A Brief History of Bay Area MLB Second Basemen
An IBWAA member continues his position run-down of the best players at each position in the Bay Area
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Because the Giants and Athletics were in locations previous to their move to the Bay Area, some of the players with the most games at second base for both organizations never played in the Bay.
For the Giants, Larry Doyle won an MVP and a batting title in two tours with the New York Giants that totaled a .292/.359/.411 slash line over 1,622 games. The first eight seasons of Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch’s career were played for New York, with 622 of his 1,000 games with the Giants played at the keystone.
While Dick Green played the most games at second of any A’s player, Max Bishop played 1,181 games at second base for Philadelphia, and Hall of Famer Eddie Collins began and ended his career in Philly, slashing .337/.423/.437 and winning the 1914 MVP. He spent 996 of his 1,156 games with the A’s at second.
Leading Off
The Best MLB Second Basement to Suit Up in the Bay Area
By Rich Campbell
In the last few months in this space, we have looked at the best shortstops and third basemen to have played in the Bay Area. This month, we shift to a review of the best to ever play at the second base in Oakland and San Francisco.
The list below is based on the number of games played with the franchises. The WAR (Baseball Reference version) presented is the value accumulated by each player in their time in the A’s/Giants, not their career overall. Let’s get started:
Robby Thompson, Giants, 11 seasons, 1304 games, 33.8 WAR, 3.1 WAR per season
Thompson broke in with the Giants in 1986, finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting to St. Louis reliever Todd Worrell. Interestingly, he finished ahead of current/future teammates Kevin Mitchell (third), Will Clark (fifth) and Barry Bonds (sixth).
Thompson went on to play his entire career in San Francisco, making two All-Star game appearances in 1998 and 1993. His best season was the 1989 season when he accumulated 6.1 WAR while slashing .241/.321/.400 and leading the National League in triples and times hit by pitch.
Dick Green, A’s, 12 seasons, 1288 games, 16.1 WAR, 1.3 WAR per season
Green was a glove-first second baseman who played his whole career for the Athletics, starting in Kansas City in 1963 and concluding in Oakland in 1974. In that time, he was a member of three World Series champions (1972-74). He played at least a hundred games for the team in all but two seasons after his 1963 debut. Like the A’s second basemen below, he never won a Gold Glove nor made an All-Star team.
Mark Ellis, A’s, 9 seasons, 1,056 games, 26.8 WAR, 3.0 WAR per season
Ellis broke in with Oakland in 2002, finishing eighth in Rookie of the Year voting in what A’s fans (and Brad Pitt/Michael Lewis/Chris Pratt fans) know as the Moneyball season. He went on to man second base for the next decade, except in 2004, which he missed with a shoulder injury. Ellis was known for his workman-like consistency, both offensively and defensively.
He never made an All-Star team in his career but had three seasons of more than four WAR in Oakland. After being traded in 2011 to Colorado, he went on to also play for the Cardinals and Dodgers. In Los Angeles, he had a 3.1 WAR season at age 36, an impressive number. All told, he earned 33.5 WAR in his MLB career.
Tony Phillips, A’s, 9 seasons, 941 games, 15.7 WAR, 1.7 WAR per season
Phillips played all over the diamond in his long career, which began in Oakland. He played the majority of his Oakland games at second base in two stints with the club, from 1982-89 and in the last season of his career in 1999 as a 40-year-old. In between, he starred on the Tigers (1990-94) compiling 25.3 WAR in Detroit, and then was a utility player for the Angels, White Sox, Mets, and Blue Jays.
He is remembered by many A’s fans for recording the last out of the 1989 World Series sweep of the Giants, making a great play ranging to his left before flipping the ball to Dennis Eckersley to retire the speedy Brett Butler. He finished his career with 50.9 bWAR, yet had no All-Star appearances.
Jeff Kent, Giants, 6 seasons, 900 games, 31.6 WAR, 5.3 WAR per season
Kent has the highest peak of any player on this list, including an MVP season in San Francisco in 2000. In addition to his time in San Francisco, Kent played for the Mets, Indians, Astros, and Dodgers in his 17-year MLB career. His career bWAR of 55 points toward consideration for inclusion in the Hall of Fame.
Other career achievements include five All-Star appearances and four Silver Slugger awards (three each with San Francisco). Kent also hit more home runs than any second baseman in MLB history. His 354 long balls top Robinson Cano (335), Ryne Sandberg (275), Rogers Hornsby (272) and Joe Morgan (268).
Others Worth Mentioning: Though better known for playing on other MLB teams, an additional pair of noteworthy second basemen who played on both sides of the Bay were Joe Morgan (224 games in San Francisco and 116 in Oakland) and Ray Durham (734 games in San Francisco and 54 in Oakland). That knowledge may help readers in a future Immaculate Grid.
Jed Lowrie (7 seasons, 15.5 WAR) and Mike Gallegos (8 seasons, 9.4WAR) were long-time contributors in Oakland who are associated with great teams, Lowrie the 2012-14 team that had three straight playoff appearances and Gallego with the 1988-90 teams’ three straight trips to the World Series. Joe Panik (6 seasons, 6.8 WAR) paired with Brandon Crawford to form the double play combination for the 2014 Giants title team.
Rich Campbell is a Marketing Professor at Sonoma State University by day and A’s fan by night. He has previously been a sports business contributor at Forbes.com and his academic writing has appeared in Sport Marketing Quarterly. You can find him on Twitter @RichCampbelPhD.
Extra Innings
The Giants and Athletics each had strong players manning the keystone in 2023. Thairo Estrada over the past two years has stolen the second-most bases of any primary second baseman with 44 steals (Andres Gimenez had 50). Then, the A’s promoted 2021 second-round selection Zack Gelof to make his pro debut on July 14. After that point, Gelof hit 14 home runs and stole 14 bases in 69 games.