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The 10 most under-appreciated players of the 1990s: #4 Steve Reed

Posted by Andy
The #4 spot on our 1990s countdown is occupied by Steve Reed. Not Jeff Reed. Not Rick Reed. Not Steve Shields. Not Steve Sparks. Not the other Steve Sparks.

And therein lies a big part of the problem. Steve Reed was a middle reliever who had a similar name to a lot of other players, including some middle relievers.

But our man Reed was a cut above most of his namesakes, and most other pitchers for that matter.







You may have already noticed Reed's name during this countdown. He was second to Eric Plunk in ERA for middle relievers over 1992-1997. That table appeared in Mike Jackson's post.

Reed had only 2 bad seasons in a 14-season career. Those came in 1998 and 2005.

Check out the most seasons since 1992 with at least 40 IP and an ERA+ of 107:

Rk Yrs From To Age
1 Mariano Rivera 15 1996 2011 26-41 Ind. Seasons
2 Randy Johnson 15 1993 2008 29-44 Ind. Seasons
3 Trevor Hoffman 14 1993 2009 25-41 Ind. Seasons
4 John Smoltz 14 1992 2007 25-40 Ind. Seasons
5 Greg Maddux 14 1992 2006 26-40 Ind. Seasons
6 Tom Glavine 14 1992 2006 26-40 Ind. Seasons
7 Andy Pettitte 13 1995 2010 23-38 Ind. Seasons
8 Pedro Martinez 13 1993 2005 21-33 Ind. Seasons
9 Curt Schilling 13 1992 2007 25-40 Ind. Seasons
10 Roger Clemens 13 1992 2007 29-44 Ind. Seasons
11 Roy Halladay 12 1999 2011 22-34 Ind. Seasons
12 Mike Timlin 12 1996 2007 30-41 Ind. Seasons
13 Steve Reed 12 1993 2004 28-39 Ind. Seasons
14 Mike Mussina 12 1992 2008 23-39 Ind. Seasons
15 Roberto Hernandez 12 1992 2006 27-41 Ind. Seasons
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/18/2012.

This is a list of the most successful pitchers from the last 20 years..and there's our man.

Here are the career stats (through 2011) for those same guys:

Rk G GS IP ERA+
1 Roger Clemens 709 707 4916.2 143
2 Tom Glavine 682 682 4413.1 118
3 Roy Halladay 378 352 2531.0 138
4 Roberto Hernandez 1010 3 1071.1 132
5 Trevor Hoffman 1035 0 1089.1 141
6 Randy Johnson 618 603 4135.1 136
7 Greg Maddux 744 740 5008.1 132
8 Pedro Martinez 476 409 2827.1 154
9 Mike Mussina 537 536 3562.2 123
10 Andy Pettitte 489 479 3055.1 117
11 Steve Reed 833 0 870.2 133
12 Mariano Rivera 1042 10 1211.1 206
13 Curt Schilling 569 436 3261.0 128
14 John Smoltz 723 481 3473.0 125
15 Mike Timlin 1058 4 1204.1 126
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/18/2012.

Reed had the fewest IP but a good ERA+ relative to the group.

The card is 1993 Upper Deck #752. This set is thought by many to be one of the best of the 1990s. Indeed, check out that photo on the front. It takes advantage of Reed's submarine delivery and fills the entire card with his image. The rest of the front is understated and subtle, and I like the fact that Upper Deck didn't mind covering up part of its own name with the player image.

The card back is sublime too. It features a second color photo that occupies more than half the space! The player appears larger on the back than on the front of many other card issues!

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