Why this card is awesome: Because of stupid numbering. There are 31 card numbers in this set divisible by 25. Are you telling me that Hubbard was one of the 31 best players in MLB in 1988? I call B.S.
Cool stat: For anybody who played in at least 1300 games from 1978 to 1989, Hubbard had the 4th-fewest total bases. One of the 31 best players, my ass.
5 comments:
I love the anger Andy!
He was much better than you think. Check out his defensive stats. And the man knew how to draw a walk. He wasn't a slugger, but he wasn't expected to be one.
Douglas, I'm not saying he was garbage, but there's no way he was among the top 100 or 200 players in baseball, not when he's very close to the bottom in total bases among regular players. Keep in mind that total bases includes walks--so while his walk rate may have been above average, it wasn't enough to bring his total offensive level even close to respectability. To be fair, he played at a time when teams expected nothing from their middle infielders except good defense. I don't blame Hubbard for Hubbard, I only blame Topps for giving him a good number.
Andy, Glenn Hubbard got on my nerves, too. His head didn't seem proportional to his dwarf body (I do not want to offend any dwarfs reading by comparing them to Glenn Hubbard)and how could he not at least hit doubles playing at Fulton County Stadium? His slugging percentage was about what Ralph Garr's batting average was there.
However, walks are not included in total bases. The following is from the glossary at www.baseball-reference.com
TB - Total Bases (Singles + 2*2B + 3*3B + 4*HR)
wow--I never bothered to look up the formula for total bases, I just assumed it had to include walks. Odd. Thanks for pointing that out.
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