Cy Morong looks at career WAR and MVP shares to come up with two lists of underrated and overrated players. It turns out that depending on how he looks at the data, Willie Mays or Wade Boggs may be the most underrated players. Looking at the two lists, I tend to favor Mays.

The most interesting thing about the lists is that they show a systematic bias. The underrated players tend to be skill infielders (2b, 3b, ss), and outfielders who did not hit a ton of home runs. Power hitting first basemen and outfielders dominate the overrated lists, although some catchers appear there as well. Over time, MVP voters overrated power and catching defense, while underrated OBP and infield defense. Mays fits the profile of an overrated player, while Boggs fits the profile on an underrated player.

I will note that Henry Aaron shares the first underrated list with Willie Mays. It’s possible that the two competing with each other split votes, so neither did as well as one would in isolation. Eddie Matthews probably contributed in this regard as well.

The antithesis of Mays appears to be Brooks Robinson, who makes the overrated list despite having the qualities of an underrated player. Brooks may be the most overrated player of all time!

I’m happy to see Willie Randolph, Graig Nettles, and Bobby Grich on the underrated list. While Randolph and Nettles probably don’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, both had careers that in my mind, should have kept them on the ballot more than one year. Grich not in the Hall is one of the great mis-votes of this age.