Completely agree - baseball, and the Astros are are weaved into just about every part of my life and who I am - from my memories to the people I love and care about - some Catholics go to confession, I watch a baseball game.
Hmm… let’s see - Nellie Fox, Joe Morgan, Bill Doran, Craig Biggio, Jeff Kent, Anal Fissure and Jose Altuve. I love Altuve but Joe Morgan was better…. In fact Joe Morgan may be the most underrated player in baseball history - he had 100 WAR in his career. My personal favorite was Bill Doran, exceptional glove and an underrated hitter in an era when 30 homers lead the league.
Hate to break it to you but playoff format changing in 1995 had alot to do with that when comparing teams prior to 1995. Also he was the driving force for 4 of the 6 playoffs you mentioned. Even in 2001 Berkman had started sharing the best player role with him.
Much like our Nolan Ryan discussion earlier, Morgan is clearly better than, well, any 2B, ever (or damn close) - I think the distinction is his career *as an Astro.* He was very good - probably better than most realize (three 5+ bWAR seasons; 121 OPS+ overall). At the risk of angering @MadMax, IMO, he's the 3rd best 2B in team history.
Joe did most of his damage after he left the Astros. Here are their stats from age 21-27. I chose 27 because that is when Joe left the Astros. RkPlayerAgeFromToGPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+TBGIDPHBPSHSFIBB1Jose Altuve21-2720112017982431139515611250243238440323165264462.316.362.453.8161251791108402135342Joe Morgan21-271965197187338473206522847136576127519457574356.264.376.399.77512212802811352115 What they did after 27 is no comparison. Joe was amazing. [thead]RkPlayerAgeFromToGPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+TBGIDPHBPSHSFIBB[/thead] 1Jose Altuve28-33201820236522892257247175414971173226118277420.293.366.493.8591331268682651292Joe Morgan28-3319721977895390231316789421672613050535973709325.301.429.495.9241591551341973625
Yeah - I was mostly listing out the best players at that position that played for the Astros. Joe Morgan's time with the Astros was under-rated, as he averaged like 5-6 WAR per 162 games with the Astros - but clearly his best days were with the Reds. I'll go with Rogers Hornsby as the greatest 2nd baseman of all time, he lead the league in WAR 11 times in a 13 year span before he got hurt - but Joe Morgan is under-rated at this point, he was almost a perfect middle infielder that could do everything and while it is probably controversial to some, he was a better player than Pete Rose or Johnny Bench - he is arguably the best Red ever.
I'm not sure how controversial that would be - Morgan got to Cincinnati in 1972. From '72-1979 (his last season there): Morgan: 57.9 bWAR Bench: 47.4 bWAR Rose: 40.7 bWAR I mean, he was pretty clearly the best player on that team. Worst trade in Astros history. Losing 8 years of Morgan-Wynn....
He won 2 MVP's and had 2 other 4th place finishes, from 73-76 he was clearly the best player on the team, and in all of baseball. Over the course of all 8 years I would say him and Bench were very close, It's certainly not controversial to think he was better. Rose wasn't close to Morgan and Bench, but to his credit he never missed a game and managed to accumulate a lot more PA's.
Crazy that one team had TWO “best post-integration player at their position” players, in their primes. Then threw another HOF-caliber player in there for good measure, along with the ONLY player in his decade to hit 50 home runs in a season. And a 4+ WAR shortstop just to spice things up. Machine indeed…
Rose was better than I thought - though, clearly the third-best position player on that team. The thing about Rose: he played to the times. And in the '70s, batting average was king. Guy hit .314 from '72-'79. But he also had a .392 on-base % and hit 330 doubles - that's 41/season. His biggest deficiency, honestly, was that he didn't really have a position, and wasn't a particularly good fielder. But the guy could hit.
