All-Time Since 1980: Earth Division
Continuing the trend of my All-Time Since 1980 project, the Earth Division had the third-highest scoring sign when counting players in my database so far. As a reminder, the top sign was in the Water Division (Scorpio) and number two was a Fire Sign (Sagittarius). Read on to find out the identity of #3! And if you want to see a full list of the signs’ total points, players, and some fun averages, check out my ATS80 hub post here!
In my initial series of posts this database, I made a comment about how unlikely it was for anyone to surpass Randy Johnson for the top all-time Virgo starting pitcher… and yet that’s exactly what happened in the 80’s! Gaylord Perry storms into first place by a margin of 2,500 fantasy points, giving the Flowers a 1-2 punch that exceeds all other signs except for Aries. What’s curious is that both pitchers had careers lasting 22 years, but while Perry had the edge in points-per-season (2,116 to 1,998), Johnson was superior as far as points-per-game (71.1 to 59.9). A little math reveals that this is the result of Perry appearing in more games per season than Johnson (35.3 to 28.1), which just goes to show how pitcher usage has changed since the 1960’s.
Virgo’s pitching additions were not limited to the very top, as Doyle Alexander slots in at #4 on the depth chart, with Ron Guidry at #6. Here we see a more traditional discrepancy between these two in PPS and PPG, with Guidry on top in both categories, thanks partly to a career in which he pitched in five fewer seasons than Alexander. And then in the bullpen, all Virgo did was add the #4 overall scoring reliever since the 80’s in Rollie Fingers, owner of arguably the best baseball moustache of all-time. Actually, that’s not all Virgo did: they ALSO got a new #3 reliever for their depth chart in lefty Tug McGraw, and a new #5, although Ken Forsch was ever so close to that 50% mark in career appearances as a starter.
Moving to the position player side, the 80’s gave Virgo new all-time starters at second base and third base. Tops among them, and in fact, their new top all-time offensive point-scorer, is Joe Morgan. (And here I was thinking that Ryne Sandberg would hang onto his second base crown for a little longer.) People of my generation likely know Little Joe more for his role as a former ESPN broadcaster, but he had an incredible career, including back-to-back MVP awards in 1975 and ’76, and a 20th place finish among career bWAR for position players. Meanwhile, at third base, Buddy Bell takes over for Todd Zeile, meaning that we’ve now seen two players who make up the middle part of a three-generation baseball dynasty. (Bob Boone on Scorpio was the first.)
Expanding my all-time database into the 1980’s gave us an unprecedented influx of great starting pitchers. Of the eleven pitchers who have at least 40,000 career fantasy points, seven of them were added in this latest go-round. So far I’ve mentioned each one except Steve Carlton, who steps into the Capricorn leaderboard at #3 overall (behind Rickey Henderson and Albert Pujols). Carlton is in a three-way tie for second longest career among 1980’s additions (with a pair of Aries Rams Pete Rose and Phil Niekro), and he is so far the only Goats pitcher with a career average of more than 60 points-per-game. Right behind him in the rotation is Capricorn’s new #4 overall player: Mets workhorse Jerry Koosman. In the bullpen, the Goats added a new #2 dedicated reliever – Bruce Sutter finishes behind only Francisco Rodriguez among pitchers who started fewer than 10% of their career appearances.
Technically speaking, Capricorn got new leaders at two infield positions: legendary moustache-haver Bobby Grich beats out Delino DeShields (Sr.), and friend of the blog Bill Madlock (he liked my #BornOnThisDate tweet on his birthday) eclipses Dean Palmer. However, if we expand the search to secondary positions, then Alfonso Soriano (primarily a left fielder) and Edgar Martinez (designated hitter) would take those spots. At first base, Steve Garvey and Chris Chambliss slot in at #3 and #4, behind Albert Pujols and Jason Giambi.
Before these new additions, Taurus’s top SIX scoring first basemen all hit left-handed, with Adrian Gonzalez, Don Mattingly, and Prince Fielder leading the way. But 23-year veteran Tony Perez jumps to the top of the list when including fantasy starters of the 80’s. Perez also spent a lot of his career at third base, but with Chipper Jones and George Brett entrenched there, there’s no way the #2 player born in Cuba (behind Libra Rafael Palmeiro) would be part of the hot corner conversation. Mr. October Reggie Jackson takes over as the top scoring Taurus outfielder, pushing Tony Gwynn to left field in a hypothetical all-time lineup.
Behind the plate, Jim Sundberg takes over as the new #2 behind Ramon Hernandez, but another 2,000 point season for Salvador Perez will vault him into the top spot. No other new position player finished above third place on their positional depth chart: Amos Otis (center field) slots in behind Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones, Rick Burleson (shortstop) couldn’t catch up to Barry Larkin or Omar Vizquel, and Davey Lopes (second base) finds himself trailing Lou Whitaker and Tony Phillips.
Taurus added two starting pitchers named Rick to their top ten: Reuschel (#4) has the advantage over Rhoden (#8) by more than 8,500 career fantasy points. Further down the depth chart, Mike Scott and Dennis Leonard had some strong seasons, but neither eclipsed the 20,000 career point plateau. In the bullpen, Dick Tidrow becomes the new #5 primary reliever, but if we’re counting only pitchers with fewer than 20% career starts, then that honor instead goes to Dave LaRoche.
Next time, I will likely return to my astrology-based analysis of the MLB.com fantasy rankings, but who knows what other pressing issues might come up between now and Tuesday?