Today let's revisit my imagined 1960's "All-Decade" sub-set and move on to shortstop.
After trying to justify getting Jim Fregosi in there as the
American League shortstop of the decade, I decided that really, I need
to go with Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio.
For the National league I went with speed demon Maury Wills and his
baskets full of stolen bases and his 1962 M.V.P. award. Ernie Banks was
over at first base by 1961/62, so what would have been a given actually
isn't.
Anyway, let's take a look at the card I designed:
Aparicio had a fine decade in the 1960's, pacing the American
League in stolen bases with five crowns from 1960-1964, winning a World
Series with the Orioles in 1966, being named to five all-star teams, and
winning six Gold Gloves.
All in all I just feel he was a lot more solid overall than
Fregosi, who had a nice run of offensive seasons from the mid-60's to
1969.
Aparicio even had six years during the decade where he got some
M.V.P. attention, with a peak finish of ninth in that championship 1966
season at Baltimore.
For the National League, no one really dominated the position, so I went with another stolen base machine, Maury Wills.
It's not like it was a pity-pick though, as Wills really did have a
good decade, leading the lead in steals six straight years between
1960-65, with a high of 104 that took the baseball world by storm in
1962, leading to his Most Valuable Player Award.
He also finished in third for M.V.P. in 1965, when he stole 94
bases to go along with his 186 hits and 92 runs scored for Los Angeles.
During the decade Wills topped 170 hits seven times, with a high of
208 in 1962 (even though that total didn't get him a .300 batting
average because of his 695 at-bats in 165 games!).
Nevertheless, I think the shortstop duo of Aparicio and Wills stands up against any other shortstop combo.
What do you think?
Next up on this thread, we move over to third base, which was the easiest to pick so far…
Stay tuned.
