#9 WALLY JOYNER - 1B (1986-1991, 1999)
How good was Wally Joyner? Imagine his 1995 OPS+ of 118 on the alsoran Angels of that year, choking up the biggest division lead that has ever been furballed out? What a different franchise it would be had Wally been there to push us into the postseason.
But what might have been is only half the story. What WAS stands as great enough. In fact, I invented (it might already exist) a stat just now - Win Shares per Plate Appearance. It might have helped the countdown had I invented it three months ago, but oh well.
As Angels, Darin Erstad had .025 Win Shares per plate appearance as an Angel. Wally Joyner had .032 (Rod Carew had .028 and Don Baylor had .026 by comparison). So he was heads above those guys and carried the team in 1986 to the division title.
So Wally did it all and would have done it all. Read about him in our laudatory 2005 essay WALLY JOYNER ALL TIME ANGEL from our countdown that offseason where he was ranked an absurd #20 All Time. He is definitely Top Ten material.
0 recs | 10 comments
hey rev, just so you know
in the new top 100 angels on the left of the site you have erstad at 9, skipping number 10, just thought id give you the heads up
and joyner is now in his rightful place in angels history, the top 10
Sorbo182 - March 26, 2009
i am futzing with it now
you caught me in the middle of the upgrade and an html error, but thanks for the good eye!
Rev Halofan - March 26, 2009
i stand corrected
you must have been editing that as i was typing my comment, my bad
Sorbo182 - March 26, 2009
Wally World!
He is my favorite Halo. When I started following baseball mid/late 80’s – he was the man! He is one of the reasons I became an Angels fan…
gorams77 - March 26, 2009
same here
sweet swing. awesome summer.
HALO_86 - March 26, 2009
Fuckin a bro
The Halos were kickin ass, Master of Puppets was released, and I made out with a chick 3 years older than me playing spin the bottle at summer camp. Radical summer.
Higz - March 26, 2009
You had a better summer than me…
Rev Halofan - March 26, 2009
Nice work
hauldog - March 26, 2009
Unlike Wally, my production dropped off later in life
Higz - March 26, 2009
My Favorite Ever
I know it’s already been said but for anyone within the shadow of Disneyland in the mid 80’s Wally was the greatest. I met him this summer when he was hitting instructor for the Padres. He could not have been any nicer. It is refreshing when someone you admire lives up to your expectations. It was a sad sad day when the Angels let him go to the Royals.
BYU Angel - March 30, 2009
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