At the end of this post is a table of the major league players who have been known as “Cliff”, listed in descending order of career WAR (total WAR for position players, pitching WAR for pitchers).
I’ve only included players who are listed at baseball-reference as having been known as “Cliff”. So I have not included guys such as Gavvy Cravath, whose actual name was Clifford but was not known as Cliff, while I have included guys such as Cliff Floyd, whose actual first name was Cornelius (which suggests that perhaps the real reason Floyd was oft-injured during his career was he was being repeatedly beaten up by former fourth grade classmates).
Perhaps the most poignant “Cliff” career listed here was that of Cliff Dapper, a catcher who played in nine games, with 19 plate appearances, for the Dodgers early in the 1942 season, putting up a startling slash line of .471 BA/.526 OBP/.706 SLG/1.232 OPS. He never played in the majors again. In 1942 he was sent down to the minors after his brief stay with the big club, then spent three years in the Navy, and never got another chance in the major leagues.
By the way, if you don’t know why a post about Cliffs in history is appropriate today, you are a fortunate person.
[table id=88 /]
