Sunday, January 04, 2004

#99 - C Luke Sewell

The biggest weakness in my ranking system is its inability to quantify defensive excellence. Defense is such a subjective measure that it's really impossible for one person to compare players defensively from different eras unless you were actually able to watch each of the players on this list. I've included Fielding Percentage and Range Factor in the calculations, but still it doesn't accurately portray the worth of player defensively.

So Luke Sewell is ranked #99 in my rankings. He was a very good defensive catcher in Cleveland for over a decade. He finished 9th in MVP voting in 1927. He did lead catchers in assists four years, and lasted 20 years at the catching position, quite an accomplishment. But he was not much of an offensive player; his career high in OPS+ was 92.

Later in his career, he managed, first as a player coach in 1939, and won the AL pennant with the St. Louis Browns in 1944. His brother, Hall of Famer Joe Sewell, will appear later on in the list.

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