Don Baylor played for 19 years, with seven different teams. Early in
his career he was fast; he stole as many as 52 bases in a season, and had
285 career steals. The second half of his career, Baylor was almost exclusively
a DH; he gained power (338 lifetime homers), and also became a master at
getting hit by pitches (267 times in his career, the most in the 20th century).
Baylor began his career with Baltimore, then was dealt to Oakland in 1976 in the trade that sent Reggie Jackson to the Orioles. He spent only one year with Oakland, then signed with the Angels as a free agent. Baylor was a good player, though he was rarely
considered one of the league's best; he played on only one All-Star team, in this,
his MVP season. After he retired, Baylor became a manager, and led the
Rockies to the playoffs in 1995.
I have some problems with Baylor's MVP
selection. True, he led the AL in runs scored and RBI, and he played for
a winner. But the Angels were in a weak division, and were only fifth
in the league in wins. And another outfielder, Fred Lynn, had a better year with the bat than Baylor, leading the league in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging. Lynn was also an outstanding defensive player, while Baylor could barely play the outfield. Baylor was a regular DH the year before, and was
a DH a third of the time this year. I think that Fred Lynn was clearly the
best outfielder in the league.
If there's a knock against Lynn, it's his remarkable home-road split. Lynn and Fenway Park was one of the greatest matches of player and park in base history; his numbers for this season:
AB HT DB TP HR RUN RBI BB SO AVG OBA SLG
HOME 277 107 30 0 28 76 83 46 32 386 470 798
ROAD 254 70 12 1 11 40 39 36 47 276 371 461
His numbers in Fenway were unreal; his road numbers were solid, and bear a striking resemblence to the numbers he put up after leaving Boston, especially with the Angels in 1984 and the Orioles in 1986.
No other player could hit in Fenway like Lynn could, and he deserves credit for taking of his home park to such an extent. But I'm more impressed by the season that George Brett had. Brett became the fifth (and as of 2004, the last)
player to have 20+ doubles, triples, and home runs in one season. He was
second in the American League in total bases, third in runs produced. At age 26, Brett
had his best season to date, though he had been a devastating player for
five years. A year later, he would make his famous run at the .400 mark.
Ken Singleton was the runner-up in the voting; he had a
terrific year, and the Orioles had the best record in the league.
Singleton was one of the best hitters of the 1970's; he was a switch-hitter
who got on base all the time, and developed a lot of power in mid-career.
Singleton was another player who benefitted from the DH rule, which allowed
him to move out of the outfield. He played for 15 years, had over 2000
career hits, and 246 lifetime homers.
Sixto Lezcano was a pretty good hitter, and a fine defensive
player. His only trouble was staying in the lineup. This was a huge
year for him, by far the best of his career. But injuries kept him
from being a top MVP candidate, and his career started to go
downhill afterwards. You gotta love that name, though.
Two catchers who had fine years were Darrell
Porter and Brian Downing. Porter made his debut with Milwaukee when he was only 19 years old, and played with the Brewers for six seasons. He moved to Kansas City in 1977, and the Royals were a great team for the four seasons he played there. Porter was only a .247 hitter over the course of his 17-year career, but he was good at hitting for power and getting on base. This year, he put everything together and had the best season of his career.
In 1980, Porter checked into a rehabilitation centre to battle drug and alcohol abuse. A year later he joined the Cardinals. Though his career went into decline, he delivered a great postseason performance in 1982. Porter was MVP of both the NLCS and the World Series, leading the Cardinals to the championship. Porter retired with 188 home runs, and also published a book about his battles with drugs and alcohol.
Downing wasted the
first decade of his career as a part-time catcher, but he wasn't very good
defensively, and couldn't stay in the lineup on a regular basis. Downing
moved to the outfield in 1981, and eventually became a full-time DH. He
was a terrific player in his 30's, a consistent hitter who had over 2000
career hits, 275 lifetime homers, and who once led the league in walks.
Downing and Bobby Grich both played for the
Angels, and both were probably better than their teammate, Baylor. Grich
had one of his best years, hitting for both power and average, and playing
sensational defense at second base. It's a tough call, but I will take
Grich just ahead of both Downing and Porter, on the strength of his power,
defense, and leadership. Grich would also lead the Angels to division titles
in 1982 and 1986 before retiring.
