The Worst All-Star Player Ever Made the Team By Accident
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- It goes without saying that the players that make up the roster for the all-star game are among the best in the league. Sure there will sometimes be snubs, but you won't find one of the worst performing players take a spot over an MVP favorite. That was, until a very specific situation arose in 1984 that forced arguably the worst player in the league into the game.
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WalkoffStudios is a UA-cam channel dedicated to creating original Major League Baseball content. All videos are written, edited, and produced by myself. This channel is sprouted from my love of the game. I want to educate and entertain as many people as I can on different events, stories, history, and tidbits relating to Major League Baseball.
What needs to be understood is there weren't many good hitting shortstops in that era. Griffin was a well respected player for his defense. That was first and foremost a shortstop's responsibility in those days. Teams didn't expect much else from their SS and that didn't change until the 90s. In 84 you had Ripken, Trammel and it was the final year of Robin Yount (who would move to CF for the remainder of his career) and that was it for offensively productive shortstops. Just something that needs to be taken into account for anyone under 40 who thinks of it as a highly productive position
@@franklingordon3354 Well said!
Cal Ripken
Alan Trammel
Robin Yount
@@mikekelly3901 Indeed but that's only 3 out of the 26 teams at the time.
@franklingordon3354 All three are from the American League and it was an American league shortstop..but either way I'm a blue jay fan and Griffin was great.
He did his primary responsibility of defense very well.
Today, his .241 average would be batting cleanup for the Yankees.
Alfredo Griffin totally deserved to be there, he was a gold glove caliber shortstop in an era where the position was valued more for defense.
The one thing I think of when I heard of Alfredo Griffin is that he made the last - 27th - out in three different perfect games.
That is absolutely amazing!! Which pitchers threw them?
No he didn’t. While Alfredo Griffin was a member on three losing teams to pitchers that threw perfect games (Len Barker on May 15, 1981 when Barker pitched for Cleveland and Griffin played for Toronto; Tom Browning on September 16, 1988 when Browning pitched for Cincinnati and Griffin played for the Los Angeles Dodgers; and Dennis Martinez on July 28, 1991 when Martinez pitched for Montreal and Griffin again played for the Dodgers). However, in the game against Len Barker, Griffin batted leadoff, and went 0 for 3 while Ernie Whitt made the last out; in the game against Tom Browning, Griffin again batted leadoff, and went 0 for 3 while Tracy Woodson made the last out; in the game against Dennis Martinez, Griffin batted 8th and only went 0 for 2 since the Dodgers had Stan Javier pinch hitting for him in the 9th inning while Chris Gwynn made the last out.
Barker and Browning pitched home games while Dennis Martinez pitched on the road at Chavez Ravine. As an Expos’ fan (now Nationals), I can say with certainty that Martinez pitched on a Sunday afternoon which was just two days after Mark Gardner “lost” a no-hitter and a game to the Dodgers since he held them without a hit threw nine innings, but the Expos didn’t score a run in nine innings, and he gave up two hits and one run in the tenth inning.
@@nuwildcat90 As a Blue Jay fan, I knew Whitt made the last out of Len Barker's perfect game. So I knew that comment was wrong. Thanks for doing the rest of the research.
@@bajikimran2304 You’re quite welcome. Have a great day!
@@nuwildcat90 Thanks for setting me straight on this. After so many years, things like this start to run together in my mind.
In Sandy Koufax's perfect game against the Cubs in Dodger Stadium, Chicago actually had more batters come to the plate than the Dodgers. In their 1-0 win, the Dodgers only reached base twice. One eventually scored without another guy reaching safely; the other (actually the same guy, Lou Johnson) was stranded. And being the home team ahead in the middle of the 9th, they only had 8 innings on offense. 8×3+2=26 Dodgers batters. 27 Cubs batters.
Cool Blue Jays unifroms
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A .241 BA with a .245 on base percentage seems almost impossible
Look up Ernie Bowman. In 1963, he had a BA/OBP/SLG=.184/.181/.208 over 125 AB’s and 131 PA’s due to 0 walks and 2 SF’s.
WTF!!! Dudes are doing it now and people area calling them great
He probably swung at a pitch that the catcher missed and he made it to First
@@DusTeeJones99 Actually, people recognize OBP (or OBA if you prefer that instead) now unlike years past. No one now would have an Alfredo Griffin batting leadoff as he did for a good portion of his career (he led Toronto in PA’s for 1979-1981). I’ve argued with people numerous times that it is far better to have a Tommy Tortoise who draws walks at the top of a batting order over a Johnny Jackrabbit who gets SB’s, but not walks. The Cincinnati Reds eventually recognized the same thing when they stopped having Billy Hamilton batting leadoff since he didn’t get on base often enough to justify that position in the order. Years ago, that wouldn’t have happened.
"He had no redeeming qualities" That is a little strong... I hope you mean as a player 😁 But, still wrong... He was a very good fielding ss, who hit about .250... And look at his statistics... He has INCREDIBLE strikeout numbers... He never struck out... He put the ball in play... That was good numbers for a starting ss's back then... That is a starter today... Or at least a very good back-up... He is not that bad...
@aspireahead8388 haha I meant none as a hitter. One of the best fielding SS of his time. Would have to double check if .250 for shortstop 40 years ago was decent. Even if his average wasn't terrible, his obp and slg were.
@walkoffstudios Back in those days, a middle infielder's priority was defense, and everything else was a bonus. In an era that emphasized speed and smallball, you needed quick and slick fielders. Judging a pre‐'94 strike middle infielder for lack of offense is like judging an 80s running back for lack of receptions.
Alfredo Griffin had an on-base percentage of .248 in 1984. He almost never walked. He walked 4 times in 442 plate appearances. His slugging percentage was .298, very low. I've never seen a seasonal on-base percentage any lower than that by anyone except a pitcher. However, in 1984 few managers or general managers paid much attention to on-base percentage anyway. They paid attention to traditional statistics such as home runs, RBIs, batting average and maybe a few other statistics. Even looking only at traditional statistics, Griffin looked very bad.
@pukulu They indeed paid attention to On Base Percentage back in the day. They just weren't obsessed with it then.
I remember Alfredo Griffin as a coach.
Alfredo was a pretty good shortstop. Won the rookie of the year award and a gold glove. Got pushed out of Toronto when Tony Fernandez came up.
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I always think of Mark Redman of the 2006 Royals, with his 5.00+ ERA.
Unlike Williams and the Pirates, who had at least two obvious alternatives, the Royals really didn't have much (Mark Teahen at 3B, maybe?), and I suspect the pick was once again mainly for another pitcher rather than a position player. The entire Royals pitching staff was awful.
In 2003 the Devil Rays all star was reliever Lance Carter. He saved 26 games that year (29 total for his career) but I remember nobody thinking he deserved it
@@franklingordon3354 I remembered that being discussed back then, once you mentioned Carter. He was merely league average. Meanwhile, Aubrey Huff was one of the best hitters in the first half of the season (and the whole season, too).
Must've been them needing a relief pitcher more than another corner outfielder, but even so. That one is a bit glaring.
Had he a 5.27 ERA entering the all star game, but across his last seven starts leading up to it, he was 6-0 with a 4.05 ERA. That might explain it.
Leave Alfredo alone, he was a fan fave
I would bet a batting average of .241 is probably higher than some...if not most...All Stars in 2024. lol
Nothing wrong in Alfredo being on the team. Agreed it was unconventional, but he was a solid ss. Also, take into account he played six seasons for Toronto at Exhibition Stadium…..that alone made things more difficult. Worst all star? No way I believe that…and before someone says name a worse all star selection, I can’t off the top of my head. But Griffin was as decent as any other ss at the plate that year, but you couldn’t find a better defensive ss.
you find some really interesting baseball stories
Griffin had only 24 Home Runs in 18 seasons, Talk about a Bad RAtio. Not every fan knows what WAR means, i do not sorry.
This is awesome
Derrick Turnbow in 06 was atrocious
4-9 record overall, yes that looks Horrible.
Check out Steve Swisher of the Chicago Cubs in 1976!😂😂😂😂
Bill Madlock was right there for them to select!
Just the guy I was thinking of!
Good video
New world stats suck. Griffin was good.
WTF? He was an absolutely putrid offensive player even back then. His defense was fine but not nearly enough to make up for his lineup dragging offense. Even Ozzie Smith made himself into a competant hitter. Griffin had more than a decade to do that and couldn't
UH-PIT-OH-ME. Epitome. Not "epi-tone" 🤦♂️
Our country is looking more and more like the last chapter of Flowers For Algernon.
@kingcassius2586 it makes me wonder if he even wrote it, or if he just let AI do it.
Was he the onlu blue jay to make it that year?
NFL doesn't have this rule, MLB should ditch it. Surely it's not a union thing.
No it was the custom before the Union existed.
My feelings are just the reverse. I think the NFL, with large rosters, should require every team to have a representative in the Pro Bowl. Of course, now that it is the week before the Super Bowl, the two teams in that game won't have any players in the Pro Bowl, but they almost certainly have some selections.
@@rslitman Even without that rule in the NFL a lots of great players from sorry ass teams send at least one or two players to Hawaii. My FALCONS are usually one of those sorry ass teams.
@@cwf081166 I remember one year probably in the 1990s or early 2000s, when the Arizona (possibly still called Phoenix) Cardinals were a bad team, their punter probably punted enough times that he got the visibility to be chosen for the Pro Bowl. He was the Cardinals' only representative that year. A charity chose a poster boy to appear at the game. The kid was from the Phoenix area. An interviewer asked him who his favorite player in the game was, and his answer was the Cardinals' punter. The two then appeared onscreen together. I remember thinking that at least his local team had a representative.
Haha, this is kool!
All-star games have essentially been used as the testing bed for that thing called DEI. Think about it.
What are you talking about?
@@NotFadeAway522 every team has to be included (thus equity) and thus they have forced the diversity & inclusion as a result. As seen with leagues like the NHL and MLB. Then you have media people calling stars not being in it as snubs every year (like clockwork), but they are literally doing the DEI for decades now.
They do thing whilst ignoring the other thing, thanks to their cognitive dissonance. Pretty funny actually, with these annual whiners that never whine about the real cause.
Dumb dumb dumb to say
@@Heavymetalpunk so you have no actual reply, just womanist shaming language? So...thanks for your nothing...handfuls of nothing. You exist to waste everyones time.
@@NotFadeAway522 I see my reply has been censored out of existence. Thanks Alphabet.