What Makes A Player Most Valuable?

In his 2000 Season Summary, Dave Rosengard raised the issue of what makes a player valuable.  In response, Joe Balento offered his own opinion on how performance, and perhaps how the League MVP, should be determined.  I invited further responses and comments, and received several.  This page takes you through the whole schmear to date.  You can scroll through it all, or, if you prefer, jump around using the following menu:

1.  Dave Rosengard's Column (Excerpts)
2.  Joe Balento's Article
3.  Rich Inserro's Response (compiled statistics)
4.  Paul Spriggs' Response
5.  Derek Martinez's Response
6.  Ian Lebowitz's Response
7.  Bill Vernick's Response
8.  Additional statistics I have compiled in response to Derek's and Ian's observations
9.  Joe Balento's Follow-Up Article

1.  Dave Rosengard's Column (Excerpt)

"This year we had enough players each week so people seem dedicated. Balento led the league with most at-bats, hits, RBIs, and HRs but had 10 more losses than wins (17-27). Savell had the highest BA and OBA, was second in SLOB to Dan Schneider, and was third in hits, HRs, and RBIs, but was 4 games under .500 (12-16). Some other leading hitters had similar losing records (Kotik -5, D'Alessio -4, Martinez -4, Gerber -3, Schneider -3). I would think the guys with high RBI, HR, and BA would have a higher W-L record. I was talking to Larry about this and he believes this phenomenon may be due in part to the process of creating and attempting to balance out teams. Maybe we should discuss this at the Winter Meeting."

2.  Joe Balento's Article

"A New Look at Numbers -- by Jose Balento

"In 1998 a mathematician and baseball fan found a new way to measure a players performance on the field. His name is Michael Hoban. He wrote a book titled "Baseball's Complete Players" It's a book I recommend highly. He developed a way to put a players numbers in perceptive and see who really are the best ball players. He called it The HOBAN EFFECTIVENESS QUOTIENT!  The HEQ score. Mr. Hoban says that batting average is not the way to measure a player season.

"In 1980 George Brett hit .390 and won the M.V.P. and in the other league Mike Schmidt hit .286 and won the M.V.P. But who had the better season? Most people would say Brett but Hoban says is it's Schmidt and it's not even close. By using all those other numbers they put up Hoban came with the HEQ offensive scores of 547 for Brett and 624 for Schmidt. To find out more find and read this book!

"The formula for finding a player HEQ offensive score goes like this:

"1 point for a single- 2 points for a double - 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run.

"BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! IT'S ALSO:

"1 point for a run scored -- 1 for an RBI 1 for a stolen base and 1 haft a point for a walk.

"I am not to sure how he came up with these numbers but as you may have guessed I applied this formula to stats of the Softball for the Love of it League. With one change I gave a full point for a walk.

"And folks, here are the HEQ offensive scores for the players who had 100 or more plate appearances in our league in the year 2000:

Balento  268
Savell  203
Tovar  203
Vernick  167
Palma  162
Connor  148
Kotik  142
Hewes  135
Schmerler  108
Naranjo  105
Cohen  74
Rosengard  45

"A HEQ score of 300 means a player (in our league) had a Superstar Season. A HEQ score of 250 means a player has had season worthy of the Weinberg and or Balento Awards. A HEQ score of 200 means a player has had a very very good season indeed. A HEQ score of 150 means a player..... Well that depends on how a player has played. If a player has had like 50 ABs or so than he/she has had a good season. However, a player with over 100 ABs then his/her season was not so good. A HEQ score of 100 is an acceptable season for anyone. In fact it is this writers opinion that the HEQ score of 100 should be the standard require to win the Batting Title or any of the major awards (Weinberg, Balento and Davey). Mainly because a player has to play a lot to get better than 100! You see the more one plays the higher the score can be. That's the way it's designed.

"Anyway this is just a suggestion. If you're confused, you can get the book a speak of online at Barnes and Noble. If you can't get the book then I guess we have something to talk about when next I meet you!

"Yours Truly Jose L. Balento

"P.S. In my next correspondence I will make my picks for the Softball for the Love of It All Star Team!"

[Webmaster's Note: Jose has taken the time to articulate his opinion on how performance, and perhaps how the League MVP, should be determined.  What's your opinion?  I'd be happy to post any comments or thoughts you might have.]

3.  Rich Inserro's Response (compiled statistics)

"Lawrence,

"Geek that I am (and presuming Gerber would do this anyway), I adjusted everyone's HEQ to assume that they played a full 46 game season. For those with 10 or more games played, Gerber comes out on top with 376. If you include all players, Loarte has a whopping 598. But we all realize those stats we padded at the friendly confines of Dobbs Ferry.

"Feel free to quote me. Two sets of stats in the attached spreadsheet."

4.  Paul Spriggs' Response

"Larry,

"I think Jose has hit upon a barometer that is fair to all . . . if my vote counts.

"Yes to the proposed plan.

"(Plus if I had played a whole season I would have been in the 220 area.)"

5.  Derek Martinez's Response

"Larry - Please look over and Post on site

"Regarding Jose Balento's (HEQ) scoring system for league MVP, I believe that this system sounds good, but people who lead in games or plate appearances will always be on top of of this scoring system and I don't honestly think that the true MVP is shown this way. One key stat I think is a per at bat stat. Mark McGuire hits a homer every 12 at bats or so which I believe leads the league. So if he finishes a year with 300 plate appearances and has 25 homeruns and X Player finishes the year with 30 homers in 660 plate appearances, a pitcher would more than likely not want to pitch to which player?

"Thus, bringing another point 20 homeruns and 100 walks is better to me than 35 homeruns with 50 walks. But in your HEQ scoring sheet the player with the 35 homeruns would score higher.

"I'll give you and an example from SBFTLOI final stats.

"Balento - 16 HR - 166 AB = 1 HR every 10+ at bats.
"Loarte - 12 HR - 48 AB = 1 HR every 4 at bats.

"This is not a brother favoring another point of view and this is not to take anything away from Balento because I know from experience when he bats and I pitch, I personally have two choices:

"1. Walk him.
"2. Let him hit a homerun.

"At least in Dobbs Ferry I take my chances and walk him. So sorry Joe, but when I pitch in Dobbs Ferry, you probably have a lower HR chance.

"In final, I believe we should have some sort of system to see stats per plate appearance or per game. In the NBA all stats are measured per game. We never hear how many points, rebounds, assists or steals a person has totaled in the year, rather his stats per game."

6.  Ian Lebowitz's Response

"Larry,

"It's an interesting formula; but I think the plate appearances should be 70 or 80 to get more people into the running.  I think wins ought to be a factor somehow.  Vernick and Tovar had a huge amount of wins for the teams they played on compared to others; I find that to be interesting.  I consider the all-around player who can throw, play strong defense, be a leader on the field, and run as well as the offense stats to be the MVP.

"- (ready to play), Ian"

7.  Bill Vernick's Response

"Jose, I agree with your "HEQ" summary. I think it's a good way to tell if a player has made the contributions necessary to win the coveted MVP Award. Also, I think anything that has me coming in 4th is great, because that's as close as I would ever get to MVP.

"However, I would like to factor in a few more things.

"According to this new system, it seems that most of our excellent pitching would not be taken into account. So I think we need a seperate HEQ for pitchers.

"I also think that helping a team win is an important part of MVP (hence the "valuable"). So shouldn't we closely examine our won-loss records and factor that in? (heh-heh, maybe that would push me all the way up to 3rd).

"In addition, there are a number of things people contribute that must also be taken into account, as they make SBFLOI what it is (whatever it is):

"Not Fouling The Ball Off Endlessly Anymore (After 18 Years of Annoying Fouling the Ball Off): 100 points

"Not complaining about neckstrain after watching hundreds of homerun balls fly over your head when pitching in Dobbs Ferry:  150 points

"Providing excellent lunchmeat and other tasty appetizers for the year-end meeting:  500 points

"Providing spicy accounts of last night's dates including intimate physical details:  200 points

"Wearing a cardigan and khakis, biking 28 rough city miles and then pitching a great game:  150 points

"Being Bobby Naranjo:  250 points

"Being Linda Naranjo (also known as "being married to Bobby Naranjo, staying wonderfully cheerful and sweet AND keeping score for our utterly motly crew!):  700 points"

8.  Additional statistics I have compiled in response to Derek's and Ian's observations

Derek's preference to consider performance per at bat, and Ian's preference to consider different at bat thresholds, led me to compile the following chart, which I offer without comment for whatever you may choose to make of it: