Giants Shortstop History and Johnnie LeMaster
The current SS situation in San Francisco reminds me of my childhood and one SS in particular, Johnnie LeMaster. I wondered if he was really as bad as I thought he was back when I was a preteen. So I did a little research. I went back and looked for Giant SS that played 90% of their games as a Giant at shortstop and played at least 200 games at the position as a Giant.
| Most Games at SS | ||||
| Player | G | pct at SS | Seasons |
|
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 0.945 | 1909-1920 | |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 0.999 | 1985-1992 | |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 0.907 | 1995-2003, 2007 | |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 0.996 | 1975-1985 | |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 0.945 | 1950-1956 | |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 0.979 | 1943-1949 | |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 0.945 | 1959-1965 | |
| Dahlen, Bill | 578 | 0.998 | 1904-1907 | |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 0.979 | 1920-1923, 1930-1930 | |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1.000 | 1908-1911 | |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 0.990 | 1892-1896 | |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 0.998 | 1991-1995 | |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1.000 | 2005-2007 | |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 1.000 | 1890-1891 | |
LeMaster comes in as #4 in the most games at SS as a Giant. I was a little surprised to see that he was that high on the list but it makes sense. When I think about it, it seems like he was the SS for my entire childhood. The next thing I did was to rank the players by BA, SLG, OBP, and RC27. So here are the rankings.
| Best BA at SS | ||||
| Player | G | AB | H | BA |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 2160 | 670 | 0.310 |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 881 | 261 | 0.296 |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 3794 | 1106 | 0.292 |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1698 | 480 | 0.283 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 3927 | 1085 | 0.276 |
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 4766 | 1311 | 0.275 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1660 | 451 | 0.272 |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 2952 | 756 | 0.256 |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 1790 | 445 | 0.249 |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 2042 | 494 | 0.242 |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 2992 | 721 | 0.241 |
| Dahlen, Bill | 578 | 1978 | 475 | 0.240 |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 1880 | 446 | 0.237 |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 3089 | 695 | 0.225 |
Not surprisingly, Lemaster is at the bottom of the BA list. Up next, slugging comparison.
| Best SLG at SS | ||||
| Player | G | AB | H | SLG |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 3794 | 1106 | 0.439 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 3927 | 1085 | 0.438 |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 2160 | 670 | 0.413 |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 881 | 261 | 0.384 |
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 4766 | 1311 | 0.356 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1660 | 451 | 0.353 |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 1790 | 445 | 0.339 |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 2952 | 756 | 0.337 |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1698 | 480 | 0.329 |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 2992 | 721 | 0.316 |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 2042 | 494 | 0.315 |
| Dahlen, Bill | 578 | 1978 | 475 | 0.308 |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 3089 | 695 | 0.293 |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 1880 | 446 | 0.289 |
Again, Lemaster is at the wrong end of the list. This time he’s 2nd worst.
| Best OBP at SS | ||||
| Player | G | AB | H | OBP |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 2160 | 670 | 0.382 |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1698 | 480 | 0.372 |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 881 | 261 | 0.362 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1660 | 451 | 0.337 |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 3794 | 1106 | 0.334 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 3927 | 1085 | 0.329 |
| Dahlen, Bill | 578 | 1978 | 475 | 0.328 |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 1880 | 446 | 0.326 |
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 4766 | 1311 | 0.318 |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 2952 | 756 | 0.317 |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 1790 | 445 | 0.302 |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 2992 | 721 | 0.299 |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 2042 | 494 | 0.294 |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 3089 | 695 | 0.280 |
Johnnie comes in last in this offensive category also…and finally how he does using RC27.
| Best RC27 at SS | ||||
| Player | G | AB | H | RC27 |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 881 | 261 | 6.4 |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 2160 | 670 | 6.1 |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1698 | 480 | 5.3 |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 3794 | 1106 | 5.1 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 3927 | 1085 | 4.9 |
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 4766 | 1311 | 4.4 |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 1880 | 446 | 4.2 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1660 | 451 | 4.1 |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 2952 | 756 | 3.8 |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 1790 | 445 | 3.4 |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 2992 | 721 | 3.1 |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 2042 | 494 | 2.9 |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 3089 | 695 | 2.6 |
I removed Bill Dahlen from the calculation because he did not have all the necessary stats to calculate RC27. Maybe LeMaster wouldn’t be last in this category with Dahlen in the list but I’m pretty he would still be last.
As you can see LeMaster wasn’t in the lineup for his bat. Even Uribe finished at least 2 slots above LeMaster. It is nice to know even at the ages of 7 through 17 I could spot a bad SS! If LeMaster was this bad at the plate he must have been one helluva fielder. Sometime in the not too distant future I will do a similar post checking into his fielding stats.
As for the current Giant SS situation, even though it is far too early to say definitely that Bocock’s batting stats are LeMaster’sh it is surely starting to look that way. When and If he hits the 200 game
mark I will run the numbers to see.
