I was researching some old Reds' players earlier today and came across Reggie. Don't get me wrong I watched Reggie play a lot of games and knew he was a good player and had a really nice career but he was even better than I remember.
Over his 17 year career, Sanders hit over 300 HRs , stole more than 300 bases, drove in nearly 1,000 runs, had over 1,600 hits and had a career OPS of .830 . Dude had a strong arm in the outfield, too.
He finished 4th in ROY voting in 1992 (.270/.356/.462) and 6th in NL MVP voting in 1995. In that '95 campaign, Sanders had 28 HRs , 99 RBI , 36 stolen bases and batted .306. His slash line: .360 /.397/.579 with an OPS+ of 155.
In that '95 season, Larkin won the NL MVP but look at Reggie's numbers side-by-side with Larkin's that season:
Even though he tailed off a bit in his latter years with the Reds, Reggie enjoyed a resurgence with SD, Arizona, SF , Pittburgh, and STL.
After hitting just 14 HRS in his last season with the Reds, Reggie smack 26 bombs the next season for the Padres and OPS'ed .904 .
Two seasons later, at age 33 , Reggie hit 33 HRS an drove in 90 for the D-Backs, while OPSing an impressive .886 . He followed that up with 23 and 85 with SF and then 31 and 87 with Pittsburgh at age 35 . His OPS that season was .913 . Reggie moved on to STL where he had seasons of 22 and 21 HRS , with the 21 long balls coming in just 93 games at age 37.
Like I said, I knew Reggie was a good ballplayer but I didn't realize at just what a high level he performed at even into his mid and late thirties. I do remember Reggie being pretty strikeout prone at times but when you put up the numbers that he did, you can live with the strikeouts. I remember watching a game at Riverfront in the nineties and seeing Reggie hit one of the hardest shots I've ever seen. He belted a line drive that left the park in no time flat. That was before there was talk of exit velocity but he hit that ball with some serious velo.
What do you folks recall about Sanders? Did you maybe under appreciate his career numbers like I did? The guy could flat rake. Heck, even in his last hooray, at almost 40 years old, he had 23 hits in just 24 games with an OPS of .905 .
This topic got me to thinking --- Are there any former Reds' players that , when you looked back on their careers, you were a bit surprised at just how good a numbers they put up over the course of their careers?
Who are some guys that were even better than you remember?
Btw, Reggie Sanders IS in the Reds' HOF, isn't he ???