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The baseball world has lost five Hall of Famers since the start of September, and the most recent has a strong relationship with Oakland A
Longtime second baseman and broadcaster Joe Morgan died Sunday night at the age of 77 at his home in the Danville Bay area, reports SF Susan Slusser The Slusser column is relaying the cause official of death as nerve disease, unspecified polyneuropathy and ESPN notes that he recently treated other health issues
Morgan played 22 seasons (1963-84) for five different teams, but he’s been best known for eight years with the Cincinnati Reds spanning most of the ’70s. He has been an All-Star all eight summers, and the league’s MVP twice in a row (in 75 and 76), with 147 OPS and five Gold Gloves during that time He helped lead the Big Red Machine to three World Series appearances, winning all in 75 and 76
For his entire career his numbers are excellent He hasn’t hit 3,000 hits (2,517), but his 1,865 steps rank fifth all-time and gave him a 392 OBP He has also offered power, with 268 homers ranking among the leaders of the second goal, and together they earned him a lifetime WRC of 135 To top it off, he stole 689 bases, 11th in history, with a healthy 81% success rate
Add all that up and he’s racked up around 100 WARs in his career (a little more on bWAR, a little less on fWAR) He was 10 times All-Star, including two when he debuted with the Astros, and went to a fourth World Series in 1983 with the Phillies He became a Hall of Fame member in the first round in 1990 and still has an argument as the best second baseman in history.
Ray Fosse tells me his most enduring memory of Joe Morgan will always be Morgan’s support for Curt Flood and how this has been for the union and the players today. “What really stands out is what a good person Joe is,” Fosse said.
While most of his playing career has been in the National League, Morgan also has a lot of history with the Bay Area and the A’s. He moved to Oakland when he was young and grew up there. , including high school and college, until turning pro with the Houston Colt 45 (later Astros) and making his MLB debut in 1963 After a decade in Houston he moved to Cincy, and in 72 his Reds met the A’s in the World Series He only did 3 in 24, but walked six times and scored the tie at the end of a win in Game 5 Of course, Oakland won the series, the first of their eventual triple peat
Later, in 1984, Morgan rejoined his former October opponent for the final season of his career He donned the green and gold and played for the A’s, and even at 40 he remained productive In 116 games, he beat 244/356/351, ranking slightly above the league average, and he passed 1 WAR on both scales (averaging around 15 WAR) Earlier in the 80s , he also played for the Giants
One of my favorites to watch as a kid, one of my favorite to interview as an adult Joe Morgan was one of the most important and impactful players in history, no only for his greatness in the field, but also for what he said and demonstrated as an American pioneer RIP legend
After his playing days, Morgan became a broadcaster, including most of a decade in the Bay Area Most of that time was spent calling out the Giants, but he also covered the A’s in 1995 He became a national voice on ESPN, for two decades on Sunday Night Baseball with Jon Miller
As a media personality Morgan has been a mouthpiece for old-school ideologies and ideas.He particularly criticized the book Moneyball, which advocated new strategies and alternative approaches to analyzing the game, and which specifically mentioned in its pages In an ironic twist, the original philosophies targeted by this 2002 A team would have loved Morgan as a player – at 5’7 tall, « Little Joe » looked more like a misfit toy than a classic superstar (undertones of Jose Altuve), and his extreme basic skills may not have been fully appreciated in his time, as they were driven by massive walk rates more than his modest batting averages (above 300 only twice)
In a final connection with A, Slusser notes that Morgan was part of a group that tried to buy the Haas family team in 1998 The sale ultimately went to Steve Schott and Ken Hoffman Click the link de Slusser above (or below) for more details on Morgan’s life and legacy, including the source of his elbow to plate, his time on the Hall of Fame board and d ‘other awesome businesses outside of baseball
Dennis Eckersley on Morgan: “He was the main Hall of Fame character But the things following you are like the time he saw my dad, who had emphysema, in his wheelchair at the Coliseum and he rolled it to his seat You don’t forget things like that ”Https: // tco / vgKbt89Ahd
Morgan is the fifth Hall of Fame to die since the beginning of September The preceding one (click on each name for details) were Tom Seaver, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, then Whitey Ford last Thursday Al Kaline also died in April
Joe Morgan, Cincinnati Reds, National League, Philadelphia Phillies, Oakland Athletics, Big Red Machine
World News – USA – Joe Morgan, Hall of Second baseman Fame, dies at 77
SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com