Vern Stephens for HOF Consideration

[kenboyer14]

Brownie SS Vern Stephens is among 10 players for consideration by the Veterans Committee for the HOF later this year. These players made their debuted in or prior to 1943.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080825&content_id=3365521&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2008/08/vern-stephens-among-10-finalists-for-hall/

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gCi7HUhuQIAGZH4dUDH8zSmlAPPgD92PIDFG0

[Dodgerfan1]

Vern Stephens does not belong in the Hall of Fame.

I wonder how many times it has occurred that two players who were traded for each other are up for HOF consideration on the same ballot. Allie Reynolds was traded for Joe Gordon straight up in 1946. Again, neither belongs, IMO, but an interesting sidelight, I think. Of the two, perhaps Reynolds deserves more consideration.

[KCGHOST]

I have aklways had a soft spot for Vern Stephens, but it is really hard to advance the HoF candidacy of a player who never had a productive season after age 28.

[hellborn]

I hope this makes some people look into who Vern Stephens was...he has almost been forgotten.
Not a HOFer in my book, but a darned good player for several years. Don't forget that Joe McCarthy moved Pesky from SS to 3B to put Stephens there...maybe Pesky had the better arm or something, but that suggests to me that Joe liked the way Vern played SS.
BTW, Vern did have 144 RBIs at age 29, and was pretty good at age 30, although he did miss about 1/3 of the season.

[dave_heller]

I have aklways had a soft spot for Vern Stephens, but it is really hard to advance the HoF candidacy of a player who never had a productive season after age 28.

Wow, Sandy Koufax just met your criteria. :)

Shouldn't matter age - when a player gets called up and/or flames out isn't the issue - the overall package is, regardless of age. Not saying Stephens is a Hall of Famer (and neither are many on that list of eligibles), but certainly "age" isn't a qualifier.

[disgrig]

I just recently listened to an interview with Johnny Berardino and the interviewer asked him this question of whether or not Stephens was a HOF candidate. Berardino's answer was "no." He said too many of his homeruns came with the short fence in Fenway after his trade to Boston.

I am not arguing one way or the other. I'm just passing along what Berardino had to say on the subject.

[dave_heller]

Not sure what happened to my previous post on this, but here we go again. :)

Berardino might think what he does, but take this from SABR's BioProject of Stephens:

"While the ballpark [Fenway] helped his statistics, from 1948 through 1950 he averaged 15 home runs and 67 RBIs ... on the road."

Again, not saying he is a Hall of Famer, but "memories" of players (or fans) don't always jive with what really happened.

[Death to Crawling Things]

I've read the Summer of '49 by Halberstam.

Anyway, I think Stephens was supposed to be a horrible SS. (or at least bad range). But, it was felt Pesky could make the move to 3B better. If I remember.

[hellborn]

I've read the Summer of '49 by Halberstam.

Anyway, I think Stephens was supposed to be a horrible SS. (or at least bad range). But, it was felt Pesky could make the move to 3B better. If I remember.

It sounds pretty weird to me that McCarthy would hide the horrible fielder at SS and put the good guy at 3B. True, Jeter stayed at SS and forced ARod to move to 3B, but that was an ego and incumbency issue...and, the new guy had to move in that case, not the incumbent.
Range factor is a somewhat questionable stat, but Junior's RFg at SS for Boston in '47 was 5.22, beating Johnny's the previous year at SS (4.83). I would argue that the distortions inherent in RF would tend to even out for the same position on the same team in two consecutive years. In fact, RF tends to be exaggerated for players on bad teams, and the Bosox improved by 13 wins in '47. Junior also had a good FP at .971, although not quite as good as Pesky's .976 the year before, and had a similar rate of DPs per games as Pesky.
I would suggest that the evidence is that Stephens played better at SS than Pesky when he arrived, and strongly suspect that Pesky was moved because the team acquired a better SS in Junior. Stephens was known for having a strong arm more than being rangy...wouldn't that be the guy who would move to 3B, if he wasn't a good SS?

[dave_heller]

From that same SABR bio:

"David Halberstam wrote in Summer of '49 that Pesky went to third because he had better hands and was quicker than Stephens. In Red Sox Century, Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson's team history, the authors theorize that McCarthy moved Pesky to spite the reporters, many of whom had written that Stephens would play third. Neither theory is plausible. McCarthy was one of history's most successful managers; it is presumptuous to write that he would have made the move unless he thought Stephens was at least Pesky's equal at shortstop.

"In a June 1948 story in Sport magazine, Harold Kaese wrote of the great relationship between Stephens and his teammates, and that Stephens had "won the battle" for the position because he was one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball. Stephens' defensive statistics were very good, and McCarthy was undoubtedly aware of Stephens' great range and arm. Vern had led the league in assists in 1947, and would again in 1948 and 1949. In the same article, Bobby Doerr said: "[Stephens is] nice to work with like Pesky. They co-operate on pop flies in the sun, and work with you on other plays. Perhaps the best thing that impresses me about Vern is the speed with which he goes across the bag on double plays." In a story written just after Stephens died in 1968, Johnny Pesky said: "I always believed McCarthy did it because Stevie had such a great arm.""

[Death to Crawling Things]

From that same SABR bio:

"David Halberstam wrote in Summer of '49 that Pesky went to third because he had better hands and was quicker than Stephens. In Red Sox Century, Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson's team history, the authors theorize that McCarthy moved Pesky to spite the reporters, many of whom had written that Stephens would play third. Neither theory is plausible. McCarthy was one of history's most successful managers; it is presumptuous to write that he would have made the move unless he thought Stephens was at least Pesky's equal at shortstop.

"In a June 1948 story in Sport magazine, Harold Kaese wrote of the great relationship between Stephens and his teammates, and that Stephens had "won the battle" for the position because he was one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball. Stephens' defensive statistics were very good, and McCarthy was undoubtedly aware of Stephens' great range and arm. Vern had led the league in assists in 1947, and would again in 1948 and 1949. In the same article, Bobby Doerr said: "[Stephens is] nice to work with like Pesky. They co-operate on pop flies in the sun, and work with you on other plays. Perhaps the best thing that impresses me about Vern is the speed with which he goes across the bag on double plays." In a story written just after Stephens died in 1968, Johnny Pesky said: "I always believed McCarthy did it because Stevie had such a great arm.""

It is possible my reading of Summer of 49, I misinterpreted it a little. :noidea

I have been meaning to reread the book, maybe if I can get around to it (big if, knowing my erratic schedule) I might can find out if I did.

[westsidegrounds]

From that same SABR bio:

"David Halberstam wrote in Summer of '49 that Pesky went to third because he had better hands and was quicker than Stephens. In Red Sox Century, Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson's team history, the authors theorize that McCarthy moved Pesky to spite the reporters, many of whom had written that Stephens would play third. Neither theory is plausible. McCarthy was one of history's most successful managers; it is presumptuous to write that he would have made the move unless he thought Stephens was at least Pesky's equal at shortstop.

"In a June 1948 story in Sport magazine, Harold Kaese wrote of the great relationship between Stephens and his teammates, and that Stephens had "won the battle" for the position because he was one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball. Stephens' defensive statistics were very good, and McCarthy was undoubtedly aware of Stephens' great range and arm. Vern had led the league in assists in 1947, and would again in 1948 and 1949. In the same article, Bobby Doerr said: "[Stephens is] nice to work with like Pesky. They co-operate on pop flies in the sun, and work with you on other plays. Perhaps the best thing that impresses me about Vern is the speed with which he goes across the bag on double plays." In a story written just after Stephens died in 1968, Johnny Pesky said: "I always believed McCarthy did it because Stevie had such a great arm.""

Halberstam wrote an entertaining book.

But never in the history of baseball has a manager put a guy at third because he's quicker and has better hands than the guy at short.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Halberstam wrote an entertaining book.

But never in the history of baseball has a manager put a guy at third because he's quicker and has better hands than the guy at short.

In his book, Politics of Glory, Bill James has a chapter on Stephens. He hammers on Halberstam for the very same thing.

According to James, Stephens huge seasons in Boston were so outrageous that most sports writers didn't know to deal with them. So they just wrote them off as flukes.