Just in time for this year’s
Internet Baseball
Awards, we’ve stumbled upon the remaining data from the Team of the Decade
voting. Without further ado…
In the end, the competition for the Player of the Decade came down to the
decade’s best pitcher versus its best position player–a competition
Barry Bonds won with relative ease.
Bonds turned out to be everything you look for in a superstar. He
fielded his position competently–and, for much of the decade, he was
better than that. He was a fantastic on the bases, and was a
high-percentage basestealer, He was healthy: he played more than
100 games every season of the decade, and averaged better than 120.
Most of all, he was a devestating hitter who averaged over 100 walks
and 30 home runs every season.
The voters for the Baseball Prospectus Team of the Decade saw through
what MVP voters throughout the decade couldn’t: the occasional goofy
quote, the jewelry, the somewhat dramatic personal life and the poor
relationship with the media. Regardless of the errata, Barry Bonds is
truly the decade’s most valuable player.
Player Name 1 2 3 4 5 B P Barry Bonds 473 146 67 31 20 737 6200 Greg Maddux 196 258 177 76 42 749 4921 Ken Griffey Jr. 139 232 181 112 80 744 4335 Mike Piazza 21 53 78 78 76 306 1281 Jeff Bagwell 13 34 53 71 71 242 917 Mark McGwire 20 26 47 63 75 231 881 Roger Clemens 6 20 59 100 65 250 860 Frank Thomas 7 21 55 71 114 268 819 Roberto Alomar 4 12 21 41 37 115 389 Randy Johnson 5 10 20 24 27 86 319 Ivan Rodriguez 2 15 18 26 25 86 318 Cal Ripken 9 14 13 11 24 71 310 Larry Walker 1 11 14 26 24 76 259 Tony Gwynn 7 4 14 18 9 52 231 Bernie Williams 7 8 10 6 12 43 206 Rickey Henderson 2 5 12 20 28 67 203 Pedro Martinez 6 9 9 8 10 42 202 Rafael Palmeiro 4 5 10 18 20 57 199 Barry Larkin 1 6 14 16 26 63 196 Sammy Sosa 5 8 9 9 11 42 189 Craig Biggio 3 8 7 15 15 48 181 Albert Belle 1 3 10 21 30 65 174 Derek Jeter 5 8 8 6 8 35 172 Juan Gonzalez 2 1 8 10 13 34 110 Alex Rodriguez 1 4 4 13 13 35 110 Nomar Garciaparra 6 3 2 4 3 18 106 Tom Glavine 2 6 2 7 7 24 100 David Cone 3 3 4 6 8 24 97 Chipper Jones 3 2 5 6 7 23 94 Dennis Eckersley 0 6 3 5 4 18 76 Paul O'Neill 2 4 1 1 6 14 62 Manny Ramirez 0 3 3 5 1 12 52 Curt Schilling 2 1 0 3 3 9 39 John Smoltz 0 1 3 4 4 12 38 Matt Williams 0 4 1 0 2 7 35 Mike Mussina 1 1 1 3 2 8 33 Jim Thome 1 0 2 3 4 10 33 Kenny Lofton 0 0 3 4 3 10 30 Edgar Martinez 1 0 2 1 7 11 30 Mo Vaughn 0 1 1 4 3 9 27 John Olerud 0 1 3 1 0 5 25 Kevin Brown 0 1 1 2 3 7 21 Chuck Knoblauch 0 1 1 1 1 4 16 Chuck Finley 0 1 1 1 0 3 15 Robin Ventura 0 1 1 0 1 3 13 Ken Caminiti 0 0 1 2 2 5 13 Trevor Hoffman 0 0 1 2 2 5 13 John Wetteland 0 0 1 0 7 8 12 Ray Lankford 0 0 1 2 0 3 11 Jose Rijo 1 0 0 0 0 1 10 Fred McGriff 0 0 0 2 2 4 8 David Justice 0 1 0 0 1 2 8 Gary Sheffield 0 0 0 2 1 3 7 Kevin Appier 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 Tim Salmon 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 TOTAL 962 962 962 961 961 4808 25008
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