A Case for Dwight Evans

Back in the Golden Age of cinema, actors and actresses had to be multi-talented.  Unlike today, a thespian couldn’t survive chiefly on his or her good looks–they had to have a little extra.  Studios weren’t satisfied with an actress that was simply adept at line readings.  More was needed.  So the aspiring actors and actresses, typically discovered courtesy their appearance, trained to become solid thespians with numerous talents.  Watch any old black and white film and actors, even those comedic oddballs like the Marx Brothers, would break out in tune and sing a chorus here and there.  It wasn’t enough that classy dames like Jane Russell or Lizabeth Scott looked great, they also had to practice vocal dexterity to make it and stay in pictures.  Like the dedicated and devoted actors of that bygone era, Dwight Evans was a well-rounded performer.  It wasn’t enough that he hit for solid power–Evans also fielded his position exceptionally, owned remarkable plate discipline and packed a Howitzer under his right shirt sleeve.

Although Dwight spent his last season in the Majors with the Orioles, he is regarded as a lifelong member of the Boston Red Sox.  The terrific right fielder was the poster child for the modern statistical analysis crowd who value peripheral stats in the same fashion as Athletics General Manager Billy Beane.  Evans became a sensation midway through his career when he developed remarkable plate discipline which boosted his on-base percentage up to the Eddie Yost range.  Modern day fans have grown accustomed to the seemingly never-ending string of peripheral stats, but before such things as WAR and the like, most folks focused on the tried-and-true stats of hits, homers and RBI.  Although Dwight was above average in these departments as well, it was his stellar on-base percentage that separated him from the pack.

Evans has a handful of peers in the Hall of Fame (players who played in roughly the same age and manned the same position) to include Andre Dawson, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and teammate Jim Rice–a fellow corner outfielder.  These men were all stars in their day and had plenty talent, but Dwight may have been the best all-round talent of this star-studded cadre.  His on-base percentages were typically high while his peers often struggled to manage lofty OBP.  Andre Dawson never had good on-base skills and Jim Rice’s plate discipline was typically poor.  He occasionally posted decent on-base percentages but that was when he hit for extremely high batting averages while not drawing many walks.  Winfield had good on-base skills and Reggie Jackson owned poor plate discipline–indicated by him resting atop the alltime strikeout board among batters–but he, like Harmon Killebrew, eventually developed good on-base skills.  Dawson’s highest single-season OBP was .365 while Rice’s highwater mark was .384.  Dwight topped Rice’s best mark in six separate seasons and bested Andre’s OBP apex a whopping nine times.

Although Dwight had the lofty on-base percentages of Eddie Yost, he also hit for the power of a Cepeda.  Dwight combined the best attributes of Yost and Cepeda to make a complete offensive player.  If he had a weakness as an offensive weapon, it was a lack of speed, however, Evans wasn’t a base path clog.  He fashioned a number of seasons with solid batting averages, on-base percentages and slugging averages.  In fact, he put together more well-rounded seasons in these three departments than any of his Cooperstown peers.  Over the course of Evans’ distinguished career, he posted six seasons with a batting average of at least .280, an on-base percentage of at least .370 and a slugging average with a base of .460.  As for his Hall of Fame peers, Reggie Jackson and Jim Rice finished with one less season, tallying five such campaigns apiece, while Dave Winfield produced four such campaigns and Dawson never achieved such success in any given season. 

Given his exceptional on-base skills, Dwight was able to score plenty of runs.  The Boston ballhawk posted four seasons with 100 or more runs scored–a higher total than any of the aforementioned Hall of Famers.  Winfield and Rice posted three 100 runs scored seasons, Andre Dawson had two while the self-promoting Jackson only had one such season.  By drawing walks, Dwight was able to cross the dish at a high clip.  His average of 0.564 runs scored per game for his career eclipses Winfield’s 0.561, Jackson’s 0.55 and Dawson’s 0.523. 

With the ability to draw walks typically comes the aversion to strikeout.  In modern times, such isn’t the case with high walk drawers like Adam Dunn and Jack Cust also resting high in the leader board among strikeouts.  Although Evans whiffed occasionally, he was much better at pitch recognition than his Hall of Fame peers.  Dwight posted five seasons in which he walked as much as he struck out–or walked more than he whiffed–over the course of his career.  His Cooperstown peers are nowhere close in this regard.  Dave Winfield accomplished this feat twice in his career while Dawson, Jackson and Rice never once walked on par with their total of strikeouts.  Although Dave the Rave is the only peer close to Evans in this regard, Dwight was arguably the better player.  Winfield led the league once in both RBI and total bases–the extent of his league leading stats.  Dwight paced the American League at least once in each of the following departments: runs, homeruns, walks, OBP, on-base plus slugging and total bases. 

Dwight Evans was a fine offensive performer but what made him one the best all-round stars of baseball history was his ability to combine offensive prowess with defensive excellence.  The Boston star was feared across baseball for his cannon arm which enabled him to tally 228 career assists.  A fixture in the Gold Glove ceremonies, Dwight won eight awards for defensive excellence throughout his career.  Andre Dawson was able to match this feat while Winfield won just one shy with seven.  Reggie Jackson and Jim Rice never won a Gold Glove as Rice was a below average defender and Reggie was abysmal on the field.  Such new stats like WAR attempt to judge a player’s overall worth and the multi-talented Evans proves quite a formidable star in the WAR department.  His career WAR of 61.8 eclipses Winfield’s 59.7, Dawson’s 57.0 and Rice’s weak 41.5 career mark. 

A few years ago the baseball writers elected Jim Rice into the Hall of Fame while they never gave Dwight 11% of the vote.  The voters clearly slighted the better all-round player.  Rice hit for a better average than Evans, but batting average isn’t everything.  The following list compares Evans and Rice in some important career totals.

RUNS: Evans 1470, Rice 1249

HITS: Rice 2452, Evans 2446

DOUBLES: Evans 483, Rice 373

HOMERUNS: Evans 385, Rice 382

RBI: Rice 1451, Evans 1384

STOLEN BASES: Evans 78, Rice 58

WALKS: Evans 1391, Rice 670

OBP: Evans .370, Rice .352

TOTAL BASES: Evans 4230, Rice 4129

ON-BASE + SLUGGING: Rice .854, Evans .840

FIELDING %: Evans .986, Rice .980

ASSISTS: Evans 227, Rice 137

PUTOUTS: Evans 5450, Rice 3103

WAR: Evans 61.8, Rice 41.5

Rice also grounded into 315 career double plays (an enormous amount) while Dwight bounced into only 227 twin-killings.

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