George McQuinn: A Forgotten Yankee

We thank Richard Chester, who wrote and sent in this post.

The Yankees have a long string of players who are well-known to the baseball world. There are the superstars such as Ruth, Gehrig, et al., and lots of lesser stars such as Rolfe, Selkirk, Bauer, McDougald et al. But there is a small group of players who have contributed significantly to the Yankees success, however brief, but are utterly forgotten.

One such player is George McQuinn who was the Yankees first-baseman during my first two years of following baseball, 1947 and 1948. He spent several years in the Yankees farm system in the 1930s. He consistently hit well but with Gehrig on first he did not have much upward mobility in the Yankee system. In 1935 he went to the Reds in an unknown transaction. After a poor season with the Reds he went back to the Yankees in another unknown transaction. He spent 1937 with the Yankees top farm team, the Newark Bears and batted .330. His teammates
on that team included Tommy Henrich, Charlie Keller and Joe Gordon. The Bears that year have been considered by many as the greatest minor league team ever. Later on he was drafted by the Browns from the Yankees via the 1937 rule 5 draft. He was to be the Browns’ regular first-baseman from 1938 to 1945.

He got off to a good start with them batting .324 and .316 in 1938 and 1939. He achieved a degree of fame with his 34 consecutive game hitting streak in 1938. At the time only Ty Cobb and George Sisler had longer such streaks in the AL. In 1939 he led the Browns in almost every offensive stat (154 G, 195 H, 101 R, 94 RBI, 37 2B, 13 3B, 318
TB). His stats dropped off in ensuing years but he did give the Browns a dependable first-baseman. He was an excellent fielder, leading the league in fielding three times and in assists twice.

He was on the AL All-Star team four times, and was a starter in 1944. He was also selected for the All-Star roster in 1945 even though no game was played. In the first game of the 1944 WS he hit a game-winning two-run homer giving the Browns a 2-1 victory. It was their first and next-to-last WS victory. He is the only member of  the
Browns to hit a WS home run.

After the 1945 season he was traded to the A’s. He had an awful year in 1946, batting only .225. They released him after the season ended.

Here he was 36 years old without a team after a poor season. Prospects for a continuation of his career looked bleak.  Yankee first-baseman Nick Etten also had a poor year and they were looking to replace him. In January 1947 they gave a contract to McQuinn but I have not been able to determine what motivated them to replace one guy who had a bad season with another one. The Yankees must have liked what they saw in McQuinn in spring training because they gave Etten his release at the start of the season.

McQuinn was installed as the regular first-baseman. He got off to a terrific start which caught everyone by surprise. I can only imagine the looks of astonishment on the faces of Yankee brass when they saw that, as of May 27, he was leading the AL in batting with a .392 BA. Another All-Star selection ensued and he was the starter. He cooled off for the remainder of the season finishing with a .304 BA, 13 HR and 80 RBI, good enough for 14th place. His OPS+ of 132 was 4th in the majors among first-basemen, 1st in the AL. He was just 2 points below Musial and 1 ahead of Greenberg.

He was a major factor in the Yankees march to the pennant. He was not overlooked by the BBWAA for the MVP voting, finishing 6th with three first place votes. All told he received MVP votes in four seasons during his career.

In 1948 he got off to another great start with a .351 BA as of May 31 and got another selection as the starting first-baseman in the All-Star game. He set an All-Star game record with his 14 TC and 14 PO. He cooled off again but this time it was a pronounced slump lasting to the end of the season. He finished at .248 with 11 HR and just 41 RBIs. The Yankees released him after the season ended and this time there was no coming back for George.

George McQuinn trivia question (not difficult): What feat has he achieved that no other MLer has?

Aside: In the 1947 MVP voting A’s SS Eddie Joost had a .206 BA and an 87 OPS+ and finished 11th in the balloting with two first-place votes (probably from the Philadelphia writers).

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Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
12 years ago

I love posts like these. You can never get too much of the forgotten players, in my opinion.

sjhax56
12 years ago

A bit before my time, the first I heard of McQuinn was in Dave Frishberg’s 1970 song “Van Lingle Mungo”. (Link above)

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago

Richard, nice writeup, adding some details to the stat line.

Wow,that 1947 MVP voting was strange – as you noted, McQinn got three 1st place votes (same as Ted Williams, who win the Triple Crown, for cryin’out loud…), Eddie Joost two (batting .206). I still find it hard to comprehend how Williams lost the MVP to Dimaggio (by one vote).

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

There was one sportswriter who was so piqued at Williams that he completely left Ted off his ballot.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago

Yes, but Dimaggio was left off THREE ballots, plus he got 8th, 9th, and 10th-place votes.

In his biography (My Turn At Bat), Williams claims that someone told him it was Boston Globe writer Mel Webb who left him off the MVP ballot. This has been researched and proven false, as Webb didn’t even vote that year.

Howard
Howard
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

True, but many players that season had a WAR higher or nearly as high as Dimaggio’s mundane (for an MVP) 5.6 so it was defensible to list him low on the ballot. Williams’s WAR, however, was over 10, well above anyone else. Clearly he was robbed of the award.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Howard

Evidently just being Joe DiMaggio counts for a lot.

vivaeljason
vivaeljason
12 years ago
Reply to  Howard

I think part of the reason is that some voters likely considered that the Red Sox finished in third place and a good 14 games out of a dominant Yankee team; the Red Sox of ’47 had to have finished wildly below expectations since they had won the AL the year before.

And I realize that all of that is a stretch considering Williams won the Triple Crown…I’m just trying to rationalize the voting patterns of idiots. Maybe the press just didn’t like Williams.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Ted Williams won 2 MVPs, 2 triple crowns, and hit .400…..in 5 different seasons!

And missed 3 full season between those 5!

Not to mention missing a 3rd triple crown in 1949, losing the batting title to George Kell .342918 to .342756 (with 117 more PAs than Kell, Williams did take home the MVP that year however)

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

In 1953, with 110 PA, Williams got MVP votes (26th). I’m guessing that this is the fewest PA a position player has had who got MVP votes.

Thomas Court
Thomas Court
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Joe Cronin got some votes in 1943 with only 88 plate appearances. He was technically the player/manager though.

Earl Torgeson is a real beauty though. He finished 27th in MVP voting in consecutive years (1949 and 1950).

1949 25 games, 113 PA, 17 runs, 4 HR, .260/.345/.450
1950 156 games, 707 PA, 120 runs, 23 HR, .290/.412/.472

How is possible to finish 27th in consecutive years with those stat lines?

vivaeljason
vivaeljason
12 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Court

1950 I can see…he had a good year — leading the majors in plate appearances and he was one of the better base stealers of his era (despite being a first baseman). Plus only Ted Kluszewski and Gil Hodges finished ahead of him. 1949…he was clearly one person’s favorite player. Which is probably also how he got on in 1950.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Court

Thanks for correcting me. Cronin hit five pinch-hit HR in 1943, including three in four PA. He had 25 RBI pinch-hitting that year, which is the record (along with Jerry Lynch and Rusty Staub).

I’m sure that must have made quite an impression on at least one baseball writer voting for AL MVP.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Wow, that was a heck of a ’53 season by Williams, even in his limited playing time. A 1.410 OPS and a 267 OPS+. Not too shabby considering he was 34 years old and was coming back after basically taking two years off for the Korean War. As for Torgeson, that’s a real head scratcher. He got 2 points, so it’s possible that two voters put him on the ballot. He was a 3rd year player, with few established credentials. He got hurt early in the year, so it’s not like he came back from an injury and impacted a… Read more »

wlcmlc
wlcmlc
12 years ago

Something to do with his world series appearances?

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago

And while it is true that McQuinn didn’t do much in his 50 or so games with the Reds by the time the Browns gave him his chance he had pretty much been knocking International League pitching senseless for 4 seasons. I sure getting started 3 or 4 years earlier would at least have given him a chance to leave a little more lasting impression at any rate. His current closest comp is Willie Montanez (who I never thought of) and also JT Snow (who I did). Another couple seasons and I suspect the Chris Chambliss and maybe Bill White… Read more »

Andrew Daly
Andrew Daly
12 years ago

Other than that fluke 11th in the mvp year Eddie Joost proved to be a very good shortstop over the next 5 years posting WAR’s of 3.5+ in 4 of those seasons including a peak of 7.0

Tmckelv
Tmckelv
12 years ago

With a semi-decent finish in 1948, McQuinn probably could have been the 1B starter in 1949 (and maybe even 1950*) for the Yanks. First Base was a real mixed bag that year for the Yanks. – Tommy Henrich (split time in the OF with 51 starts at 1B; he also played every inning at 1B in the World Series) – Utility man Billy Johnson had 16 starts (while spending most of his time at 3B) – Yankee powerhouses Dick Kryhoski, Jack Phillips and Fenton Mole contributed another 79 starts – Former Slugger Johnny Mize (who was the starter in the… Read more »

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Tmckelv

Tmckelv, in your closing, did you mean 100+ starts at one position? ‘Cause Tommy Henrich (whom you mentioned up front) started 112 games, split between OF and 1B.

Tmckelv
Tmckelv
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Yes, 1 position, thank you.

Berra 104 starts @ C, Rizzuto 152 starts @ SS and Coleman 122 starts @ 2B.

I was trying to make the point about stability at each position for a pennant winner.

The OF situation was exceptionally ridiculous (Yankee greats – Woodling, Bauer, Dimaggio, Lindell, Henrich and Keller all started between 25 and 77 games in the OF – no left/center/right breakdown), but all of them were beaten out by the immortal Cliff Mapes (86 starts in OF).

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Tmckelv

Without being sarcastic Mapes did have an immortal arm. Probably his biggest play occurred on 7/4/49. At the Stadium the Yankees took a 3-2 lead against the Red Sox going into the top of the ninth. The Sox loaded the bases with one out, Pesky on third base. With Al Zarilla at bat menacing clouds moved in and darkened the park. The lights could not be turned on because the AL then had a rule banning their use during day games. As Raschi was preparing to deliver the pitch a strong swirl of wind arose and sent up a cloud… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Tmckelv

Not coincidentally, the three 100+ games starters were all “up the middle” position players. CF Joe Dimaggio had a great 76-game season. This mixing-and-matching of players is what helped build KC Stengel’s reputation as a managerial genius..

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Indeed. During Stengel’s 12-year tenure as Yankee skipper, they had just 2 player-seasons of 675+ PAs (both by Rizzuto, 1949-50). The other 15 MLB teams averaged almost 9 such seasons.

Phil
Phil
12 years ago

I know MVP voting is more nuanced than any single statistic, but I’d be interested in seeing how things would look if the MVP was awarded to the player with the highest WAR. Ted Williams would have won in 1941, 1942 and 1947. I’d love to see a current list of MVP totals (and CY and ROY) versus a mythical list of winners if WAR was the deciding factor.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  Phil

Since 1893 WAR MVP winners All players, each league 12 Ruth 10 Mays 9 Bonds 8 Hornsby 8 Wagner 7 Pujols 6 Cobb 6 Williams 6 Mantle 6 Rodriguez 4 Musial 4 Schmidt 4 Young Batters only, each league 11 Ruth (actually loses 1916 because of pitching) 11 Wagner 11 Mays 10 Hornsby 10 Bonds 7 Cobb 7 Schmidt 7 Pujols 6 Williams 6 Mantle 6 Rodriguez 4 Jennings 4 Lajoie 4 Musial 4 Morgan 4 Henderson Pitchers only, each league 8 Grove 7 Clemens 7 W Johnson 6 Alexander 6 R Johnson 5 Young 5 Mathewson 4 Vance 4… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Phil

Phil,

It would probably be more interesting, for purposes of our discussion, to take one particular year and have a comprehensive discussion. I have chosen one of the most controversial years in recent memory,1987:

1987 WAR leaders:(NL) Tony Gwynn (SDP) 8.1 // (AL) Wade Boggs (BOS) 9.1
1987 actual MVPs:(NL) Andre Dawson (CHC) 2.7// (AL) George Bell (TOR) 5.0

When analysing MVP votes,it’s important to remember what the storyline was at that particular time. For the writers, the narrative is often just as important as the statistics.

Andy
Andy
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

MVP voters, much like chicks, dig the long ball. MVP voters who are ALSO chicks REALLY dig the long ball.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  Andy

More than anything MVP voters love RBIs

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Also in 1987,
Nolan Ryan: 2.76 ERA (1), ERA+ 142 (1), Innings 211.2 (9), K 270 (1), K/BB 3.1 (1)….Record 8-16, Cy Young 5th place.

kds
kds
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Dawson, of course, led the Cubbies to their 1st WS championship in 79 years, so that was the writers narrative. Also, historically, he followed the underground railroad to escape slavery in Canada, thus making him much worthier than Tim Raines. After the 1986 WS you can’t give it to any Red Sox, (except Buckner, but he wasn’t very good in ’87), Nobody watches Minn., (the whole AL West was pretty weak), the Yanks weren’t as good as they’d get after the Boss was suspended, so they had to give it to somebody. Fortunately Toronto is in Ontario, not Canadia, so… Read more »

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

McQuinn hit for the cycle on 7/19/41. It was the only cycle in the majors that year, and the last one ever by a Brownie.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

Not counting active players, McQuinn is one of 3 position players to ever have a season of 4+ WAR for the Yankees franchise yet spend no more than 2 years with the club.

The other 2 spent just 1 year with the franchise. Any guesses?

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Well, I found one that I can reveal since no one would ever guess. Mike Donlin, 1901 with the Baltimore Orioles. 4.5 WAR in his only season with the franchise.

Jack Clark only spent 1 year in pinstripes, 1988, he posted 6.5 WAR the year before and 4.2 after, but only 3.1 in the Bronx.

I found the other one, but he (or she) is guessable so I wont reveal.

Doug
Doug
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Bobby Bonds is my guess.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Ding! Topper and Doug teamed up to identify Turkey Mike Donlin and Bobby Bonds as the 2 players besides McQuinn who had a 4-WAR season for the Yankee franchise while playing no more than 2 seasons there. Donlin and Bonds each spent just 1 year with the team.

(Donlin actually played for the 1901 Baltimore Orioles. They moved up the coast to NYC the next year, but Donlin had by then finagled his way to Cincinnati.)

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

They moved in 1903. The only two 1 year franchises are Milwaukee related, the 1901 Brewers (now Orioles via the Browns) and the 1969 Seattle Pilots (now Brewers via the American League)

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

Did anyone answer Richard’s trivia question? — i.e., What feat has George McQuinn achieved that no other MLer has?

My guess: He’s the only player to appear in a World Series with both the Browns and the Yankees.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I’ll guess without much research, the only player who has played 1B every inning of his career (counting DH)? Given some reasonable minimum playing time

wlcmlc
wlcmlc
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

My guess is the only player to play 2 world series and not leave the city they played in.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  wlcmlc

Interesting with the subway series angle. There have actually been a fair amount of them however. 1906 CHI 1921 NY 1922 NY 1923 NY 1936 NY 1937 NY 1941 NY 1944 StL 1947 NY 1949 NY 1951 NY 1952 NY 1953 NY 1955 NY 1956 NY Honorable mention 1985 KC-StL 1989 Bay Area 2000 NY 17 of 107 (16%) all of all WS. LA could still get one, and Philly and Boston just missed 100 years ago 1914 BOS NL vs PHIL AL 1915 BOS AL vs PHIL NL Also Chicago just missed another 90 years ago 1917 CHI AL… Read more »

Doug
Doug
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

That is true John.

Three other Browns who appeared in the ’44 WS played for the Yankees. Mike Chartak played with New York in 1940 and 1942, both non-pennant years for the Yanks. Bob Muncrief and Jack Kramer finished their careers with the 1951 Yankees, but neither was able to finish that season with the club.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

The Yankees won the pennant in 1942, lost to the Cardinals.

Doug
Doug
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

Indeed they did. I stand corrected.

In any event, Chartak started the ’42 season with New York but finished the year with the Browns, with an stop in between with Washington.

wlcmlc
wlcmlc
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

My fine tuned guess – McQuinn the only player to play 2 world series for 2 different teams and not leave the city either time.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

So apparently the regular season has begun, I had no idea. Are you going to do the daily write-ups JA? Ichiro is on pace for 648 hits this season and should reach 3000 hits around early September.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

I’m afraid that if I ever mention that Ichiro has X hits, someone will chime in that he has X+Y hits if you count his years in NBP, and then I will retort sneeringly that if we’re lumping minor-league stats in with MLB totals, then Buzz Arlett has 450 HRs. It never ends well.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

By the way, it’s typical that the A.P. recap of the game is headlined, “Ichiro Suzuki has four hits as Mariners beat Athletics.”

Ichiro’s 4 hits contributed to 1 run — the insurance run in the 11th inning that made the final score 3-1.

Meanwhile, Dustin Ackley twice drove in the go-ahead run, with a 4th-inning HR and 11th-inning single. Plus, he swiped 2nd in the 11th, enabling him to score the insurance run on Ichiro’s single.

But why let facts get in the way of a good story?

Mike L
Mike L
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John A, it’s his first game back in Japan, so it’s big news. And Ichiro is a little like Tiger Woods. For years, the stories would be something like “Tiger fires a blistering 66 in second round of ERA+ Open. He was one under par on the first nine holes with two birdies and bogeys, but went birdie, birdie, eagle to open the back nine, and holed a pitch from 45 feet on the 16th to save par after his first shot landed in a trap. To finish, Woods dropped a long birdie on the 18th-after hooking his drive, he… Read more »

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago

Ref. posts 20,25,34. Sorry to reply late but I just got back after being out for a while. Your answers are not the one I am looking for. You can make a reasonable guess just by looking at McQuinn’s home page.

nightfly
12 years ago

Did topper get it in #23 – all career innings at 1b, career games > 1500?

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  nightfly

No it was not. My original reply was “Nope” and then I got a message saying that my reply was too short. I guess there is a minimum of characters required for a comment to be posted.

Doug
Doug
12 years ago

Richard,

Does the quiz answer have anything to do with sacrifice hits?

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

The answer does not have anything to do with SH.

Tmckelv
Tmckelv
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

this was a good guess. I too noticed McQuinn seemed to have an unusually high SH total for a 1B.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Tmckelv

For the time period 1927 to 2011 McQuinn had 130 SH, the most for any first-baseman.

AlbaNate
AlbaNate
12 years ago

Is it that he had his highest WAR year in his age 37 season? Even Barry Bonds didn’t manage that (BB’s was in his age 36 season.)

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago

No that is not the answer.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago

I have decided to post the answer tomorrow morning about 8 AM Pacific time. If you guys out there solved the Shawon Dunston quiz, which ran a short while ago, this should be a piece of cake.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago

Only player to post a .600 OBP for a World Series losing team?

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

That’s not it. It has to do with the regular season, no WS, All-Star games, etc.

vivaeljason
vivaeljason
12 years ago

Random one…I know it’s not on McQuinn’s home page, but shot in the dark: McQuinn has the most putouts in a single all-star game. In 1948, he stayed in the entire game and registered 14 putouts.

Also, as noted, he was the last Brown to hit for the cycle.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  vivaeljason

I already mentioned his 14 putouts in my article. That’s not it.

vivaeljason
vivaeljason
12 years ago

D’oh. Somehow glossed right over that in the article. That’s what I get for skipping to the trivia question.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago

Hmmm….he batted .225 in 1946, followed by .304 in 1947. So maybe it has something to do with the year-to-year change in batting average? Highest one year increase? Or only player to hit over .300 following a season below .230?

vivaeljason
vivaeljason
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

I feel as though other players have had greater increases. Andres Galarraga went from .243 to .370 when he went from St. Louis to Colorado. I realize that there’s a huge asterisk there since Colorado pre-humidor was, well, Colorado pre-humidor, but the fact is that Big Cat definitely outdid McQuinn. The second one is a possibility.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  vivaeljason

Doesn’t seem like it’s the second one either. For example, George Burns went from .226 to .352 in 1917 and 1918.

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Had me confused for a split second until I saw the years. I read it as George SCOTT who went from .303 to .171 in ’67 & ’68- the other way around. Mind does some funny things.

Phil Gaskill
Phil Gaskill
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Got two words for you there: Scott Brosius. 1996: .304; 1997: .203; 1998: .300.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago

As far as I can tell, he’s the only player with back to back 195 hit seasons. Mays is the only other player I can find with two 195 hit seasons, but his weren’t back to back.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Congratulations Ed, you got it. Now we can go to sleep with a clear mind.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago

Cool, first one of these I’ve gotten!

topper009
topper009
12 years ago

ummm, no offense I appreciate any trivia question but that is not a very good one.

birtelcom
Editor
12 years ago

In his Historical Baseball Abstract (published 2001), Bill James rated McQuinn the 81st best first baseman ever. That matches up almost perfectly with career bWAR, which had him through the year 2000 with the 82nd most career WAR among players who played least 50% of their career games at first base (now, through 2011, McQuinn is at 94th using that same scale) Looking for comparable first basemen to McQuinn (18.6 career WAR, 110 career OPS+, 6,596 career PAs) in history based on sabr-stats, I see Dan Driessen (19.9 WAR, 113 OPS+, 6,344 PAs) and Fred Merkle (20.5 WAR, 109 OPS+,… Read more »

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  birtelcom

I was surprised not to see Miguel Cabrera not on your list. I did not think that he had played that many games in the outfield. I keep thinking of McQuinn as someone who was better than his numbers show. I think under many circumstances he would have another 3 seasons or thereabouts and maybe 10 more career WAR but of course that’s also true for many other players as well. And it would also mean that some players, maybe even some big names, would end up losing a bit especially at the end of their careers. I wonder if… Read more »

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Hartvig

Don’t forget that Cabrera also played 3rd. His first year was basically split between left and 3rd with a few more games in left. Next two years were mostly OF, next two mostly 3rd, and now 4 years of mostly 1b. Despite all those changes, he’s had negative defensive WAR every year of his career.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

And now back to 3rd to accommodate Prince, I wonder when he’s all done how we will categorize Cabrera? Seems a lot like Gary Sheffield, stud on offense, horrible on defense/often a DH.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

Generally a good comparison Topper. Main differences are that Cabrera has been healthier at a young age and his defensive WAR stats aren’t quite as bad as Sheffield.

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

That and he’s got almost double the WAR that Sheffield had at age 28(40.2 to 20.8). Part of this is durability. Sheff missed a lot of time early in his career, but Cabrera overall has been the better hitter early in his career, with a 149 OPS+ to Gary’s 138. Cabrera on the other hand has the second most games played in baseball since 2004. It seems odd to me for the Tigers to have their two elite power hitters be two of the most durable players in baseball. Prince Fielder leads all of baseball in games played since 2006,… Read more »

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

Just looking at oWAR, they’re much closer: 45.6 vs. 32.3. Sheffield also missed playing time due to the work stoppages in ’94 and ’95. Otherwise he’d probably be around 35 oWAR.

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

I remembered all too well about his previous 3rd base experience and am more than a little concerned about his return there this season (since I’m a Tigers fan). I just didn’t think that he had played as much outfield as he has.

Hub Kid
Hub Kid
12 years ago

This is a great post/essay by Richard. and lots of not quite lost minor league history pops up in the comments, too- McQuinn’s career in the minors, Buzz Arlett’s (thanks, John A.). Is it more sad that McQuinn is forgotten as a Yankee after two years, or that he is forgotten as a Saint Louis Brown after eight? The situation reminds me a bit of Dick Allen, spending all those years as a Philly, and yet his most memorable for many is probably as the 1972 AL MVP with the White Sox. Allen isn’t exactly forgotten, of course. and incidentally,… Read more »

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Hub Kid

Your last sentence is a good point. George Weiss was in charge of the Yankee farm system starting in the 1930s and perhaps he and McQuinn had a good relationship.
Another point: If the Yankees knew that 1938 would be Gehrig’s last full year would they have taken steps to protect McQuinn from the rule 5 draft.

Doug
Editor
12 years ago

Good point, Richard, about protecting McQuinn.

The Yankee first basemen between Gehrig and McQuinn were Babe Dahlgren, Johnny Sturm, Buddy Hassett and Nick Etten. All but Etten were washouts. Yet, before Etten arrived in 1943, the Yankees still won 3 pennants and 2 World Series from 1939-42 with far below replacement level performance at 1B.

Etten had three good seasons in 1943-45 (avg 18 HR, 103 RBI, 134 OPS+). Very astute of the Yankees to realize that Etten was done after his decline in 1946 at just age 32.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago

As a result of PI research I did in response to Andy’s April 1 article of fewest GIDPs in a season I discovered this factoid about McQuinn. In 1944 he had 1 GIDP in 623 PA. That makes him 1 of pnly 12 players to have 623 or more PA in a season and have either 0 or 1 GIDP.

Bill McClellan
Bill McClellan
12 years ago

Hello Richard. I may be able to give you some background on George McQuinn, to answer some the questions that have been posed, as I am fortunate enough to be one of his (two) sons-in-law, and enjoyed many a bourbon over ice with George in his living room in the last few years of his life. (George’s second daughter and I have been married since 1974) George told me many stories about his minor league days, and of being sent to Cincinnati in 1936 where the manager (Chuck Dressen)tried to force him to become a pull hitter, thus destroying his… Read more »

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago

Bill: This is to let you know how thrilled I was to read your reply. You are not going to believe this but I had said to myself that perhaps a relative of George would somehow find this post. I had always wondered how George had latched on to the Yankees. I see that I was right about George having a good spring training in 1947. (And then of course there was the Yankee uniform.) Unfortunately the Yankees were not on TV until 1949 so I only got to see him play when I went to the games in person.… Read more »

Bill McClellan
Bill McClellan
12 years ago

Hi Richard: Thank you for your note. I think I found your site because I was looking online to see if there was anything new in the last year about the St. Louis Browns, or George McQuinn, and somehow I saw the article George McQuinn: The Forgotten Yankee. Also, your comment about seeing George only at the stadium reminds me of a fan letter George kept in his very most personal papers that we found as we were moving some of his papers around a couple of years ago, written by a 12-year old girl from Tarrytown, NY in 1947,… Read more »

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
12 years ago

I must have been preoccupied and missed this post in March and just read through it. Today’s exchange makes what was a wonderful post and discussion the best I’ve yet encountered in a year’s enjoyment of this blog.

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago

I somehow also missed this article when it first ran, so happy to see that it pulled back to the top of the comments list thanks to Bill’s posting. Great stuff.

Warren Turner
Warren Turner
7 years ago

Not a forgotten (by me) player! Stan Musial (of course) and George McQuinn were my two favorites. As a Brownie fan I got to see more of George than Stan. There was a fair similarity in their hitting, as either could hit to all fields with power. I kind of identified more with George because I also played first bast, and was also good fielder. In fact I was put on first base one game when the regular was not there, and with the scatter armed infielders we had my ability to pick up throws in the dirt got me… Read more »