Carlton Ernest "Pudge" Fisk (born December 26, 1947) is a former Major League Baseball catcher who played for 24 years with both the Boston Red Sox (1969, 1971-1980) and Chicago White Sox (1981-1993). Known by the nickname "Pudge" due to his 6'2", 220 lb frame, he was the first player to be unanimously voted American League Rookie of the Year (1972). He is best known for "waving fair" his game-winning home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, one of the greatest moments in World Series history. At the time of his retirement in 1993 he held the records for most home runs all-time by a catcher with 351 (since passed by Mike Piazza). A testament to his durability behind the plate, Fisk held the record for most games played at the position of catcher (2,226) until June 17, 2009 when he was surpassed by "Pudge" Iván Rodríguez. Fisk still holds the American League record for most years served behind the plate (24). Fisk was voted to the All-Star team 11 times and won 3 Silver Slugger Awards which is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position. Fisk was known as a fierce competitor, a superb handler of pitchers and a natural on-field leader. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Sterling Dunston: Man or Demigod?

As suggested by Mr. Connelly, today we will look at Sterling Dunston, LF for the Seattle Dead Rockstars.

Sterling Dunston
Seattle
Dead Rockstars
Age: 25B/T: R/R
Born: Vandenberg Afb, CA
Position(s): LF
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Man or Demigod?

What would make Mr. Dunston a "demigod"? According to Wiktionary, a demigod is the offspring of a god and a mortal. Whatifsports does not give us information on the lineage of our simulated athletes, so we'll take a less literal meaning in looking at our specimen.

So, how good is Sterling Dunston. Well, not good enough to qualify for AL ROY voting. But, we'll take a deeper look in case the award is indeed a sham as the Seattle owner suggests. Dunston went .269/.334/.559 in his rookie campaign. Hardly staggering numbers for a 25 year-old rookie. His 47 HR are quite impressive making him tied for 10th in the bigs. Houston ROY candidate, Mario Kydd, also blasted 47 HR. But the comparison stops there. Kydd had 219 H (good for 2nd in the ML) to Dunston's 145, scored 132 R compared to 78, smacked 40 two-baggers versus 14 for Dunston, struckout just 78 times as opposed to 128 whiffs by Dunston, ... I could go on. Kydd is clearly superior.

There are countless other examples. Dunston is solid, but unless the league is full of demigods or baseball talent is not the best measure to find godly DNA, then I don't think our study bears out.

I'm going to vote that Dunston is just a man. I suppose he is an imaginary man, but that's not relevant here.
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2 comments:

Ryan said...

kydd is better, i thought dunston was better than some of the pitchers on there. at one time apollo case was in the voting, and he was nothing special with an ops 44 points lower than dunston's. good article though.

May 17, 2008 at 9:15 AM
Matt Wittlief said...

We can see where Dunston ranks among all rookies in Win Shares when I get those done.

May 17, 2008 at 3:58 PM

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