Morgan and/or Palmer's '75 vs '76

[futurehalloffamer]

Joe Morgan and Jim Palmer won back to back, respective MVP and Cy Young awards in 1975 and 1976, They were certainly incredible peaks, and it's cool that there were repeat offenders on both sides in both leagues. Which seasons were actually better though? If you only have an opinion on one season, don't let it stop you from sharing; that's why I worded it "and/or".

Also, how come were never hear much about Jim Palmer on Baseball Fever? He's one of my favorite pitchers of all time; a real class act!

[Joltin' Joe]

Palmer's case is easier. He was clearly the best pitcher in the ML in '75. In '76, a case could be made for Vida Blue or Frank Tanana in the AL. The Bird had a lower ERA but pitched significantly less innings.

As for Morgan, those two seasons are equally great. He was without a shadow of a doubt, the best player in the ML by far those two years. Side by side, it is a close comparison. However if you compare him to his peers, his '76 season comes out ahead. Nobody was even close to him in '76. He was so heads and shoulders above everyone, it was just ridiculous. He totally spanked everyone beyond belief.

I believe his '76 season is up there with Hornsby's peak seasons as the greatest offensive seasons by a 2Bman. Based on the severe shortage of representatives from the 1970s on the OPS+ leaderboard, it's safe to say that OPS+ is flawed and unkind to the players of that era.

BTW, your poll has a typo so I didn't vote yet. The first and the second option are identical.

[futurehalloffamer]

Man, I don't know how to edit the poll part of the post!

[willshad]

Palmer's case is easier. He was clearly the best pitcher in the ML in '75. In '76, a case could be made for Vida Blue or Frank Tanana in the AL. The Bird had a lower ERA but pitched significantly less innings.

As for Morgan, those two seasons are equally great. He was without a shadow of a doubt, the best player in the ML by far those two years. Side by side, it is a close comparison. However if you compare him to his peers, his '76 season comes out ahead. Nobody was even close to him in '76. He was so heads and shoulders above everyone, it was just ridiculous. He totally spanked everyone beyond belief.

I believe his '76 season is up there with Hornsby's peak seasons as the greatest offensive seasons by a 2Bman. Based on the severe shortage of representatives from the 1970s on the OPS+ leaderboard, it's safe to say that OPS+ is flawed and unkind to the players of that era.

BTW, your poll has a typo so I didn't vote yet. The first and the second option are identical.


Did you ever think that maybe there were just not any historically great hitters around during that time frame?

[Joltin' Joe]

Did you ever think that maybe there were just not any historically great hitters around during that time frame?

That is a possibilty, yes. However I don't think it is a high possibilty. Whether it be a flaw in OPS+ or the league quality was stronger, I believe there has to be some explanation. On the flip side, certain eras have way more than their share of players with monster OPS+ seasons.

[Ubiquitous]

Mike Schmidt
Reggie Jackson
Pete Rose
Dave Parker
Dave Winfield
Willie Stargell
Johnny Bench
Rod Carew
George Brett
Fred Lynn
Jim Rice

[KCGHOST]

Palmer '75 was definitely better than his '76. So I went with that. For Morgan I also would have chose that in his case but we could only vote for one item.

[futurehalloffamer]

Thank you to whoever fixed the typo in the poll!

[538280]

There still is a problem in the poll in that we can only select one option, we can't vote for what we think is the best for both Morgan and Palmer, only one of them....

But anyway I would choose '75 for both players. For Morgan I think it's an interesting comparison because he had a better OPS+ in '76 but he played in 5 more games and had 40 more PA in '75, and defensive metrics are at a consensus that '76 was not one of his better defensive seasons, while '75 was. Plus OPS+ is probably overstating the offensive difference between the seasons because Morgan actually had a better relative OBP in '75.