Quote:
Originally Posted by canadiancreed
By that logic no-one from the Reds of that era would have been voted in. Just look at the predictions of the 57 and 59 World Sereis for proof of that.  |
You're talking nonsense.
Teddie McMurray was one of the 2-3 most feared players in the NL from 1953 through late 1959 (when it became clear that he'd fall off after his typical start, though no one really knew why).
Cook was also one of the most feared, in a different way. He was the best leadoff hitter in the NL in the decade, and no one else really was close to him in effectiveness (Vardy really was a pure #2 hitter not really suited for the #1 spot). Cook stole a lot, but wasn't really effective at it. What Cook was better than anyone else in the NL in that decade was in that critical combo of Getting On Base and Scoring Runs. He walked a ton. While not a great percentage base stealer, he was the probably fastest man in the NL *and* probably had the best "base running instrincts". First-to-Second, Second-to-Home, First-to-Home... he had no peers.
The Cards and Reds that Cook led off for weren't really monster power teams like the Mighty Tigers, or the Yankees when they started loading up. Those NL clubs had good power, but they also had good BA's, good BB's, and good gap skills. Cook's ability to get on base *and* run them better than anyone in the league in that era helped those clubs put more runs on the boards than they otherwise would have.
For whatever reason, it seemed like the majority of the players in the league in the 50s who had "leadoff OBP skills" tended to be slow guys with mediocre baserunning skills. Vardy was the prime example, but hardly the only one. Davis was another.
There's a reason that Cook scored so many more runs a season than Vardy did, despite Vardy being quite a bit better OBP man. We talked about it often in the era, and it was pretty evident that it wasn't the lineups. Vardy had as strong of a lineup coming up after him in PIT as Cook had in Cincy. It seemed pretty clear that Cookie had that hidden skew advantage in the engine relative to his peers.
It made him a feared player. In those WS Live SIMs, there always was talk about trying to keep Cook off the bases because he set the table for the Reds.
It's a very different type of fear, and probably not quite the type Tribe Frank was talking about. But pretty much every team wished they could have "a Cook" at the top of their order.
Average Cook season in the 50s:
.265/.398/.382/.780
143/14/7/12 H/2B/3B/HR
108/55 R/RBI & 119/36 BB/K
50/23 SB/CS
His teams in the decade won five pennants, three World Titles. When not winning the division, they finished second four times, and third the other season.
John