Thomas 162 Game Average: 572 104 172 35 1 36 119 2 2 116 97 .301 .419 .555 .974 156 317 Bagwell 162 Game Average: 587 114 174 37 2 34 115 15 6 106 117 .297 .408 .540 .948 149 317 Essentially a mirror of each other, except when you look at context. Bagwell played 1st base, extremely well, Thomas prolonged his health by playing a vast amount of time at DH while Bagwell was having to play in the field. Because of this, his health hurts his overall numbers but as well as his career averages. Bags was hitting over .300 until his last 3 years where he was hitting about .270, because of health. Bagwell beats Thomas in a per season average in Runs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, Homers. RBI if he had the luxury of taking half the game off every game. Icing on the cake here; Bagwell has 202 career stolen bases, Thomas has 32. Bagwell was the best running first baseman of the 90's, Thomas just sat on his fat ass. There is very little comparison to which player is the best baseball player between the two.
Man stop the numbers don't lie as for thomas not playing the field much that may have been a coaches decision they were both different types of player but to say one was better than the other is just crazy should both have been first ballot HOF hell yeah.
Thomas should have been a first ballot HOF there no doubt about that they were two different type of players.
Thomas was a little better at the plate. Perhaps offensively overall too, but Jeff's baserunning might overtake Thomas overall. Bagwell's defense makes him the better player overall. He was All-World.
Jeff Bagwell pre-lasik........post lasik .304 BA......... .285 BA 29 HR..............37 HR 106 rbi...........113 rbi 996 ops..........933 ops 17 sb...............8 sb .97 bb/k......... .79 bb/k
Two different types of players, indeed. One was an overweight one-trick pony who was relegated to DH (I believe you called it a "coach's decision") because he sucked as a 1B and was too slow to try to play anywhere else, in addition to being a lousy baserunner. The other one was a five-tool player who matched ****** offensively in pretty much every category while also being elite on defense and baserunning. So, yeah. Two different types of players, indeed. One outclassing the other. By a long shot.
Yeah it was a coaches decision, he didn't want some sorry ass fielder hurting his team. They would have pinch run for him as well if they had that option. Frank Thomas was a great hitter, Jeff Bagwell was a much better baseball player.
I only got to listen to about half of it, would like to see the rest when it becomes available. Bagwell sounded as good as I've heard him in a while.
