Up The Middle
Because they say defense wins championships.
Defense is the redheaded stepchild of baseball. Everybody fawns over big bats and dominating pitchers, and outside of the Sportscenter plays of the day, defense usually goes unnoticed.
But as a Royals fan, an appreciation of good defense has been ingrained in me from the start. It’s played a leading role in many of Kansas City’s best seasons, including their most recent pennant runs in 2014-15. And the backbone of any great defense is built up the middle: catcher, 2B, SS, and CF.
So I thought it might be fun to cast a quick spotlight on some of the best defenders at those positions in my youth. In the interest of saving time and space as I try to streamline Powder Blue Nostalgia, and because I also have an upcoming article about arguably the best catcher of my childhood (it’s Gary Carter, if you want to know), I’m going to skip over the catcher position and highlight a single 2B, SS, and CF. Not necessarily the best at their position, but three players who definitely stood out to me.
Frank White: 2B, Royals
Of course, I was going to get a Royal in here somewhere. Frank White is a cornerstone of Royals history, but he also has a surprisingly complex legacy.
He’s a hometown guy who came up through the Royals Academy (started by former owner Ewing Kauffman in 1969), and one of only three players to actually reach the major leagues from there, along with Ron Washington and U.L. Washington. I guess it helped if your last name was Washington. Or at least started with a W.
As a prospect, he actually worked on the construction crew building Kauffman Stadium. A long-time staple of the organization, he and George Brett once held the record for most games played together as teammates. (This was later broken by Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell.) Along with Brett and Dick Howser, he is one of three Royals to be immortalized with statues at the K.
And yet, fans initially didn’t like him because he pushed out fan-favorite Cookie Rojas at 2B. White has actually praised Rojas as his mentor, and let’s face it, this was going to happen one way or another at some point. That’s just sports.
In his post-playing career, he was fired from the Royals broadcast booth for being too critical (Can you blame him?), and he’s become somewhat of a polarizing local politician. But is any one in politics not polarizing these days?
As beloved as he is by many Royals fans, he’s often a target for the more analytical crowd. And that’s not completely unfair. Look at his career stats. They aren’t exactly awe-inspiring. He was definitely not Brett or Willie Wilson or Hal McCrae at the plate. That said, he developed a little pop as his career advanced.
With no DH in the 1985 World Series, Dick Howser surprised everyone by inserting him in the cleanup spot, the first 2B to hit fourth in a World Series since Jackie Robinson. And he ended up hitting .250 with 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R, 3 Doubles, and 3 Walks. Not too shabby.
1986 was probably his best offensive season. He posted career highs with 22 HR, 84 RBI, and 76 R. He also hit the game-winning homerun in the All-Star Game, in what was his fifth and final appearance in the midsummer classic.
But White will always be best known for his defense. I encourage you to check out some of his highlight reels. They’re spectacular. Never paired with an elite SS, he nonetheless wowed Royals fans for nearly two decades and won an astounding eight gold gloves.
Perhaps his legendary rival Reggie Jackson said it best. “White saved as many runs as I drove in.” Pretty high praise coming from Reggie.
Ozzie Smith: SS, Padres, Cardinals
Here’s the thing about Ozzie Smith, and it’s probably going to lose me some Cardinals fans. He was probably overrated. Not by a lot. But just a little bit.
Yes, there is no denying that he is the best defensive shortstop of all-time. The guy won thirteen Gold Gloves and did things with the leather that still boggle the mind. On this alone, he earned 15 ASG appearances and punched his ticket to Cooperstown. But was he the best overall SS of his day?
Personally, I would lean Cal Ripken Jr. or Barry Larkin. Sure, Larkin trails Smith by a large margin in Gold Gloves, but that’s hardly an unbiased or scientific accolade, and the Reds SS was a far superior offensive force. But this post is about defense, so let’s keep the Wizard in our sights.
What made Ozzie Smith so damn likable, in addition to his sterling defense, was his charisma. With his backflips and beaming smile, not to mention his classic appearance on the great Simpsons episode, “Homer at the Bat,” he was the antithesis of Garry Templeton, who the Cardinals traded to acquire Smith before the 1982 season.
Templeton was a fine player in his own right, but he was moody and kind of a headcase. For instance, Ozzie played in his first All-Star Game in 1981 when he was selected as a reserve. Two years earlier, Templeton refused to play in the ASG at all if he didn’t start. Then he had to be dragged into the dugout by Whitey Herzog after blowing up at a St. Louis heckler.
Smith had a no-trade clause with the Padres, but Herzog convinced him to waive it. Some in the St. Louis front office were concerned that Smith was too light of a hitter, but Herzog didn’t care. He figured that Smith would probably save more runs in the field than he cost them at the plate, and he wasn’t wrong.
Ozzie was never the best player on the Cardinals— personally, I’m looking at Willie McGee here— but he was the heart and soul of the franchise for a decade and a half. St. Louis went to three World Series in his prime, winning it all in 1982. And though he always led with his glove, he sometimes came up big at the plate as well.
He played out of his mind in both the 1982 and 1985 NLCS’s, earning the MVP award in the latter, and hitting his only postseason dinger against the Dodgers to inspire Jack Buck’s iconic “Go crazy, folks” call. And in 1987, the last time he made the World Series, he hit .300 for the only time in his career.
Smith has pointed out that one of the things he’s most proud of is his 2,460 hits. Not bad for a light-hitting shortstop. But c’mon, when any of us think about Ozzie Smith, it’s always the glove that pops into mind.
Devon White: CF, Angels, Blue Jays, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Brewers
Okay, I’m already starting to run long. I don’t want to give Devon White short shrift, but I’ll try to keep this as succinct as possible.
White is probably the least well-known name in this article, but he deserves better than that. A glance at his stats shows he was definitely the most dynamic offensive player of the three I’ve highlighted, and he not only made thing happen with his bat, but also with his feet. A raw prospect when he first came up, there was never any doubt that he could run.
The Angels originally saw him as a 2B, but Joe Maddon (in his first Minor League job) had the vision to move him to CF. It was the right decision. It’s become cliché now, but great defensive outfielders are usually plugged into the line, “3/4 of the world is covered by water, but the rest is covered by _______.” Well, White was one of the earliest subjects of that line.
His resume (six teams) reads a little unusual for a quality player in that period, and might lead you to believe he was more of a journeyman, but I think that’s misleading. I prefer to think of him as simply being in demand. A 3-time All-Star who won 7 Gold Gloves, he was also a 3-time World Series champ. He played a leading role on the Toronto teams that went back-to-back in 1992-93, and was still a solid contributor when the Marlins won it all in 1997.
In fact, his most iconic moment came in Game 3 of the 1992 World Series. Well, nearly iconic. White made an unreal running backhanded catch on a drive to deep center, bounced off the wall, and threw a bullet back to Roberto Alomar as chaos erupted on the basepaths. If the ump hadn’t missed the call on Kelly Gruber’s tag of Deion Sanders, it would have been the second triple play in WS history. Alas, there was no replay back then.
Perhaps that play best sums up White’s long career. He wasn’t quite amongst the elite, but he was still really damn good and a lot of fun to watch. A lot of that was due to his commitment to defense, and interestingly enough, he wore the same glove for his entire career.
As he put it, “You take care of something and it takes care of you. It took care of me for seventeen years.”
I can’t think of a better closing line for this article than that.
As always, thanks for reading PBN. These are just three great defenders that always stood out to me. There are lots more to choose from, so let me know your favorites in the comments, or share your memories on White, Smith, and White. Man, that sounds like a law firm. “Nothing gets past us at White, Smith, & White, defense attorneys at law.” Yeah, I could definitely see that on the side of a bus.
"If I ain't startin', I ain't departin'"--Garry Templeton, complaining about his ASG snub, but doing so stylishly. But yes, the Cardinals definitely upgraded there.
Great nostalgic look at some certainly memorable players, Patrick! Got me thinking Astros, of course! "Defense and pitching" always seemed to be the pre-season bywords every spring for the 'Stros! So consistently pitiful was our offense, for years on end, we always had to rely on air-tight D.
Obvious recent names (Correa, Biggio) of course, would rule the day, but a couple of similarly-positioned players I liked, growing up, were Craig Reynolds at SS (did you know he's a Baptist pastor, now, in Houston? He also, with OF Terry Puhl, runs a wealth management firm!)
Joe Morgan, of course, was an early fave at second, but Julio Gotay was also a fun one to watch (and listen to on the radio call!). I also thought Jake Marisnick was pretty good....I was fascinated by how huge AND fast he was! Thanks again, Patrick, for the nostalgic early-morning memory jog!