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Vince Jankosi is back today, this time making the case that Eddie Mathews is the best pre-Mike Schmidt third baseman. As usual, Vince has done his homework and makes a very strong case. See if you agree. -GL

The Case For Eddie Mathews

To mark the 100^th anniversary of professional baseball, in 1969 MLB selected an all-time team.  Some of the selections were controversial, but none more so than the pick of Pie Traynor as the all-time third baseman.   This was before the advent of the career of Mike Schmitt which laid to rest any dispute as to who was the GOAT among third sackers.

But Pie Traynor?  Traynor was a superior player.  He batted .320 over a 17-year career, albeit with little power.  His fielding stats were modest by today’s standards, however, in his day (1920-1935, 1937) gloves were less advanced and infields were often rock hard.  He was generally on the top of MVP lists each year.  He participated in the first two All-Star games.  Plus, his name was Pie.  How can you beat that?  Actually, his given name was Harold.  On the other hand, he only led his league in any offensive category one time – triples in 1923. 

Give Traynor his due, but what about Eddie Mathews?  Mathews also played for 17 years.  His batting average was much lower than Traynor’s (.271 vs. .320), but his other stats far surpass Traynor’s.  See the following chart:

                               Traynor                                       Matthews

Home Runs            58                                               512

On Base %             .362                                            .376

Slugging Ave.        .435                                            .509

OPS                       .797                                              .885

OPS +                    107                                               143

WAR                      38.7                                               96

Mathews led the league in home runs twice, walks four times, and on-base percentage once.  He hit 40 or more homers four times with a high of 47, and in excess of 100 RBIs five times with a best of 135.  He was an All-Star nine times, 12 if you count the years that two games were played.  He was second in the MVP voting in 1953 and 1959.   He is the only player to play for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta.  Of interesting note, in the 13  years he played alongside Hank Aaron (1954-1966) Mathews out-homered Hammering Hank in 5  of those seasons (1954-1956, and 1958-1959) and tied him in another (1965).  You’ve got to be some kind of power hitter to accomplish that feat. Mathews was a respectable fielder, but not outstanding.

 

True, Traynor hit almost 50 points higher than Mathews. However, that figure needs to be put in perspective.  Batting averages were higher in Traynor’s day, due mostly to the absence of night baseball.  For example, Traynor’s highest batting average was .366 in 1930.  For that effort, he was tied for 12^th in the major leagues.  Bill Terry led the majors that year with a .401 average.  The New York Giants as a team hit .319 and finished fifth.  The National League as a league hit .303.  By contrast, Mathews’ best seasons for batting average were 1959 and 1961, hitting .306 in each of those seasons.  In 1959, he, like Traynor in 1930, was tied for twelve in the majors.  In 1961, he was thirteenth.  Adjusted for playing era, Mathews’ batting averages were comparable to Traynor’s.

While we are adjusting for playing era, you say, why don’t we take into account the fact that more home runs were hit during Mathews’ playing days?  Ok.  Let’s do that.  During Traynor’s day, MLB averaged about 1,000 home runs per year, slightly higher toward the end of Traynor’s career and reaching a high of 1,565 in the hitting-crazy 1930 season.  During Mathews’ time in the majors, the major league totals were around 2,200 round-trippers per year, not enough to offset the huge difference in power numbers between Matthews and Traynor.                

The difference between 58 home runs and 512 dingers is huge.  To put this in perspective, Mathews hit more home runs than Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig, and Stan Musial.  He is tied with Ernie Banks.  He is nine behind Ted Williams and has two dozen less than Mickey Mantle.  That’s pretty powerful company.

Some at the time made the case for Brooks Robinson for the all-time third-sacker.  In 1969, Robinson was in the middle of his illustrious career.  He had hit less than 200 home runs.  It’s hard to say someone is the GOAT when he still had many years left to prove or disprove his candidacy.  Besides, Robinson’s career offensive numbers don’t stack up to Mathews’.  Robinson’s career batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage fall below Mathews’ numbers: .267, .322, .401 for Robinson versus .271, .376, .509 for Mathews.  Wins against replacement favor Mathews 96 to 78.4.  True, Robinson saved a lot of games with his glove, however, on balance I think the offensive numbers outweigh any defensive advantage. The numbers, especially the power numbers, tell the tale.  On balance, I give the pre-Mike Schmitt GOAT nod to Mathews over Traynor or Robinson. 

Vince Jankoski

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