Would You Rather?

While I don't collect Wade Boggs cards to a supercollector status, I have been fascinated by some of the Wade Boggs Supercollectors because they share a similar mindset for how I go about CollectingCutch.  I discussed the other Wade Boggs collectors on a post last year during Shark Week.

One of the "Boggs trust" members, John aka WadeBoggsFan (his birthday was yesterday btw) on YouTube published a video where he took 2 pitchers and 2 hitters and without revealing their names asked based solely on the stats which pitcher or hitter would you rather have to build a franchise around.

I thought it would be fun to do a similar thing here looking at a random player from the early 2000s, Andrew McCutchen, and Wade Boggs.  

So here are some stats through age 25 season (keeping simple stats and slash lines)

Player A

328 hits

10 HR

4 SB

.356/.426/.469

151 Runs/118 RBI

0 ASG

Player B

753 Hits

111 HR

117 SB

.272/.353/.592

479 Runs/349 RBI

3 ASG, 2 GG

Player C

629 Hits

82 HR

98 SB

.290/.365/.483

362 Runs/295 RBI

2 ASG, 1 GG

By those stats most people who look at Player B would say he is clearly on a Hall of Fame path.  As a matter of fact according to his Baseball Reference page his closest similarity scores for ages 22-26 are Duke Snider, Mookie Betts, and Barry Bonds.  Player A has a lot of ground to catch up and Player C is just slightly behind Player B in regards to simple counting stats.

Let's move on to their stats through their  Age 33 seasons now using the same 3 players as before

Player A

1,965 Hits

78 HR

15 SB

.345/.430/.471

1,005 Runs/637 RBI

7 ASG

Player B

1,098 Hits

150 HR

143 SB

.265/.349/.457

660 Runs/518 RBI

3 ASG, 2 GG

Player C

1,719 Hits

243 HR

191 SB

.285/.376/.478

974 Runs/853 RBI

5 ASG, 1 GG, 1 MVP

As you can see above Player A has been racking up a ton of hits over the 8 seasons that followed the initial look through age 25 season.  Player B, originally lumped into "Future Hall of Famer" talks has completely fallen off and retired from baseball at age 32.  Player C is a model of consistency keeping up with a steady stream of hits, walks, homers, despite declining stolen bases over later seasons.

I found this to be a very fun excercise and think it can shed some light on why investing in sports cards can sometimes become a huge risk.  Player B was one of the hottest names in the sport in the mid 2000s, but injuries derailed his career and his autograph can now be had for about $5.  He finished his career in Tampa Bay and retired after his age 32 season.  

Player A got a late start to his career, but went on to join the 3,000 hit club as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  He joined the Hall of Fame in 2005, the same year Player B had his first full season in the majors and the same year Player C got drafted.

The book is still open on Player C as he enters the 2021 season at age 34 and only has one year guaranteed on his contract.

While I haven't been buying many cards lately, I did manage to pick up this fold up poster from Lids that features Andrew McCutchen along with some of the bigger names in the sport at the time it was produced.  The names of players on this poster would make some interesting Would You Rather posts. With a lack of cards to buy, I am looking towards finding more things like this for the collection.  

Can you match up the 3 players in this exercise knowing two of them are Boggs and Cutch?