Why this card is awesome: Because with those shades and the laid-back shot, Gantner looks like one cool dude.
Cool stat: Gantner was a good player, as far as middle infielders from the 70s and 80s go. I like the fact that he spent his entire career with one team. Let me use him as an example of some cool new data on Baseball-Reference.com. Check out Gantner's splits page and scroll down to the "Count/Ball-Strikes" section. You can now see on which counts Gantner attempted stolen bases. For example, we can see that he got 29 stolen bases on the first pitch or with a count of 1-0. You can also see that he was 7-for-7 when attempting to steal on 0-2 pitches. (NOTE: the pitch data is not yet complete before 1988, which is why not all of Gantner's career steals are accounted for.)
3 comments:
Gantner was an OK player, but with 7 years of OPS+ between 81-90 in a 8 year period between 1984-1991 (with the other year being a 72), I'd have to say Gantner was the Ed Whitson of AL hitters in the 80's.
Ed Whitson, only cooler, you mean.
He was about as of a middle of the pack player as there ever was.
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