Career Leaders: LA and Brooklyn

Hope everyone is well. I was just perusing the 2021 Media Guide. A really good source of information for fans. Unfortunately, they no longer sell them. So Mark got me the download site and now all that info is on my computer right at my fingertips. And the first subject I thought I would touch on is career defensive leaders at all the positions. One of Eric’s favorite subjects. Now, these players are not rated by dWAR. They are listed by Fielding Pct. And they had to have played 300 games at the position listed. One thing you will notice on these lists, most of the players played in LA. There are a couple of reasons for this: (1) A superior and much better field to play on; and (2) Baseball gloves are much bigger and more flexible than the old ones.

Catcher

#5. Russell Martin coming in at .990. Martin played for the Dodgers for 6 years. He was a solid presence behind the plate. He called a good game and had a decent TOS pct of 30%. #4. Paul LoDuca. LoDuca comes in at .991, as does Tom Haller. LoDuca played 7 years for LA. He also caught 30% of the base stealers. He had a decent bat. But I do not remember much about his game-calling skills. Tom Haller came over from the Giants in a trade in 1968 and played 4 years with the Dodgers. Tom was a very good game caller, and a solid receiver. He caught 35% of the runners trying to steal. # 2. Yasmani Grandal. .995. This one I find hard to believe, but stats do not lie. I guess passed balls do not count against your fielding pct. Grandal had 43 passed balls as a Dodger. He also played 4 years for the team and was considered one of the best framers in the game. He was not very good at throwing out runners. His caught stealing pct is 26%. # 1. AJ Ellis. Ellis comes in with the highest fielding pct of any catcher who ever played for the Dodgers. .997. AJ played 9 years for the Dodgers. He was for years, Kershaw’s personal catcher. AJ did not hit for a high average, but his career OBP as a Dodger was .340. He was excellent at calling games. Compared to Grandal, AJ had only 34 passed balls in his 11-year career. His caught stealing pct is 33%. He also hit .365 in 17 post-season games. Grandal an abysmal .125 in 36 games. Only Martin ever received a Gold Glove.

First Base

#5. James Loney .994. Loney played 7 years in LA before he went to Boston in “The Trade”. 2008 was the only season he ever had double figures in errors. Solid hitter, but not a lot of power. # 4. Eddie Murray .995. The Hall of Famer came to LA in 1989. He played for the Dodgers for 3 years. Although he never repeated his Gold Glove-caliber seasons with LA, he was nonetheless steady at 1st. He won 3 Gold Gloves with the Orioles. # 3. Adrian Gonzalez. . 995. The Butter and Egg Man was a solid player and steady glove at 1st after arriving from the Red Sox. He played 6 years for LA, not only providing solid defense but becoming the Dodger’s steadiest run producer. He won 2 Gold Gloves with the Padres and one each with the Red Sox and Dodgers. The last coming in 2014. Tied for # 1. Wes Parker and Steve Garvey. .996. Parker joined the Dodgers in 1964. He was part of the World Series Champs in 1965. He was not a great hitter or power source, but he was a wizard with a glove at first, and when he occasionally played the outfield. Wes did finish with a .267 career BA. He won 6 consecutive Gold Gloves at 1st from 1967 to 1972. Steve Garvey joined the Dodgers in 1969. Originally a 3rd baseman, he was moved to first base because he had a lot of trouble making the throws to first. I think the Dodgers were worried about the fans sitting behind first getting injured. After playing the position sporadically, Garvey moved there for good in 1974. From 74 to 77 he was a Gold Glover at the position. It did not hurt that he also was a very good hitter.

2nd Base

# 5. Delino DeShields .980. DeShields barely cleared the 300 game limit in his 3 years in LA. Traded for Pedro Martinez, he never was quite the player he had been in Montreal. Never won a Gold Glove. Made 153 errors in 13 years in the majors. # 4. Charlie Neal .980 . Charlie joined the Dodgers in 1956 in Brooklyn and played for the Dodgers for 6 years. He went to the Mets in the expansion draft after the 1961 season. A .259 career hitter, he had some pop and hit 73 HRs in his 6 seasons with the Dodgers. He played 8 total seasons and had 68 errors at 2nd base in 663 games. He also had a great 1959 World Series hitting .370 with 2 HRs and 6 RBI’s. # 3. Alex Cora .981. Cora joined the Dodgers in 1998. He played 7 years in LA and was considered an excellent defender with not much pop in his bat. Another player who barely cleared the 300 game minimum, was also a SS. Only made 106 total errors in 14 seasons. Now the Red Sox manager. # 2. Mark Grudzielanek .983. Mark joined the Dodgers in 1998. He played 5 seasons in LA. In his first two seasons in LA, he was primarily a SS. But in his last 3, he was the regular 2nd baseman. He later won a Gold Glove with the Royals. # 1. 983. Jackie Robinson. We all know Jackie’s story. But he played 3B, 1B, OF, and 2nd base during his tenure as a Dodger. But getting most of his work at 2nd.

3rd Base

# 5. Tim Wallach .964. Tim joined the Dodgers in a trade with the Expos in 1993 when he was 35 years old. He spent 3 years as the Dodger’s primary 3rd baseman. He was a very good hitter and had a steady glove at 3rd. Like most 3rd basemen, his error total at the hot corner was high 240 in a 16-year career at 3rd.

# 4. Billy Cox .964. Billy joined Brooklyn in 1948 in a trade with the Pirates and spent 7 of his 10 major league seasons with the Dodgers. He was considered one of the best glove men of his era. A career .262 hitter, Billy also played 2nd and some SS. He had a .302 BA in 15 World Series games. # 3. Justin Turner .967. JT as we Dodger fans like to call him has been a Dodger since 2014 and now is in his 8th season in the blue. Signed as a free agent after his release by the Mets, he has become a very valuable piece of the Dodger roster. He has also played some 2nd base, SS, and 1B for the Dodgers. He is a career .295 hitter in the postseason. # 2. Casey Blake .966. Huh? Some might say. Blake is another barely over the 300 game mark playing a total of 374 games at 3rd for the Dodgers. Some will be surprised that Ron Cey did not make the list. But Penguin’s career fielding pct at 3rd was .961. # 1. Juan Uribe .978. I was as surprised as anyone to see Juan at # 1. He was a Dodger for 5 seasons. And played most of those games at 3rd. He had a solid bat, and I did see him make some impressive plays at 3rd. But it was usually his flair for the dramatic hit that caught your attention.

Shortstop

# 5. Rafael Furcal .967. When I think of Furcal, I think of a pretty decent fielding SS with a very good bat. Furcal joined the Dodgers in 2006. His biggest detraction was that he only played 3 full seasons at SS. The rest of the time he had partial seasons due to recurring injuries. He never won a Gold Glove, but he was a career .281 hitter with some power. # 4. Alex Cora .968. Cora was a Dodger long enough to acquire the needed games to also qualify on the SS list. # 3. Dave Anderson .970. Anderson was a light-hitting infielder who played 2nd and 3rd along with SS. He played 8 years in LA and 2 with the Giants. He joined the Dodgers in 1983 and caddied for Bill Russell until he retired after the 1986 season. # 2. Corey Seager .970. Surprise! Corey made the list. Solid hitter, he sometimes makes miscues on very easy plays. But overall he is steady and usually makes up for a gaff with his bat. # 1. Cesar Izturis .980. Izturis was a so so hitter, but he was an excellent defender. He had a cannon arm and had the range to get to balls most SS cannot. He joined the Dodgers in a trade with the Blue Jays and played 5 years in LA.

Outfielders

# 5. Juan Pierre .987. Juan played for the Dodgers from 2007 to 2009. He was a decent hitter, and an excellent outfielder and base stealer. He played LF and CF mostly for the Dodgers. He made a total of 40 errors in the outfield in 14 seasons in the majors. One of their better free-agent signings. # 4. Dusty Baker .987. Dusty came to the Dodgers in a trade with the Braves after the 1975 season. He spent 8 years with LA as the primary left fielder. A solid bat, he was a member of the first group of four players from the same team to have 30 HR’s or more. He joined Reggie Smith, Ron Cey, and Steve Garvey by getting his 30th on the last day of the season in 1977 off of J.R. Richard. It was his only 30 HR season.

# 3. Joc Pederson .990. Joc was a center fielder when he arrived in 2014. He ran some of the best routes to the ball of any CF in the league. But he was later more in RF and LF than Center. He was a low average high power hitter. But he was solid at all 3 outfield positions.

# 2. Goody Rosen .991. Goody Rosen was primarily a center fielder who came up to Brooklyn in 1937, He played 6 seasons in the majors. 5 with the Dodgers and his final season with the Giants when he was sold after appearing in 3 games. He backed up all of the Dodger outfielders during that time.

# 1. Brett Butler .996. No big surprise here. Brett was fleet of foot and could run down almost any ball hit his way. He was a solid bat and a prolific bunter and base stealer. He spent parts of 7 seasons with the Dodgers. He left in 1995 and signed with the Mets, but they traded him back to the Dodgers in August of that same season.

Pitchers

The criteria to get on the list as a pitcher is a minimum of 200 total chances. Any pitcher who did that could make the list. One thing you will notice with this list is that all of the pitchers except one played in Brooklyn. # 5. Dazzy Vance .979. Vance pitched for the Dodgers for 12 seasons. He won 191 games. He is in the Hall of Fame. He joined the team in 1922 at the age of 31.

# 4. Dutch Reuther .979. Reuther joined Brooklyn in 1921 and pitched for them for four years. He finished with a 54-52 record as a Dodger winning 21 games in 1922. # 3. Odalis Perez .980. Only LA Dodger on this list. He joined LA in a trade with the Braves after the 2001 season and pitched 5 years in LA. He compiled a 45-40 record.

# 2. Curt Davis .985. Curt joined Brooklyn in 1940 and played 7 years for the Dodgers. He had his best season in 1942 when he was 15-6. Overall as a Dodger, he compiled a 66-54 record.

# 1. Freddie Fitzsimmons .985. Fat Freddie as he was called, which is strange because he was 5’11 185 lbs, guess that was considered fat back then joined the Dodgers in 1937 after 13 seasons with the hated Giants. His best season in Brooklyn was 1940 when he went 16-2. He won 20 for the Giants in 1928. He pitched as a starter and a reliever for Brooklyn and posted a 47-32 record as a Dodger. His overall record was 217-146.

Well, there you have the list as it is posted in the 2021 Media Guide. If you like you can probably ask Mark to post the link to download it. Some surprises on the list. I would have expected players like Hodges, Campy, Snider, and Reese on there. Have a great day, and let’s play some DEFENSE!