The Top 25 Most UNDER-RATED Players In Modern MLB HISTORY... 

My mistake

My mother used to work with his mother. My mom drove her home every night. He was less than 5' 10" more like 5' 8". but he signed my cards for me!!!

Eric Karros is the LA Dodgers homerun leader. He is the player with the most home runs to never appear in a All star game. He won Rookie of the year award as well. Plus he was snubbed from this list as well.

@@Bubba603 his career WAR is 10.4. Karros was not a snub.

@@Bubba603 Karros doesn’t have the most HRs without appearing in an All Star. I’m not sure who the leader is in that but I know Tim Salmon has 299 HRs and he never played in an All Star Game.

With ALAN TRAMELL AT SS THEY LASTED I THINK THEY MAY HAVE TO SAY THEY HOLD THE RECORD FOR THE LONGEST SHORTSTOP SECOND BASE TOGETHER. BOTH VERY VERY GOOD PLAYERS

Dam baseball writers did, man should be in the hall.

For some unrelated reason(s), the self important baseball writers just do not like Lou. I feel he is being kept out of the HOF because of personal reasons, not proffesional ones. Hopefully the veterans committee will do the right thing. Look up his numbers. He matches up or exceeds many other HOF second basemen.

Whitaker should be in the hall of fame.

No. Let’s forget him.

Fantastic choice, I don’t get why he is forgotten, such a great player.

He should be in the HOF easy

Oh yeah

Yes unfortunately I defensive probably will not make the Hall of Fame been out of baseball too long

Saw Pinson play many a time in the early ‘60’s . Great hitter , had some power and durable . He’d get my vote for HOF .

True

I was sure Amazing Grace was going to be on the list. I couldn’t believe he was left off. No one got more hits in the entire decade of the ‘90s 😮

Did he win a WS with Arizona?

@@Baloothepibble Sure did. We love Gracey here in AZ!

@@ReddieMiller good, I’m glad he got one. Underrated player!

And his son Jose Jr!

Happy to read I was not the only one doing that.

Yes with the leg kick

Do not forget his running mate in center field. Cesar Cedeno....

Hell yeah! The high bat circling batters stance was a favorite for us kids playing sandlot games here in Texas in the 70s and 80s. The fact that he was Latino was a plus for some us too.

Yes one of the best hitters ever

I was thinking about Al Oliver as well 👍 #17

Maybe the best example!! He had the misfortune of being in an outfield consisting of Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. Then Richie Zisk was ripping up minor leagues, and getting a ton of attention! Then the"Cobra" appeared! So Al Oliver never got is due, despite typically hitting .300 ,getting 15-20 homers,and driving in 100 runs. In my opinion,he's a Hall of Famer!

I saw Oliver in a DH in Detroit in 1980 hit 4HRs, 1 in the 1st game and 3 in the 2nd game....plus a double, a triple. 21 total bases. Oliver hit one shot down the RF line and as it was rising it hit the 3rd deck wood about a foot foul with a loud THUD that had everyone in the stadium gasp. Sparky Anderson ran out of the dugout and motioned for the pitcher to intentionally walk Oliver. Have never seen an intentional walk after a batter was thrown a pitch before that or since. It was August 17, 1980

@@williamgullett5911 awesome!

He made a bunch of all star teams and had 4-5 great years and he was known as an elite hitter with power who hit for high average.

Coop was a very good player w the Harvey’s Wallbangers Brewers. Excellent hitter

He was criminally underrated even in his prime.

In 1980 he had an epic season overshadowed by George Brett

Yeah but how many guys in the hall were on Magnum P I

@@morganknox6642 and Tom Selleck actually has a MLB at-bat.

Not to mention all of the grand slams: two in one game, one in each end of a double header and 18 total.

@@davidkurvach3993 He even had a grand slam turned into a single when he walked off a playoff game with a homer, but one of the baserunners broke protocol and didn't round the bases.

WAR is an idiotic, meaningless statistic.

His record hitting streak is more memorable than anything he accomplished in the majors, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. That casts quite a shadow. . .

Legend

In 1962, Tommy Davis had one of the greatest hitting seasons ever, but no one remembers it. A great pure hitter, everything off of his bat was a rope.

@@scottodonnell7121 AND he won the 1963 NL batting title (326) leading the Dodgers to a sweep over the Yankees.

Willie kind of has the Bill Buckner stigma,. Put together a sound career offensively, blazing speed , but sadly rememberED for his costly errors in game two of the '66 WS, costing Koufax and the Dodgers dearly . Of course , he a team only manufactures two runs in four games, their chances ARE pretty to alim

I agree!!

To me he is deserving of hall of fame consideration.

@@waynejohanson1083solid player, but 15.0 total WAR in 22 seasons, 157th among first baseman, is not HoF. He had 4-5 solid seasons, then ground out the numbers via longevity.

@@rdspam Those are solid arguments, plus if I remember he didn't draw many walks either which inflates the batting average and lowers the on base percentage. And to me on base percentage is more important then batting average. Plus he did not hit for much power. More or less a singles hitter.

All through the 70s at Wrigley too

It was one of my favorite eras! I'll never forget that 1989-90 lineup!

Thanks for that trip down memory lane, that lineup was my childhood lineup. As a northern Californian who became a baseball fan at the end of the 80s, it was really all about the first basemen. Most kids my age into baseball would either have a Clark or McGwire poster on their walls. I tried to be a left handed hitter in my early little league days and I tried to model my swing around Clark's, although I never saw the success he did with it.

Brett Butler was a good one.

@@littleblackduck3134 Rickey Henderson is great, and could hit lead off homers. But, Brett Butler was a lefty, and it seemed he was already moving towards first base after he made contact with the ball. He could get on first base in so many ways. I think Brett Butler was a tougher out to get for pitchers. Brett Butler was also scarier in the later innings.

@@littleblackduck3134 Also, I am a Reds fan. We handled Rickey Henderson easily in the World Series. But every at bat was a battle against Brett Butler.

I was considering him for sure..

I saw Stieb in his prime going to games at Exhibition Stadium. To this day, the best slider ive ever seen.

@@stevejohnson1577 I envy you, I was never lucky enough to see him. Everytime I got tickets to see him he ended up on the dl

84 to 90 he went 101- 64 would of had better record if better team early on a very good pitcher

@@craigodonnell696 so glad i did… i froze my ass a few times in the bleachers, but got tix behind the plate as well in 1985. That slider was just wicked… youd see guys break there ankles. Saw Henke in his prime too. The guy was huge.

That's ok.. the HOF has plenty of Racist in there.. don't need another one...

You could probably come up with a list of 300 are more players do we say should be in the Hall of Fame but then the Hall of Fame with just water down

I agree.

@@mikekeeler6362already is watered down.

@@dapper892it’s harder to get in the hof now than ever

Isn't it Jose "Cardenal"? If this is the same one that played for my Indians during my childhood.

And as I recall when I was a kid, the cardinals shouldn't have traded Cardenal, he had a good year, then in the second year, he was traded

The problem with Richie Allen is there was about 20 other guys that have similar totals are better than him

Dick Allen's exclusion from the Hall is criminal.

All great players.

How about Rusty Staub Boog Powell Frank Howard Bill Buckner Norm cash I could probably tell you a hundred guys

And I think Kurt flood should be in before Ritchie Allen

I agree. Over 2500 career hits and a career WAR of over 66. And great defensively as well.

His dad Gus Bell was pretty darn good too.

If Howard had not fallen over the cliff as a hitter, for sure. Davis!!! Allen!!!! Great talents, well deserved!

Dick Allen was terrific player

Davis was criminally underrated was a big fan of him growing up. Him and Mark Grace. I went to watch a Cardinals vs Tigers game at old Tiger Stadium when Mcgwire was making the run at the HR record. He didn't hit one that game but Davis did.

@@rickyuhnke7979 The defensive shifts and his refusal to adjust (he never heard of "bunting?") played a lot to his downfall as a hitter.

I think Allen was hurt by the fact that sports writers didn’t like his attitude.. which to me translates to him standing up for himself and telling certain people to take a hike .. still picture that SI cover of him juggling three baseballs with a cigarette 🚬 in his mouth while

Jim Wynn was never the same after his wife stabbed him 1971. Great player though! Morgan would be forgotten/overlooked too had he not been traded to the Reds after the 1971 season.

Sid had great stuff but seemed to have that one bad inning and little run support so the wins were a problem.

Fernandez was tough, but his career ERA+ was 111. You'd have to be around 120 to be considered great. Clayton Kershaw's ERA+ is at 156.

He was also an above average hitter!

Comparing Fernandez’s numbers to Maddux’s is a little apples and oranges. First, Maddux pitched in a different era. League OPS during his career was .745 and .726 for Fernandez’s. Second, Maddux pitched longer and therefore are more non-peak seasons which skews their numbers a bit. For example, Fernandez’s peak was his age 23-29 seasons where his ba/obp/slg/ops against was 207/282/331/614 while Maddux’s age 23-29 seasons produced 229/279/311/580. Apples. Oranges.

#DonjoSports - You make a great case. Look what it took to get THE GREAT RON SANTO into the hall. There was SO MUCH PRESSURE that I believe the voters were losing credibility...Good post.

WAR is a completely meaningless, hypothetical statistic.

outstanding defensive player, he was a highlight reel player. good choice

Right??

One of those guys that made good teams better too.

Chet the Jet was the first one that came to mind for me, as well. Might as well add in Brian Downing, Buddy Bell and Dwayne Murphy, too-- All good defenders that could hit for average and power as well as draw walks.

Not to mention that Reggie Smith had a cannon for an arm.

I wonder if Bill Freehan might get some HOF consideration once Yadi Molina gets in. His Baseball Reference page is ridiculous. I think catchers in general don’t get enough respect considering all their responsibilities.

​@@dfuller81It should be both Bill Freehan & Mickey Lolich together. They hold the record for longest pitcher/catcher battery combination ever & Lolich's career stats are almost identical to Jim Katt who was just voted in

As I watched the video it frustrated me that wasn't mentioned. Herr was an instrumental part of Herzog's Cardinals. The way these guys manufactured runs was awesome.

He made whiteyball click as much as Ozzie, Willie and Vince!

Love that you brought up Steib…if he had turned those 1 hitters into no hitters, he’d be in the hall today without a doubt!

I Agree More with your list!!! Dave STeib Definitely got Shafted!

Hrbek was my favorite growing up

@@chrisv791 his teammates despised him. They would laugh out loud when he lost his no-hitters

Darrell Evans has a small case. Kingman has none. Dwight Evans & Tiant one could make a decent argument for.

Dwight Evans had a career 2.72 batting Average and though Dave Kingman had a 2.36 career batting Average, I still believe they both belong in the HOF and so does Dale Murphy , Al Oliver and Steve Garvey .... the 1981 baseball strike (which to me was a waste of time) hurt alot of ball players like Dwight Evans , Dale Murphy , Dave Kingman , cuz those 55 or so games could of bumped up their career, Evans and Murphy would gotten their 400 homeruns and their hits & batting averages would pumped up their career as well .... Pete Rose that year (1981) would probably had of had one of his best years ever, probably would of amassed more than 210 hits , before the strike that year he was leading the N.L. in hits with 140 in only 108 games , remember also he played in all 162 games in 1980 and in 182, he did it again (162 games) .... again I repeat 1981 MLB strike hurt a few careers, just those 54 games would of been a different story for those few .... let me add also that Luis Tiant with no doubt belongs in the HOF , Unbelievable that El Tiante has almost the exact career numbers as Catfish Hunter and is not enshrined in the hall .... oops I almost forgot about my good friend Vida Blue who I met together with Willie Wilson and Hal McCrae back in 1982 in Yankee Stadium when he was pitching for the K.C. Royals ..... R.I.P. VIDA BLUE 🌟 🙏

So true Steve and Kingman would have reached the 500 home run mark if the owners of MLB did not shut him out if the game

Dwight Evans was a name I kept expecting, but he never came up. Still a good list, though.

@@rafaelramirez1507 Dave Parker belongs. If there was no strike, and he had one or two less injury plagued seasons, he easily reaches 3000 hits. You also can argue, that by playing defense, unlike the DH's who got elected, Parker was the more complete player because he risked injury while playing defense.....AND he was an elite defensive player.

As a Cardinals fan, I despised Ramirez. He had a good bat, but the glove was more than suspect as I recall

@@dereklamb4945 Aramis Ramirez's fielding percentage was .952. Mike Schmidt and Ron Santo (two hall of fame third basemen who had many gold gloves) had fielding percentages of .955 and .954, respectively. I realize fielding percentage isn't everything, but his fielding was not "more than suspect".

I agree that Ramirez is underrated. I suspect it probably has a lot to do with the era during which he played.

Ramirez and Giles .. pitt had some Bashers but still stunk

100%

Damn right

​@@HummBabyBaseball another underrated guy is Reggie Sanders. You mentioned him in the video, as a member of the 300 HR/300 SB club along with Bobby Bonds, yet even you left him off this list despite him only ever getting 1 all star nod. How's that for under appreciated? Lol

No doubt!!

lofton 100% delgado has an argument but i don't think he could be a shoe in

Sad thing is we will never know how is career would have turned out.

Good Call

I think the problem with Madlock is that he was a bad defensvie 3rd baseman and didn't hit for power. Kind of reminds me of Raplh Garr who hit .306 for his career. Still I respect his career and he was a good hitter who was hard to strikeout.

100%

Agreed! One of my favorite mets ever. Almost 3k hits. Rusty should be in the HOF!!!

​@davidl5037 Here is my Staub story. I worked in Port St Lucie at a golf course the Mets played in spring training. The coaches and players mostly...Darling...McDowell...Myers...etc. We had a golf tournament at the end of spring training in 1989. I worked there. Staub pulls up in his car. I am from Detroit and watched him play those years. I saw him get out of his car and I went over to get his clubs out of the trunk of his car. I wasn't going to spend much time but wanted to let Staub know I was from Detroit and enjoyed watching him play. He got short with me and interrupted me. I nicely said he had been my favorite Tiger(he wasnt). He shut me down again and was even more unkind. So...I decided to mock him. I said "I think my favorite play you ever made was in the 1976 all star game when you started in RF and how you played Steve Garveys single to RF". Staub glared at me. In 76 Staub hadn't played one game in RF(he was DH for Detroit). Yet he was voted to start. Garvey in the first inning of that game, and the reason Staub glared at me, hit a single to Staub in RF...and Staub fell down and Garvey made it to 3rd. Staub knew that I had just told him that his falling down in front of everyone in an All Star game was my favorite play. He barked at me to "put this case of wine in a cool place". It was in his car and would have gone bad in that heat. Staub was a chef in NYC and had an expensive case of wine. I took his wine and put it in a cool place. After the tournament at the dinner a waitresses was off to the side crying. A couple other waitresses were trying to calm her down. I walked up to them and asked what happened. One waitre told me that "the big red headed jackass was giving the staff a hard time and had been especially unkind to the one crying. That was it for me. I went to the local liquor store and bought the cheapest 12 bottles of wine I could find and replaced Staubs wine with the cheap stuff I just bought. At the end of the night Staub barked at me to " go get my wine and put it in my car". I took Staubs keys and said "yes sir". I wonder how far away Staub got before he saw the wine he had after that dinner. I gave every bottle away to the staff that had to suffer that guy.

@williamgullett5911 That sucks, man. Sorry to hear that. I never met him, but hopefully he was just having a bad day. He always seemed like a friendly guy and was very charitable. He was always well liked by the fans in NY and Montreal.

Whitaker and Tanana for sure.

Murphy,Saberhagen, and John weren't underrated.

Saberhagen won 2 Cy Youngs, a gold glove, and was World Series MVP. Hardly underrated. Dale Murphy is a 2X MVP. Clearly not underrated. When it comes to the hall of fame, yes but not overall.

@@Rockhound6165 Ok so isn’t this all about about HOF underrated?

@@1guitar12 no. That isn't the criteria of this video. They're talking about underrated players and Saberhagen and Murphy weren't underrated. Saberhagen, as I said, won many awards but his numbers don't make him hall of fame worthy.

@rickg1976 You are 100% correct about Maury Wills. My younger brother & I both grew up appreciating how Maury Wills changed the game & are infuriated that he isn't in the HOF.

Jim Hickman

How did he change the game?

Also part of the only trio of teammates to hit 40 homers in the same year. Along with Hank Aaron and Davey Johnson.

@@ROB-xm5fv yes. I remember. 73 Braves?

What happened

Came here to mention Al Oliver. Pinson is right there too.

I was going to mention Al Oliver .

They say the same with Lou Whitaker, that he wasn't so Sweet to them. Which still isn't right that he didn't even stay on the ballot for more than one year. Ridiculous!

that's the reality of the hall of fame and the sporting media in general. If you're not nice to them they're very vindictive

Nothing but FACTS!!! But of course when it comes to the business of Baseball during the steroid era, it’s always a case of blaming the workers and never the bosses.

@@olsailordan Mike Schmidt stated the same thing I did. Two players who excelled with the new maple bats and tiny strike zone were Alphonso Soriano and Bonds.

I always said the smaller strike zone was more of a factor than anything else. I remember watching an early 80's game back then and the proper calling of the high strike, the difference was astounding. Pitchers had to put the ball on a tee for these guys.

@@joemac999 It really shrunk starting in 1994. Even the writers for Baseball Digest had articles about it.

I was in attendance for Willie Randolph’s first hit ⚾️

Of course it's hard to remember every All Star game, so it stunned me to realise that nope, he never played in one.

I lived in Seattle my whole life… & we hated the Indians due to 95’ AL playoffs lol, but even having Griffey… I for some reason always loved Lofton.

Another one from that team that no one likes to talk about, Albert Belle. His stat line from 94 to 99, is insane. He hit for power, drove in runs, hit for .300 and could get on base. I know he earned All Stars and Silver Sluggers but him not winning MVP is a travesty.

Bernie Williams was the second best CF in baseball after Griffey in the 90s. Compare the stats, it's not even close.

@@joeinreallife6293 Bernie was good but he was more of an offensive guy. Lofton didn't have the HRs or RBIs but he was far better defensively, stolen bases and was good at getting runs

@@joeinreallife6293 I did and they actually are very close, nearly identical is some cases. Both played exactly 1096 games with Kenny outhitting Bernie 1356 to 1298. Slash lines of .310/.384/.429 for Lofton and .304/.389/.487 for Williams. The difference is power vs. speed (and that is basically preference for what you want as Lofton hit leadoff and Williams was in the middle of the order, hence a big difference in RBI totals of 412 and 681). Lofton had 433 steals to Williams' 106, while Bernie had the power edge 151 HRs to 63. Lofton had four Gold Gloves to Williams' three, with Bernie not getting his first until Lofton was traded to the National League for the 1997 season. I'm not a big WAR fan, but Lofton comes out on top thanks to a huge edge defensively, while they are comparable on offense. Overall, it probably comes down to what you want out of your centerfielder, but thanks to his game changing speed and superior defense, I'll take Kenny Lofton every time.

I haven’t forgotten him ⚾️ #17

Staub treated me so poorly at a golf tournament I was working 30 years ago that whe he barked at me to "put this case of wine in a cool place" I switched out his expensive wine with the cheapest 12 bottles of wine I could find and gave it to the waitresses who had to suffer dealing with that guy at the dinner after the tournament I wonder how far away Staub got before he saw his wine had been switched out

What about Cesar Cedeno and J.R. Richard.

@@williamgullett5911 To bad he was a jerk too you at least on that day. Still a good ball player.

The hardest ball I ever saw hit was by Cedeno. Line drive HR to left in the Dome. Got out in about two seconds. @@waynejohanson1083

Thank you Steven!

Van Slyke and Tommy Herr.

@@littleblackduck3134 Was it 8? My gosh...that's some interesting research...most Gold Gloves not in HOF. 8 GG's should be enough!!

@@JunkYardCardGuy Omar Vizquel had 11.

@@big8dog887This is why I HATE that so much weight and emphasis is attributed to sexy #'s like HR's and RBI's (those are both nice, of course), but, once upon a time, you had a Rusty Staub, or Mark Carreon who accumulated 0.3 or 0.5 WAR, but were considered to be EXTREMELY dangerous in those late game situations...they could come in at any time, and when they were seen headed out to the circle, the defense would have to juggle their priorities, baserunners like Henderson or Coleman could start dancing between bases, because they were incredible contact hitters, yet, PH's can't even sniff the HOF, despite grabbing a bat, in some of the scariest, "we HAVE to have big hit, or a perfect bunt" situations...Francisco Cabrera and Sid friggin Breem are the most hilarious example.

​...WAR is an utterly ridiculous and meaningless statistic.

Thanks so much!!

Allen had a Hall Of Fame career, it's just a matter of WHEN he will be enshrined.

Second basemen seem to get cheated in the Hall of Fame vote. Look at this list: White, Grich and Randolph.

Abreu was always afraid of the wall

Juan 'Igor' González holds the record of most HR in a season by a player from my country with 47 🇵🇷.

@@luishumbertovega3900 not underrated. Won 2 MVPs

VERY good player. Kinda played in the shadow of Eddie Murray at 1st base in the AL. Otherwise he would have had more gold gloves.