For the complete list and explanation of criteria and scoring, check out the Philly Fifty page
Longevity – 3
Kind of a tricky one to categorize as he played 7 full seasons with the Athletics from 1908 to 1914. He also played 6 partial seasons for the team from 1906-07 and 1927-30. The partial seasons totaled only 163 games, so I graded him as if he was here 8 full seasons.
Peak – 4
Collins was outrageously talented for a second baseman during his time. In his final full season with the A’s, he won the MVP and had a 11.3 WAR. That is tied for the 26th best individual season in MLB history, and only Rogers Hornsby and Joe Morgan was ever better from the 2B spot. Chase Utley’s best is 7.7 (2009). To give another idea of his value, in 1915 he was sold to the White Sox for $50,000, the largest sum ever for a player up to that point.
Popularity – 1
Athletics. Next.
Team Success – 5
During his initial 7-year tenure, the Athletics were 651-413. If you take out the first season (68-85), they were 583-328 in his next 6, or an average of 104 wins per 162 game season. They went to four world series and won three (1910, 1911, 1913). His final year with the A’s, they went 99-53, their first year without him, they went 43-109.
Awards – 3
Can’t really penalize him for living in a era with no all-star games, but he would have been the starting 2B every year he was in the league more or less. As I said earlier, he won the MVP in 1914 and he also finished 3rd in 1911, 6th in 1912 and 3rd in 1913.
Stats – 3
Collins has the following ranks in Philadelphia A’s history… 1st in SB, 2nd in WAR, 3rd in BA and OBP, 4th in Triples, 5th in OPS, 8th in Runs, 10th in Hits, 11th in Walks, 15th in RBI, 16th in PA and SLG%, 20th in 2B and 41st in HR.
Historical Standing – 5
Collins might be one of the most under-appreciated players in MLB history. Take a look at the top players in MLB history in career WAR:
1. Babe Ruth
2. Barry Bonds
3. Ty Cobb
4. Willie Mays
5. Hank Aaron
6. Honus Wagner
7. Tris Speaker
T-8. Rogers Hornsby
T-8. Stan Musial
10. Eddie Collins
11. Ted Williams
12. Mickey Mantle
13. Lou Gehrig
You simply don’t hear his name mentioned all that much with those other guys, but it probably should be.
Excitement – 2
Collins wasn’t a glamorous player. He hit a ton of singles, took a bunch of walks, stole a bunch of bases, and played above average defense and was an excellent base-runner.
Total: 26
Collins is one of those players who non-SABR people and SABR people would both agree and disagree on. Non-SABR folks would say he was great becuase he had “intangibles” and was “gritty” because he didn’t look the part of super ball player. SABR folks would look at his WAR and various other advanced stats and say he was a super star. Then they would probably yell at each other for thinking he was great for the wrong reasons, good times all around.
For the complete list and explanation of criteria and scoring, check out the Philly Fifty page
As you can tell from his picture, Collins was a very tough man to catch napping on the basepaths. 8th all-time in stolen bases, 665 behind ”Always Open” diamond-cutter king Rickey Henderson.
Yes, Mr. Collins cast a wary eye on pitchers, catchers and photographers. Brazenly turned his collar up when preparing to secure his next base, daring the opponent to stop him. Exhibiting a softer side, he graciously agreed to model what would eventually become Pirate Rennie Stennett’s Bicentennial cap.
“Cocky” Collins [141 OPS+], who in 12,037 career plate appearances walked 1,499 times (1/8.03 ratio) and whose highest season strikout total was 37, was a man for all seasons. Fittingly, he recently yelled across generations to a startled Jimmy Rollins [97 OPS+], “Choke up and do some real damage, ya peacock! You’re not in the Bay Area… not yet anyway!”
Around a year ago, maybe his name came up on the top 20 Phillies seasons ever, there was a guy, maybe Billy Hamilton, or somebody from that time (I don’t think it was actually Billy) who I recall having had a lot of problems after retirement. With booze, or some other drag em down type thing. Course that reminded of a helluva lot of old time players who played this game needing winter jobs to stay afloat. I don’t know anything about Eddie Collins post career, and education hardly guarantees personal stability, but I know this. Eddie either attended, or graduated from an Ivy League school, and his son, who wound up playing for the Phils for about 3 years also did same. So at first glance, Eddie was not only an excellent player, but appears to have been a pretty stable guy. Assuming there’s truth in that, and it’s an assumption, that’s a nice accomplishment on top of his on field heroics.