Yount had perhaps the best season of any player of the decade;
he was the best hitter in the league, and also won a Gold Glove at a
demanding defensive position. Yount had become the Brewers' regular
shortstop at age 18; in his early years he wasn't much of a hitter, but he gradually
improved. In 1980, Yount was an All-Star for the first time; he had been
in the league for seven years, but was only 25 years old.
Yount played for 20 years, all of them with
the Milwaukee Brewers. He retired with 3142 hits, but also belted out over
250 homer runs and stole over 250 bases and hit generous numbers of doubles
and triples. Midway through his career, Yount moved to centre field because of injury problems; he put together another string of outstanding seasons in
the outfield, and won another MVP Award in 1989. Incredibly, Yount was selected
to only three All-Star teams in his long career, but made the Hall Of Fame
on his first try in 1999.
This was a great year for third basemen.
In addition to the five fine players listed here, this year's crop of rookies included Wade Boggs, Gary Gaetti and Cal Ripken Jr. (who played a
little third base his first year). Doug Decinces finished third in the
MVP balloting. DeCinces began his career in Baltimore, where he replaced
Brooks Robinson. He was a good hitter who belted over 200
career home runs. The Orioles dealt DeCinces to the Angels, and he had his
best year for them, helping the Angels make the playoffs.
The Wallbangers had a pair of Hall Of Famers in the infield, Yount
and Paul Molitor. But they had some other heavy hitters, including Cecil
Cooper, who had another big RBI year. Gorman Thomas led the American League in homers
for the second time; Thomas was an all-or-nothing swinger who averaged just
.225 during his 13-year career, but who also cranked out 268 career homers.
Other heavy hitters in the Brewers lineup included Ben Oglivie, Ted Simmons
and Don Money.
Eddie Murray was runner-up in the MVP vote. In the years since his outstanding
rookie season in 1977, Murray had established himself as one of the most
durable and consistent players in baseball. He was also entering his prime
as a hitter, and had one of the best bats in the game. Murray played a virtually
flawless game; he was a switch-hitter who was equally tough from both sides
of the plate, a good defensive player, and a smart baserunner. He won three Gold Gloves at first base.
Murray never won an MVP Award, though he finished runner-up twice, and also finished among the top five in the vote from 1981-1985 (and again in 1990). In my re-evaluation of the MVP Awards, I still haven't given Murray an award, which irks me a little but I can't see it any other way. Murray was a great player and was very consistent, but never busted loose with a monster season, never hit 40 home runs or had 200 hits. He rarely led the league in anything, though he was consistently among the league leaders in almost every important offensive category. This year was more of the same from Eddie; nothing in his record really jumps out at you, but across the board he was as good as any hitter in the league.
Dwight "Dewey" Evans had one of his best
seasons, and gets my vote behind Murray. Another outfielder who had a
remarkable season was Athletics' jackrabbit Rickey Henderson. Rickey set
a single season stolen base record, breaking Lou Brock's mark of 118.
The record came at a heavy price, though; Henderson
was caught 42 times, twice as much as in any other year of his career.
There were many great base stealers in the game at this time, but by the
1990's they had all disappeared from the game; Rickey's record is now
almost 20 years old, and is in no immediate danger of being broken.
