Maybe this experience is unique to me, but when I think back to teams and players I followed when I was a kid, I often wonder how good they were. I remember the big moments more, and in an age in which stats were presented so differently, the stats that are memorable aren’t always the best indicators of a guy’s performance.
So, with Derrek Lee throwing out the first pitch last night at Wrigley Field and singing the seventh inning stretch, I looked it up.
He was good.
Very good.
He was strong at the plate: He had a 131 wRC+ over his time in Chicago (context: not far off Kris Bryant’s current career number in the metric). He was always solid: His worst full-season wRC+ was a 111 in 2008. At his best, he was a force: 7.0 fWAR in 2005, something only two Cubs have beaten since (Bryant in 2016, Jake Arrieta in 2015, and then Yu Darvish was on pace to top it last year but…pandemic).
This isn’t to discount the significance of memories—they’re a big part of what makes this all fun. But in this case, it kind of validates the memories. Derrek Lee: Was good.
