Most Under-rated Royal Ever

by LeoBloom on Apr 16, 2007 10:51 AM EDT

Who is the most under-rated Royal ever?

I'll throw out two names:

-Mayberry
-Tartabull

Thoughts?

I think Frank White has been highly over-rated the last decade or so.

Mayberry stats:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maybejo01.shtml

You never hear people talk about this guy anymore.

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Huh?

"I think Frank White has been highly over-rated the last decade or so."

Please explain!

I wake up every morning and piss excellence!

by greggagneHOF on Apr 16, 2007 10:55 AM EDT 0 recs

Frank was a great player and all, but some people talk like he should be in the Hall of Fame because Mazeroski is in. Frank was nowhere near the player Maz was. Frank was a very good player, but I think we tend to overrate him here because he spent his whole career here and is still involved with the team. He had a terrific glove, but for many seasons, was pretty worthless with the bat.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 16, 2007 11:00 AM EDT up 0 recs

YOUR CRAZY!

I wake up every morning and piss excellence!

by greggagneHOF on Apr 16, 2007 11:14 AM EDT up 0 recs

are you kidding me?

by royaldaddy on Apr 16, 2007 3:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

Good place to start

I think Mayberry is very underrated, although his performance was marred by (1) the fact he ended up being a big fat guy who was bad defensively; (2) his hung-over performance in the ALCS. He was a very good first baseman that we acquired for pretty much nothing. He is still active with the Royals - he was signing autographs at the spring workout. I'm sure we'll hear about him all the time once his kid gets called up to the big leagues (he's with Texas).

Tartabull was also very underrated. He was one of the Royals best power hitters in franchise history. I loved his stance, although I couldn't copy it because I wasn't strong like a bull like Danny was.

Was there a player in MLB history with a father that played MLB that was more different than Danny and Jose Tartabull? Jose hit two home runs in his career, Danny hit two in his first twenty at bats. Jose stole 37 bases his first two seasons combined, Danny stole 37 in his career. Danny's career slugging was .176 higher than his fathers. Weird.

Also weird that Danny started as a middle infielder.

Other underrated Royals:

Steve Farr
Charlie Leibrandt
Larry Gura
Dick Drago

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 16, 2007 10:58 AM EDT 0 recs

Mayberry

is also a good case study in Gordonomics. After two limited at-bat seasons with Houston where he hit nothing (other than the buffet line), Mayberry became a serious threat his third year when traded to the Royals.

by kjfinkes on Apr 16, 2007 11:04 AM EDT up 0 recs

tartabull...

Tartabull actually posted the 3rd highest OPS + (season) for a royal ever

I discovered this when I did the All-time Brett versus All-time everyone else game:

http://www.royalsreview.com/story/2007/2/19/233317/100

by royalsreview on Apr 16, 2007 11:07 AM EDT 0 recs

Frank White Over-Rated???

What? Career line of .255/.293/.383. OK not that impressive but could be worse. 2006 career hits, 160 HR, 886 RBI, 178 SB. Those numbers are very good career lines. Then theres the obvious 8 Gold Gloves, 7 All Star games, 1980 ALCS MVP, and 1986 Silver Slugger Award.

Frank White was a very good borderline great player. I woudl go so far as to say the Frank White is a borderline Hall of Famer, the only argument against his election is that his bat never quite caught up to his glove but then again if it did we would be talking about Frank White as the greatest Royal that ever lived and not George Brett. It would be nice to see Frank White in the Hall of Fame but if he never makes it I would understand the reasons why, but talking of him being over-reated is just plain silly.

by EricConley on Apr 16, 2007 12:25 PM EDT 0 recs

No one except

Peter Gammons should be a HoF with a sub-.300 OBP. :P

Mayberry's career sure is odd. It looks like he declined the way marginal outfielders do from age 27-29, and then suddenly reappeared as a good line-up presence at age 30. Interesting.

by NHZ on Apr 16, 2007 12:40 PM EDT 0 recs

I understand...

...the arguments against Frank making the HOF, which is why I would classify him as a borderline HOF'er. That said, he's not over-rated by any means. If anything he's probably a hair under-rated due to the fact that he played with George and spent his entire career overshadowed by a sure fire first ballot HOF'er. A bit like Harry Carson was overshadowed by LT during his playing days and took a long time to get recognized for how good he was.

by EricConley on Apr 16, 2007 12:49 PM EDT up 0 recs

Under-rated Royals

Joe Randa always seemed underrated in his time lost among Sweeney, Dye, Beltran, Damon, etc.

John Mayberry is one that would definitely qualify.

Jose Rosado would be one on the pitching side of things. Charlie Liebrandt got lost in those great rotations, but was a solid innings eater.

lordbyronk

by lordbyronk on Apr 16, 2007 12:56 PM EDT 0 recs

For me, hands down it would be

Tartabull. That guy could rake, and he had a trait sadly lacking in most Royals the last decade and a half - very good plate discipline.

Others in my list would include:
Mayberry
Seitzer
Cowens

I'll throw in one pitcher that may make everybody laugh:

Busby

I realize he was not really underrated, but
I'm including him only because its possible that if he stayed healthy, he could have won multiple Cy Youngs and won 200-250 games, easy. Dude would have been better than Sabes career wise, and by a lot.

by loyal2s dad on Apr 16, 2007 1:09 PM EDT 0 recs

Seitzer

Good call on Seitzer. I had really forgotten how good he was. Awesome plate discipline (669 walks 617 strikeouts). He had pretty much no power, but was still a valuable enough player that if you had some big boppers he could be a great table-setter.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 16, 2007 1:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

Should also mention

if Busby had stayed healthy, we might all be referring to the 70s-80s stretch as the Royals DYNASTY instead of merely the Royals glory days - he was that good!

by loyal2s dad on Apr 16, 2007 1:11 PM EDT 0 recs

Should also mention

if Busby had stayed healthy, we might all be referring to the 70s-80s stretch as the Royals DYNASTY instead of merely the Royals glory days - he was that good!

by loyal2s dad on Apr 16, 2007 1:11 PM EDT 0 recs

Busby was KC's Tom Seaver

That was a comment made by a scout back in those days. Consider his accomplishments by today's standard - 2 no hitters, 56 wins in first 3 years. Pitching serious innings over 250+. Compared to today's phenoms, Busby was truly ace material. Imagine what KC could have done with a #1 starting through the 70's with their great everyday lineup.

Buzz is without a doubt the most underrated Royals ever. My apologies to Joe Zdeb.

by daveyork on Apr 16, 2007 8:02 PM EDT up 0 recs