Let’s move on to Hall of Fame player number 2. Although Perez may have been a questionable Hall of Fame pick, he definitely had a solid 1975 season, despite being 33.

One of five players on the team with an OPS+ above 120 (George Foster would have made six, but just missed the cut with a 119), Tony Perez drove in 109 runs, second on the team. And he was only one short of team leader Johnny Bench. Tony may have been five years removed from what was probably his best season (1970), but he still put up solid numbers. Let’s take a look:

Runs – 74
Homeruns – 20
RBIs – 109
Average – .282
OBP – .350
Slg. – .466
OPS+ – 124
Runs Created – 83
Batting Runs Above Replacement – 37
Field Runs Above Replacement – 21
Equalized Average – .290
Wins Above Replacement Player – 6.4

Tony Perez wasn’t on top of his game, but he definitely had a nice season when compared to Tiger’s regular first basemen Dave Bergman. Even with Darrell Evans’ pathetic contribution at first base in 1984, it’s NO CONTESTO. Mr. Perez wins hands down.

Score Card – 1975 Reds 2, 1984 Tigers 0

Brian was nice enough to tell me we’re now a quarter way to our goal of raising enough money to buy Diamond Mind to put these two teams head to head. To learn how you can help, go here. Go there now!!!

You can read Brian’s analysis of Dave Bergman at Tigerblog.

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