gibson for me.

I usually don't think of Hall of Famers as under-rated, but if perhaps I had to pick one maybe Willie Stargell. Pops hit 475 career HR's despite playing 8 years in his prime in cavernous Forbes Field and also playing in the era of the raised mound (1960's)

as far as 'under-rated' players not in the Hall of Fame...those are easier to identify. A lot of these guys had great 4 or 5-year stretches of their career, but for a variety of reasons were not able to sustain their high level of play for another few years to reach the Hall of Fame...and thus perhaps they get overlooked:

- Roy Oswalt - from 2001 to 2008 one of the best starting pitchers in the game. Great winning %. Simply did not lose many games. Pitched in hitter-friendly MMP and thru the steroid era

- Will Clark - from 1987 to 1991 the most feared hitter in the national league, but injuries took their toll after that. Terrific clutch hitter

- Ted Simmons - the former Cardinals catcher was overshadowed by Johnny Bench, but Simmons was an 8-time all-star and hit .298 during his decade in St. Louis. Unfortunately the Cardinals never made the playoffs in those seasons

- Keith Hernandez - career .296 hitter, 5-time all-star, MVP, 11 gold gloves; 2-time WS champion; but didn't hit a lot of home runs. Also drew a lot of walks that cut down his total hits and RBI numbers

- Steve Garvey - he was baseball's iron man before Cal Ripken. Played at least 160 games in 9 seasons. Career .294 hitter. 10-time all-star. MVP. In 55 playoff games, Garvey hit .355 with 11 home runs. Great clutch hitter

- Al Oliver - 2,743 career hits with a .303 career batting average. Doubles machine, but did not hit many HR's. 7-time all-star. Batting champion. Overshadowed in Pittsburgh by Stargell and Dave Parker. Of course hitting in front of those 2 in the batting order was a great place to be in the 1970's

------
Some of the players above I would take ahead of a few Hall of Famers if I were drafting a team



[This message has been edited by W (edited 6/27/2014 1:18a).]

I should have been more clear on what I meant by "underrated". If a bunch of hardcore baseball fans were sitting around and discussing hall of famers , and we tried to build a couple of rosters from that list , would Yaz be on the rosters? I think he should be , not just for his hitting but his defensive skills as well.

Todd Helton

I think Bill Buckner is an obvious one. Put together a pretty decent career with some really good years. But the majority of fans just equate his name with the error.

You ****ing Bucknered it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYBEOtemA40 (language NSFW)

You can't say someone was underrated if they couldn't play the field, Edgar Martinez

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I would argue Barry Bonds. Most simply attribute everything he did to steriods, but the guy was a beast even before his head grew 3 times its original size.

When did Bonds start using?

At 24, Bonds' went .248\19HR\32 SB.

By comparison, Chris Davis at 23 went .238\21HR and people were disappointed and ready to dump him.

I think Steve Garvey fits the bill. 6 times in the Top 6 for MVP. 4 GGs. 19 seasons career .294 with 2599 Hits. Garvey's downfall was running to SD for the money. There were other things, IIRC, but when he left for SD... that hurt him.

Getting voted into the HoF is validation, IMO, so an underrated player, IMO, can't be in the HoF.

David Cone
Albert Belle

If we're allowing HOF/future-HOF and we're throwing out steroids (and that the guy is an ass)... I think Roger Clemens is pretty underrated by most.

You can make a strong case he's one of the Top 3 pitchers of all time.

How about Jim Rice (HOF) and George Foster?

Foster was an important part of the Big Red Machine, and as I can attest, almost criminally ignored for the likes of Rose and Bench.

Fred McGriff is a guy that gets forgotten now...hit .284 for his career, and fell just short of the 500 HR (493) and 2500 hit (2490) clubs. I don't recall him ever being linked directly to the steroid/PED group of the 90s, either...was a decent performer in the postseason, too (hit over .300 in 50 playoff games).

Dale Murphy may be the most anonymous back-to-back MVP winner ever...and if there is one guy that I would bet my life savings on when it comes to not ever having used steroids, it's him.

Leon Durham

Dale Murphy or Reverse Negative Dale Murphy?

quote:

---

You can't say someone was underrated if they couldn't play the field, Edgar Martinez

---

Big difference between can't and didn't. Don't penalize him for playing an actual AL position.

Benito Santiago?

Fred Lynn

Orioles Fred Lynn...not sawx Fred Lynn.

[This message has been edited by Corleoneag99 (edited 6/27/2014 8:16p).]

No love for Boog Powell?

I kid...I kid.

Also another vote for McGriff. I hate ATL but that guy was damn good for a long time.

Boog is rated properly as one of the best slugging first baseman of all time.

quote:

---

Steve Garvey - he was baseball's iron man before Cal Ripken. Played at least 160 games in 9 seasons. Career .294 hitter. 10-time all-star. MVP. In 55 playoff games, Garvey hit .355 with 11 home runs. Great clutch hitter

---

This

Jose Altuve

A couple of guys from the 80's that didn't go to a whole lot of all star games, but that were really good players. Von Hayes and Danny Tartabull.

Dave Parker was animal until he got fat and heavily into the nose candy.

What a great athlete that guy was.