1975 WAR and All-Star Teams

 By JT 

As part of the series here are the WAR All-Star teams

Here are the UPI All-AL and All-NL squads—

And the TSN All-AL and All-NL—

And the AP All-MLB Team—

And finally the All-Star Team Rosters—

Joe Rudi's 11-year Peak

 By JT  

Joe Rudi had a very nice mini-peak from 1974-75 hitting .285 and per 162 games 21 HRs and 97 RBI while playing excellent left-field winning three Gold Gloves—

But his long "peak" was eleven years and he still averaged those 93 RBO but his power and average were down.

So, we salute Joe Dirt, errr  . . Joe Rudi

1972—MLB AL All-Star; ALl-MLB Second-team (AP, NEA); All-AL (TSN)

1974—MLB AL All-Star; All-AL  (TSN, UPI); Gold Glove

1975—MLB AL All-Star; Gold Glove

1976—AL TSN All-Star; Gold Glove

Nate Colbert's Peak—1969-74

 By JT  

Nate Colbert had a high, short peak after joining the Padres. With them, per 162 games, he hit .253 averaged 30 dingers and 90 RBI.

After leaving playing for any other team he hit less that the Mendoza line—

(click to enlarge)

Nate Colbert's Stats per PFR

Bobby Bonds—A Near Great

 By JT 

Always loved Bobby Bonds and his power and speed and arm and the rest of his skill set. Even so, looking back, we are not sure we can call him great. 

His 11-year peak (shown above, courtesy PFR) shows a guy who averaged 28 HRs and 39 SBs over that span. He was a good right fielder with a very, very good arm. 

He received MVP votes in 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, and 1977 and was an All-Star in 1971, 1973, and 1975 and was a Sporting News All-Star in 1973 and 1977 (UPI and AP also) and an honorable mention in 1978 by UPI.

He was All-MLB in 1973 (NEA) and also Second-team All-MLB by AP. He was an honorable mention All-MLB pick in 1975.

In summary Bonds post-season honor years (Votes for MVP and/or All-Star teams)—

1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, and 1978.

He also won three Gold Gloves (1971, 1973, 1974).

Amazingly he had nine titles in "Power-Speed"—

All we know is he'd be great in today's game.

Ken Henderson—Darned Good

By JT

 Playing next to Willie Mays had to help in the field, but Ken Henderson played some solid ball but when Gary Matthews came to the bigs, Henderson was expendable and traded to the white Sox

He played for seven teams in his career and had a nice 7-year peak from 1970-76—

Henderson had some pop in his bat (average 17 HRs per 162 games) and some speed (13 SBs in the same span) and averaged 30 doubles as well. He was a fine left fielder and a decent arm (15 assists in 1970 and 14 in 1972).  

While no superstar he was a solid player and in 1974 he was 19th in MVP voting and was likely the best centerfielder in the Al that year, ranking fourth in WAR and leading in OPS, SLG, doubles, HRs and RBI—

Had the UPI picked position players, rather than just three outfielders he'd have likely been All-AL that year. 

One of our favorite stats is the Power/Speed number—

He was in his league's top 10 for times—

1970 NL  18.4 (6th)

1971 NL  16.4 (5th)

1972 NL  15.8 (10th)

1974 AL  15.0 (6th)

(source Baseball Reference)

So, here's to Ken Henderson, a good compliment to a star centerfielder and for one year (1974) a fine near-star player in centerfield.

Al Oliver—A Fifteen-year "Peak"

 By JT 

Al Oliver was one of my favs. Looking back it seems even I have underrated him. Here is his 15_year "peak" his top consecutive seasons. It spans for 15 years,s quite a long span—

From 1969 through 1983 only Pete Rose and Rod Carew had more hits.

So, in addition to having the third-most hits in MLB during his 1969-83 peak, Al Oliver played the second-most games, the second-most doubles (behind Rose) the fifth most triples, was fourth in runs driven in, hit .305 (good for seventh among those with 5,000 at-bats), and was 13th in fewest strikeout percentage and six of those ahead of him were middle-infielder singles hitters types. In addition, he hit 215 dingers. 

Also, from 1969-83 he was one of two players to have 2,000 hits, 1,000 RBI, steal 80 bases, have 40 triples, and 200 home runs showing power and some reasonable speed and power . . . the other? Bobby Murcer.  

Oliver was consistent in "blue shade" 12 of 18 seasons. Blue shade is seasons getting some sport of post-season honor, silver slugger, All-star game, what have you—

In 1969 Oliver was second in the Rookie of the Year race. 

1972—All-Star

1975—All-Star

1976—All-Star and Second-team All-NL (UPI)

1978—All-AL (AP and UPI)

1980—All-Star

1981—All-Star and Second-team All-AL (UPI)

1982—All-Star, Second-team All-MLB (AP), and First-team All-NL (TSN and UPI)

1983—All-Star