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Today’s comparison is giving me a case of the Willies. Unlike my first post which compared Fred
McGriff to Joe Carter, leading me personally to declare McGriff the better
player, to try to figure out the better of today’s subjects is pure folly. Rather, let’s just sit back and enjoy these
two mostly similar players, and what they brought to the table. Today we focus on Willie Wilson and Willie
McGee.
The spark for this idea was surrounding the triple. One of favorite things to focus on the backs
of baseball cards were triples. I think
mainly because of their rarity. I
distinctly remembered in 1989 that Giants second baseman Robby Thompson led the
National League in triples. Apparently I
glossed over everything else that Robby Thompson ever did, because when I
researched him today, I found that he literally never did anything else.
Well, that’s not really fair. He did finish a distant second to Todd
Worrell in the 1986 Rookie of the Year vote.
He was a 2 time all star, and actually had some MVP votes and won a Gold
Glove and Silver Slugger award in 1993.
Holy crap. He has a career WAR of
33.7. But he was a second baseman, so
positional adjustment I guess. Anyway,
this isn’t about Robby Thompson.
To get an example of how close Willie Wilson and Willie
McGee were as players, check this out.
If I add up games played, plate appearances, at bats, runs, hits,
doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, stolen bases, caught stealing, walks, and
strikeouts, Wilson has the lead in this mythical stat with 25003. McGee’s total is 24840. That’s only a difference of 163
GPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOs over the course of a combined 37 seasons.
Before we get started on each individual player, here are a
few facts about both of them:
·
They spent most of their careers at the opposite
end of I-70 in Missouri
·
They spent most of their careers on Astroturf
·
They spent most of their careers in center field
(Wilson 1357 games, McGee 1351)
·
They both won a World Series
As Wilson is the elder statesman, let’s start with him.
Willie Wilson was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the
first round – 18th overall – in 1974 out of Summit High School in
Summit, NJ. To this date, he’s the
Hilltoppers’ only major league player, although they do have three other minor
leaguers to their name. After being
drafted, he debuted in the Minors for the Gulf Coast Royals where he batted
.252 in 155 at bats with 3 doubles, 5 triples, a home run and 14 RBIs. He also had 24 stolen bases in 26 attempts. But with only 10 walks vs. 51 strikeouts
leading to a .308 on base %, he wasn’t exactly screaming leadoff hitter.
He’d spend 3 more years in the minors before becoming a full
time major leaguer in 1978. Highlights
of those years include 187 stolen bases in 210 attempts and a slightly
improving batting average and on base %.
So he was fast, his batting average was, well, average, and he struck
out a lot. He would seem well suited to
be transferred to the Royals of the early to mid 90’s rather than the late
70’s. Stay tuned as we’ll return to the
minor leagues here in a little while.
Wilson would make his major league debut on September 4th,
1976 in Kansas City. The game was a 7-0
victory over the Rangers where Wilson would appear as a defensive replacement
in center field for Amos Otis. As
starter Dennis Leonard put the finishing touches on his shutout, he wouldn’t
allow the ball to leave the infield as he got two groundouts to short and a pop
out to third base to end the game.
Wilson would only appear in 12 games that year, mainly as a pinch
runner/defensive replacement. In those
12 games, he would only get six at bats with one hit and two strikeouts. His first hit came in an 18-3 loss to the
Twins on September 10th. He
stole two bases and was caught once by rookie rifle-armed catcher Butch Wynegar
to end the game in a 4-3 loss to the Twins.
Wynegar would go on to finish second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting
to Mark “The Bird” Fidrych that year.
Wilson would have to settle for another year in the minors.
Wilson’s second year in the majors was much like the first,
but it did feature more playing time. He
was called up on September 9. He would
play in 13 games with 34 at bats, hitting .324 with a couple of doubles, an
RBI, a walk and eight strikeouts. He
stole six bases, but was caught three times. The Royals saw enough of him to make his stay
in Kansas City permanent.
The 1978 Royals finished 92-70. Wilson continued to be a defensive
replacement and pinch runner, but he managed to play in 127 games with 198 at
bats. Despite not being a full time player,
he stole 46 bases vs. 12 caught stealing.
His 46 steals were good for fifth place in the AL. His batting average was only .217 though, and
with his penchant for not-walking, his on base % sat at .280. The Royals would be dismissed from the playoffs
by eventual champion New York Yankees.
1979 let the world show what Willie Wilson could do with
regular playing time. Inserted into left
field he played 154 games and had 588 at bats with a .315 average. He had 185 hits including 18 doubles, 13
triples, 6 home runs, 49 RBIs and 113 runs scored. He also stole a league leading 83 bases vs.
12 caught stealing. His on base %
climbed to .351. He would finish in 17th
place in MVP voting. Willie Wilson had
arrived.
1980 was arguable Wilson’s best season. For the World Series-bound Royals, he had 705
at bats, 230 hits, 133 runs and 15 triples.
All of those stats led the league.
He also had 79 stolen bases and 10 caught stealing, trailing only some
cat named Rickey Henderson who would steal exactly 100 bases. He hit .326 with a .357 on base %. He would finish fourth in the MVP race and
won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award.
As much as you probably now like Willie Wilson, I’m guessing you don’t want to read another 14 paragraphs on him, so let’s combine some seasons for fun.
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| That's not Wilson, and that's not cocaine. But he very well may be in Ft. Worth. |
The next four years would show more of the same from
Wilson. Well, except for that whole
conviction for attempting to purchase cocaine in November of ’83. He served 81 days in prison, and was supposed
have been suspended for the entire 1984 season, but it was reduced and he returned
to the lineup on May 15, 1984. Other
than that, in those four years, he would hit .303 with a .342 on base %, 75
doubles, 39 triples, 8 home runs and 155 RBIs.
He would steal 177 bases vs. 32 caught stealing. In 1982, he’d lead the league with 15 triples
and a .332 batting average on his way to a 15th place finish in the
MVP race and adding a Silver Slugger award.
He would make the All Star team in ’82 and ’83, and finish 10th
in the MVP race in ’84.
Despite a short stay on the DL in early September, Wilson
had another pretty decent season for the 1985 World Champion* Royals. His average declined a little to .278 and on
base % fell to .318, but he still stole 43 bases vs. 11 caught stealing and hit
21 triples to lead the league. That total
was matched by the Mets’ Lance Johnson in 1996, but other than that, you would
have to go back to 1949 when the Indians’ left fielder Dale Mitchell hit 23.
His final five seasons in Kansas City
In 1991 and 1992, Wilson found himself in Oakland. By this point, Wilson
1993 saw him switch leagues, signing with the Chicago
Cubs. By this time though, he was
nothing more than a part time player. He
played in 105 games but only had 221 at bats, hitting .258 with a .301 on base
%, 11 doubles, three triples, a home run and 11 RBIs. He added seven stolen bases vs. two caught
stealing.
1994 was the end of the line for Wilson. He only hit .238 with a .273 on base %, no
doubles, two triples, and no home runs or RBIs.
His final stolen base was on April 9th vs. the Montreal Expos
where he victimized Darrin Fletcher as a pinch runner in the 9th
inning.
Seeing how Fletcher only threw out 24% of runners in his
career, Wilson likely could have carved out a niche continuing to steal off of
Fletcher, but the Cubs didn’t have that vision.
The Cubs released him on May 16th. Who was manning center field the next day for
the Cubbies? Cubs Opening Day F#*$ING
LEGEND Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes .
Hey, remember when I said we’d come back to Wilson’s minor
league career? In 2009, at the age of 53
and 15 years after playing in his last major league game, Wilson signed a one
day contract with the independent minor league Kansas City T-bones. In that game, he went 0-1 with a strikeout. The only way to make it more Willie Wilson would have been for him to have hit a triple, a single, and stole a base. But then his batting average would have been
too high.
Intermission sponsored by Mark Reynolds
Well, that’s 19 seasons of Willie Wilson, so Mark Reynolds
thinks everyone needs a break. Wilson
Thanks Mark! Let’s get on with it now.
On the other side of the state for most of the 1980’s,
Willie McGee was starring in St. Louis’ original Greatest Show on Turf.
Willie McGee was originally drafted by the Chicago White Sox
in the seventh round of the 1976 draft, but he did not sign. Fast forward a few months, and he was drafted
by the New York Yankees in the first round – 15th overall pick – in
the January Secondary draft of 1977 out of Diablo Valley
College Pleasant Hill , CA
McGee’s 1977 minor league season in the minors wasn’t
spectacular. Deployed to Oneonta in the
New York-Pennsylvania league, he batted only .236 with a .281 on base %, four
doubles, three triples, two home runs and 22 RBIs. He stole 13 bases vs. four caught stealing.
McGee would steadily improve over the next four years in the
minors. He would hit .285 with a .338 on
base %, 41 doubles, 20 triples, 10 home runs and 148 RBIs. He would add 79 stolen bases vs. 28 caught
stealing. Alas, the Yankees didn’t end
up being in the stars, or the cards even, for McGee, as he was traded at the
end of the 1981 season for Bob Sykes to the St. Louis Cardinals.
1982 opened with McGee playing at AAA Louisville, but that
didn’t last long. He was called up and
made his major league debut on May 10th in a 3-1 loss to the
Cincinnati Reds. He came in as a
defensive replacement for left fielder Dane Iorg in the top of the 8th. He would go 0-1 with a strikeout vs. the
Reds’ Joe Price. McGee’s first hit would
come three days later in a 10-9 win over Joe Torre’s Atlanta Braves. McGee would pinch hit in the top of the 5th
for left fielder Tito Landrum and immediately proceed to knock in Keith
Hernandez. Later that inning, he would
be thrown out at home by Claudell Washington 
Things ended up better for McGee that year though. He would bat .296 with a .318 on base % and
12 doubles, eight triples, four home runs and 56 RBIs. He also stole 24 bases vs. 12 caught
stealing. Oh, and he won a World
Series, pretty much winning game three himself by hitting two home runs and knocking in four in the 6-2 win. He would finish third in the NL Rookie
of the Year voting behind the Dodgers’ Steve Sax and the Pirates’ Johnny
Ray. Ryne Sandberg would finish a
distant sixth. In case you were
wondering, some of the top eight rookies receiving votes in the AL
For the 1983 and 1984 seasons, McGee continued to develop
into a solid player. He would bat .288
with a .319 on base %, 41 doubles, 19 triples, 11 home runs and 125 RBIs. He would also steal 82 bases vs. 18 caught
stealing. 1983 also brought him his
first All Star appearance and Gold Glove.
In 1985, McGee went off as he won the MVP award. He would lead the league with a .353 average,
216 hits and 18 triples, and set career highs in runs with 114, stolen bases
with 56 vs. 16 caught stealing and on base % of .384. He also added 26 doubles, 10 home runs and 82
RBIs. All of that was good for 8.1 WAR,
which is nearly a quarter of his career total of 34.1 WAR over 18 seasons. Besides the MVP, he also was an All Star and
won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award.
But none of this mattered as Wilson’s Royals would defeat* the Cardinals
in seven games in the World Series.
For the next three years, McGee pretty much fit the mold of
the Whiteyball-era Cardinals. He would
hit .279 with a .316 on base %, 83 doubles, 24 triples, 21 home runs, and 203
RBIs – including a career high 105 in 1987.
He had 76 stolen bases with 26 caught stealing. 1986 would bring him another Gold Glove, and ’87
and ’88 featured All Star appearances.
1987 featured another Cardinals World Series loss, this time to the
Twins, but McGee hit much better than his other post season appearances. In 1982, he hit .256, in ’85 it was .264, but
in ’87 it was .340.
As McGee turned 30 in 1989, he struggled with injuries
throughout the season. He was limited to
six games in April, three games in June, eight games in July, nine games in
August, and eleven in September. His
worst season to date by far, he would bat .236 with a .275 on base %, 10
doubles, two triples, three home runs, and 17 RBIs. He would only steal eight bases vs. six
caught stealing.
1990 would see McGee’s first go around with the Cardinals
come to an end. On August 29th,
despite leading the league in average, he was traded to the A’s in exchange for
Daryl Green, Felix Jose and Stan Royer.
McGee’s final line with the Cardinals included a league leading .335
batting average, a .382 on base %, 32 doubles, five triples, three home runs
and 62 RBIs. He would add 28 stolen bases
vs. nine caught stealing. In a little
over a month with the A’s, McGee would hit .274 with a .336 on base %, three
doubles, two triples, no home runs and 15 RBIs.
He was also perfect in his three stolen base attempts. He would be the National League batting champion
since he amassed 542 plate appearances, 40 more than the required 502. In a truly bizarre twist, George Brett led
the American League with a .329 average, but neither he nor McGee would win the
OVERALL batting title. McGee’s .274
average in Oakland brought his overall average down to .324. Hall of Famer Eddie Murray would be the
overall champion with a .330 average.
In 1991, McGee would cross the bay to the San Francisco Giants. In his four years there, as he slid into his mid-30's, he would continue to produce. He would hit .301 with a .348 on base %, 81 doubles, six triples and 14 home runs with 148 RBIs. He slowed down a little, stealing only 48 bases vs. 22 caught stealing. In 1994, he would miss the rest of the season after June 7th after suffering an ankle injury (the season ending strike would end everyone's season early).
In 1995, at age 36, McGee went back to the AL, signing with the Red Sox. The ankle injury would keep him out until early July of that year, but when he did come back, he would play in 67 games and hit .285 with a .311 on base %, 11 doubles, three triples and two home runs with 15 RBIs. The ankle injury seemingly would take a toll on his speed the rest of his career, as he only stole five bases with two caught stealing.
From 1996 - 1999, McGee would finish his career where it started in St. Louis. He played in an average of 124 games, but only averaged 287 at bats those years. Still, he hit .304 in his first two years with a .308 on base %. That fell to .252 and a .290 on base % his final two years. The final four years also included 51 doubles, seven triples, 11 home runs, 133 RBIs and 27 stolen bases vs. 10 caught stealing. The last hit of his career would come on September 22nd of that year in a 5-3 loss to the Cubs, which would also be the last start of his career. His last appearance would come nine games later on October 3rd.
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| Best baseball card ever. |
So there you have it. As I said, you really can't choose which one was better. Here are their career numbers:
G
|
AB
|
R
|
H
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
CS
|
BB
|
SO
|
BA
|
OBP
|
|
2154
|
7731
|
1169
|
2207
|
281
|
147
|
41
|
585
|
668
|
134
|
425
|
1144
|
0.285
|
0.326
|
|
McGee
|
2201
|
7649
|
1010
|
2254
|
350
|
94
|
79
|
856
|
352
|
121
|
448
|
1238
|
0.295
|
0.333
|
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