Sunday, February 16, 2020
RIP Tony Fernandez
The 1980's were a bit of a baseball blackout for me as life got in the way of being a baseball fan. I was busy starting a career and a family and we did not have satellite TV or the internets that make it so much easier to watch games and track statistics and boxscores. So, I can't say Tony Fernandez made a huge impression on me. What baseball I did follow tended to focus on the Giants and the National League. Fernandez spent most of his career and most productive years with the Blue Jays, a team I still don't really know enough about.
Tony Fernandez maybe wasn't quite a great player and may not make the Hall of Fame, but he definitely should be in the Hall of Stars. He was a defensive wizard at SS. Most of his career fWAR value was accumulated on defense, but he was also a significant offensive contributor. His peak run was from 1985-1990 during which he averaged 4.4 fWAR per season. It's a bit difficult to pick out one peak offensive season but maybe it was 1987 when he slashed .322/.379/.426, 29 2B, 8 3B, 5 HR, 32 SB. He had two seasons in which he hit 41 doubles, 1988 and remarkably 1999 at the age of 37. He is still the Blue Jays all time leader in Games, Hits, Singles triples and bWAR. He won 4 consecutive Gold Gloves at SS from 1986-1989. He was traded several times in his career and played for 7 teams, but kept finding his way back to the Blue Jays for whom he played 4 separate times.
Tony Fernandez died last night at the too-young age of 57 in the Dominican Republic of complications of kidney failure and a massive stroke suffered approximately 2 weeks ago. RIP Tony Fernandez, a very good baseball player.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Nice post Doc. He was part of a huge trade along with Fred McGriff going to Padres for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar. That was quite a trade for the Blue Jay's. I remember him as the SS for the Indians when they lost a memorable world series to the Marlins. Wow 57 is way too young . RIP Tony Fernandez.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat like Barry Bonds, Fernández got better in his 30's, long after most players have peaked but played on.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping Buster's lag of the last 2 years are injury related and he'll come back in 2020, and perhaps Longo can contribute again with his rebound in 2019.
As for the other aging stars, perhaps a new regime and approach will salvage some value. Otherwise, PECOTA's dreary prediction for 68 wins and last place in the National League may be why FZ isn't throwing good money after bad with a loser on his hands. The Giants even sold Burch Smith to the A's yesterday -- is money an issue?
Will ticket and food prices come back to earth to get butts in the seats?
RIP Tony Fernández, you were a solid star for 17 years.
And thanks, Doc, for all you contribute, it's truly mind boggling!