By Jayson Stark
Triumph Books
“Let the debate begin,” challenges the cover of the book. Stark, senior baseball writer for ESPN, adds his opinions in the latest volume in the genre of books whose sole purpose seems to invite an argument.
Going position by position, Stark picks his “mosts” along with four “runner-ups.” It’s not easy choosing the most overrated players; there are so many to choose from, thanks to publications like Stark’s, who hump the “flavor of the month.” (Can you say Super Joe Charbonneau? I knew you could.) You can’t get too choked up over the fact that Bobby Thigpen was more overrated than Armando Benitez. Readers will note a decided “generational bias” in that most of the players’ careers began after 1960.
Looking back on his record, the beginning of Sandy Koufax’s career was mediocre at best. It was those last five seasons in which he crafted his legend. Should that mark him as the most overrated left-handed starting pitcher of all time?
The difficulty I had was in the underrateds. It’s hard to consider Frank Robinson in that category. The right-fielder was a two-league MVP and Hall of Famer.
Other “unders” include:
- Bob Feller, RH starter
- Babe Ruth, LH starter (brilliant selection)
- Goose Gossage, reliever
- Edgar Martinez, DH
- Yogi Berra, C
- Hank Greenberg, 1B
- Craig Biggio, 2B
- Ron Santo, 3B (sorry, but there’s been too much made of him over the years for me to consider him thus)
- Barry Larkin, SS
- Stan Musial, LF (Again, he’s constantly being named in all-time great lists, so I disagree)
- Duke Snider, CF (He constantly comes in third after Mantle and Mays, but deservedly so)
Stark also lists the top three over- and under- players for each franchise, to wrap things up nicely.
All in all, The Stark Truth is a perfect book for the Hot Stove league, to keep those discussions going until spring training rolls around.
is available on Amazon.com,
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