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The 10 most under-appreciated players of the 1990s: #8 John Valentin

Posted by Andy
As numerous folks have guessed, John Valentin makes our countdown of the most under-appreciated players of the 1990s.

Valentin filled a position, shortstop, that the Red Sox had a difficult time keeping occupied with a quality player. But the guy who followed Valentin, Nomar Garciaparra, was even better and made a lot of fans forget Valentin.

As we'll see, though, John Valentin is worth remembering.








Let's start with 1995.

Here are the WAR leaders for that year:

Rk Player WAR/pos Age Tm Lg Pos
1 John Valentin 8.5 28 BOS AL *6
2 Edgar Martinez 7.7 32 SEA AL *D/53
3 Barry Bonds 7.3 30 SFG NL *7
4 Tim Salmon 6.8 26 CAL AL *9/D
5 Reggie Sanders 6.7 27 CIN NL *98
6 Albert Belle 6.6 28 CLE AL *7/D
7 Craig Biggio 6.6 29 HOU NL *4
8 Chuck Knoblauch 6.5 26 MIN AL *4/6
9 Mike Piazza 6.3 26 LAD NL *2
10 Bernie Williams 6.0 26 NYY AL *8
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/16/2012.

Valentin is the far-and-away #1, particular among non-outfielders and non-DH's. That's why he won the 1995 AL MVP award in a landslide.

Oh wait...he didn't?

Voting Results Batting Stats
Rank Tm Vote Pts 1st Place Share WAR
1 Mo Vaughn BOS 308.0 12.0 79% 4.2
2 Albert Belle CLE 300.0 11.0 77% 6.6
3 Edgar Martinez SEA 244.0 4.0 62% 7.7
4 Jose Mesa CLE 130.0 1.0 33% 4.4
5 Jay Buhner SEA 120.0 0.0 31% 2.7
6 Randy Johnson SEA 111.0 0.0 28% 7.8
7 Tim Salmon CAL 110.0 0.0 28% 6.8
8 Frank Thomas CHW 86.0 0.0 22% 5.3
9 John Valentin BOS 57.0 0.0 15% 8.5
10 Gary Gaetti KCR 45.0 0.0 11% 2.9
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/16/2012.

Oh that's right. He finished NINTH in the AL MVP vote.

WHAT THE....?!?!?!

This is one of the most ridiculous MVP votes. I could see Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, or the under-appreciated Tim Salmon winning, but Valentin should at least have had a top 3 finish.

The problem? His defense. He topped 1 dWAR in 5 different years, including 3 seasons with over 2 dWAR.

Here are the WAR Fielding Runs leaders among shortstops for the 1990s:

Rk Player Rfield From To
1 Cal Ripken 105 1990 1999
2 Omar Vizquel 86 1990 1999
3 John Valentin 80 1992 1999
4 Mike Benjamin 68 1990 1999
5 Royce Clayton 66 1991 1999
6 Rey Sanchez 66 1991 1999
7 Greg Gagne 66 1990 1997
8 Gary Disarcina 61 1990 1999
9 Rey Ordonez 60 1996 1999
10 Mike Bordick 57 1990 1999
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/16/2012.

Shown is Valentin's 1995 Topps Cards, #36. This is a pretty interesting set. By the mid-1990s, most of the main issue card sets were going for the fanciest, highest-end look they could. Cards were on thick stock with foil, holograms, gold parallels, etc. This Topps issue, though, seems to be doing the opposite. The edges on the photo are supposed to look either torn or like a colored pencil drawing. The text on the front is a fun sort of font and is quite minimalistic overall. The card front may not be the classiest ever, but it's simple, easy to read, and I like it.

The back is pretty similar to many past Topps' issues except for the inclusion of not one but two color photos on the back--a head shot and a small action shot. It was pretty creative to cram that third photo in there and it gives the card some nice perspective. The use of the headshot photo limited the amount of space for stats, and they don't even show OBP...

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