Pie Traynor (last updated 3/23/98)

Pie Traynor was commonly thought by many to be the greatest 3B of all time before Mike Schmidt and George Brett came along. Today, "modern" analytical methods have debunked Traynor's contributions; he didn't draw very many walks and he didn't hit a lot of home runs, AND he played in a high-offense era, so he couldn't really have been *that* good.

I did an analysis of Pie Traynor's career, using the same method that I used in analyzing Bill Mazeroski's career. The methodology is described here; the raw data for Traynor, if you're interested, can be found here.

Traynor really doesn't stand out from the crowd at 3B; yes, he's got better numbers than the norm, but they ain't that great. I really thought he'd stand out, but there always seemed to be a couple of players each year who were as good or better (rarely the same ones, though). Because the definition of the sacrifice changed a number of times between 1922 and 1934, and some data (notable CS and GDP) is available at times and is unavailable at others, I can't really get a clear picture of how many more runs Traynor created at 3B over his career. My best estimate is that for his career he was about 15 runs per 154 games better than the composite 3B, and during his peak (1925-1930) he was 22 runs per 154 games better. Those numbers don't shout HOF at me - nor do his defensive numbers, which at best are about 10 runs per 154 games better than the norm.

So why was Traynor considered the best ever?? I'd suggest two reasons:

• Traynor was usually at or near the top of the 3Bs of his time in both offense and defense, especially during 1925-1930. Generally, 3Bs were either one (Fred Lindstrom) or the other (Willie Kamm, Ossie Bluege).
• No one contributed as much as Pie did as long as Pie did. Kamm, Bleuege, and Jimmy Dykes (who wasn't always a 3B) were the only players whose careers as regulars spanned Traynor's. It wasn't as though everyone was old when Traynor started and young when Traynor finished, either; there were young 3Bs coming up throughout Pie's career who had a decent year or two and then either moved to another position or faded after three or four years - Bernie Friberg, Lindstrom, Les Bell, Red Kress, Andy High, Sammy Hale.

I had originally thought that Traynor was responsible for the conversion of 3B from primarily a defender's position to primarily an offensive player's position. Actually, that's not so. 3B showed a trend of increasing offense over the second half of the '20s (as did the leagues in general), but by 1933 offense at the position was about where it had been when Traynor's career started. The transition actually seemed to begin around 1934 - when the new wave of young 3Bs with good sticks (Cecil Travis, Stan Hack, Pinky Higgins, Harlond Clift) took over.

After looking at the issue, it's my belief that the perception of Pie Traynor as one of the best 3B ever is a mistake of history. Very good, yes; consistently above average for a long time, yes; but not at the level of a Schmidt or Brett or Eddie Mathews.

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