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Matty Alou

Posted by Andy
Matty Alou passed away unexpectedly yesterday.

Alou was a good player and was a top centerfielder in the game from 1966 to 1969 when he had a slash line of .335/.369/.410, good for a 124 OPS+.

He was a .307 hitter for his career, but check out the players with the most career plate appearances, a batting average of at least .300, and an OPS+ no better than 105:

Rk Player PA BA OPS+ From To G AB R 2B 3B HR RBI OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Stuffy McInnis 8623 .307 105 1909 1927 2129 7822 872 312 101 20 1062 .343 .381 .723 *3/6547
2 Lloyd Waner 8326 .316 99 1927 1945 1993 7772 1201 281 118 27 598 .353 .393 .747 *87/945
3 Charlie Jamieson 7488 .303 101 1915 1932 1783 6560 1062 322 80 18 552 .378 .385 .763 *79/813
4 Placido Polanco 7142 .301 97 1998 2011 1719 6534 948 320 32 101 681 .346 .406 .752 *456/7D3
5 Billy Goodman 6446 .300 99 1947 1962 1623 5644 807 299 44 19 591 .376 .378 .754 435/796
6 Matty Alou 6220 .307 105 1960 1974 1667 5789 780 236 50 31 427 .345 .381 .726 *8973/1D
7 Joe Vosmik 6084 .307 104 1930 1944 1414 5472 818 335 92 65 874 .369 .438 .807 *7/98
8 Earl Sheely 5263 .300 104 1921 1931 1235 4471 572 244 27 48 747 .383 .399 .782 *3
9 Ethan Allen 4765 .300 93 1926 1938 1281 4418 623 255 45 47 501 .336 .410 .745 *879
10 Rip Radcliff 4436 .311 97 1934 1943 1081 4074 598 205 50 42 533 .362 .417 .779 *79/3
11 Freddy Leach 3996 .307 102 1923 1932 991 3733 543 196 53 72 509 .341 .446 .787 *78/93
12 Lew Fonseca 3724 .316 103 1921 1933 937 3404 518 203 50 31 485 .355 .432 .788 34/75961
13 Homer Summa 3318 .302 92 1920 1930 840 3001 413 166 34 18 361 .346 .398 .743 *9/785
14 Bob Dillinger 3201 .306 100 1946 1951 753 2904 401 123 47 10 213 .363 .391 .754 *5/6
15 Sammy Hale 3185 .302 93 1920 1930 883 2915 422 157 54 30 392 .336 .424 .760 *5/87496
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/3/2011.

These are all guys who tend to be a bit overrated thanks to the flashy batting average without a lot of on-base or extra-base ability beyond that.

Notice that most of these guys played a long time ago. If we limit it to players from 1960 on, the list gets a lot shorter:

Rk Player PA BA OPS+ From To G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Placido Polanco 7142 .301 97 1998 2011 1719 6534 948 1966 320 32 101 681 .346 .406 .752 *456/7D3
2 Matty Alou 6220 .307 105 1960 1974 1667 5789 780 1777 236 50 31 427 .345 .381 .726 *8973/1D
3 Starlin Castro 1221 .304 105 2010 2011 283 1137 144 346 67 14 13 107 .343 .422 .766 *6
4 Norris Hopper 440 .316 90 2006 2008 168 396 60 125 15 2 1 20 .367 .371 .738 /879
5 Dee Gordon 233 .304 92 2011 2011 56 224 34 68 9 2 0 11 .325 .362 .686 /*6
6 Lorenzo Cain 181 .302 103 2010 2011 49 169 21 51 12 1 1 14 .343 .402 .745 /*897
7 Jose Ortiz 136 .301 103 1969 1971 67 123 14 37 9 1 0 6 .358 .390 .748 /*897
8 Jose Constanza 119 .303 100 2011 2011 42 109 21 33 1 1 2 10 .339 .385 .724 /798
9 Eddy Garabito 102 .307 97 2005 2005 42 88 15 27 5 0 1 8 .384 .398 .782 /46
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/3/2011.

Those are the only guys to do it with at least 100 career plate appearances.

I think Placido Polanco is a pretty good comp for Alou, actually--at least offensively. Polanco's oWAR is 23.4 while Alou's was 24.5. Polanco has a pretty big edge defensively.