Very briefly, we've used the player's ranking on the EloRater to determine an expected career WAR (eWAR) and then subtracted that from his actual career WAR (bWAR) to find the difference. The players with the 50 largest such differences are listed below.
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| Robin Yount - a Hall of Famer but still underrated Icon SMI |
- Players from the early 1900s or late 1800s: these guys are comparatively forgotten and lose more than their fair share of EloRater matchups.
- Players who had great careers but are disliked.
I'm not giving away a huge secret by mentioning that Barry Bonds is #1, thanks to his EloRanking of 25 at the time we worked up this data, despite the fact that he is #2 in career WAR, just a smidgen behind Babe Ruth.
OK--here's the list.
Rank Player Elo Rank bWAR eWAR Difference 1 Barry Bonds 25 171.8 86.9 84.9 2 Eddie Collins 17 126.7 95.5 31.2 3 George Davis 86 90.7 60.2 30.5 4 Roger Connor 76 87.2 58.3 28.9 5 Fred Clarke 118 73.4 49.0 24.4 6 Bill Dahlen 170 75.9 54.9 21.0 7 Willie Randolph 200 60.5 40.4 20.1 8 Ty Cobb 4 159.4 140.0 19.4 9 Bobby Wallace 206 60.5 41.7 18.8 10 Lou Whitaker 98 69.7 51.4 18.3 11 Charlie Bennett 724 38.0 19.9 18.1 12 Bid McPhee 235 57.9 39.9 18.0 13 Dan Brouthers 63 83.7 66.6 17.1 14 Rafael Palmeiro 135 66.0 49.3 16.7 15 Joe Morgan 29 103.5 87.2 16.3 16 Rickey Henderson 23 113.1 97.0 16.1 17 Bill Bradley 634 35.0 19.4 15.6 18 Lonny Frey 552 38.7 23.4 15.3 19 Cap Anson 32 99.5 84.3 15.2 20 Ezra Sutton 618 37.6 22.6 15.0 21 Tommy Leach 288 50.9 35.9 15.0 22 Mel Ott 18 109.3 94.5 14.8 23 Cupid Childs 276 47.2 32.7 14.5 24 Ken McMullen 647 31.7 17.3 14.4 25 Sal Bando 142 60.6 46.9 13.7 26 Art Fletcher 444 42.8 29.3 13.5 27 Jimmy Sheckard 301 51.8 38.4 13.4 28 Johnny Evers 280 48.4 35.0 13.4 29 Home Run Baker 118 63.7 50.4 13.3 30 Art Devlin 626 33.8 20.5 13.3 31 Max Bishop 500 36.4 23.3 13.1 32 Dave Bancroft 271 46.4 33.4 13.0 33 Jake Beckley 159 61.5 48.7 12.8 34 Gene Tenace 258 48.7 35.9 12.8 35 Deacon White 435 43.1 30.6 12.5 36 Reggie Smith 147 63.4 51.2 12.2 37 Eddie Mathews 31 98.3 86.1 12.2 38 Jack Glasscock 222 58.7 46.6 12.1 39 Herman Long 265 44.6 32.6 12.0 40 Honus Wagner 9 134.5 122.5 12.0 41 Tom Burns 894 24.4 12.4 12.0 42 Tris Speaker 10 133.0 121.1 11.9 43 Billy Nash 488 36.4 24.5 11.9 44 Lave Cross 351 44.8 33.0 11.8 45 Robin Yount 44 76.9 65.2 11.7 46 Larry Gardner 383 43.0 31.4 11.6 47 Roy Thomas 429 42.8 31.3 11.5 48 Kid Elberfeld 657 30.6 19.3 11.3 49 Ozzie Smith 104 64.6 53.7 10.9 50 Darrell Evans 153 57.3 46.4 10.9
Once again...deep breath.
Here are some thoughts:
- Barry Bonds is screwed. Unless something happens in the next 5-10 years that dramatically changes the public's perception (of him as a person), he's doomed to remain underrated forever. The proof is a little further down the list--Ty Cobb. Cobb is another guy who has not liked during his career, and his reputation as a despicable person remains intact today. A hundred years after the fact, it's still hurting Cobb in the Elo rankings, and we can expect it will continue for Bonds too.
- There are numerous other players on the list who are pretty substantially unliked. Rafael Palmeiro and Anson stick out as two guys who were also hurt by their lack of popularity.
- Joe Morgan is an interesting case--he has two things that hurt him. Firstly, he's hated as a broadcaster, and that's got to hurt him. Secondly, I've often felt he was underrated as a player, probably because OBP wasn't much considered during his playing days.
- Numerous guys make the list because their defensive contributions are not completely factored in. This is certainly true for Willie Randolph, and also for Lou Whitaker, Ozzie Smith, and Reggie Smith.
- There are other favorites of relatively recent players who are often cited as underrated: Darrell Evans, Sal Bando, and Gene Tenace.
