STARGELL/ORTIZ COMPARISON

Subjective similarities:

Nicknames: Willie “Pops” Stargell

David “Papi” Ortiz

Both are wildly popular in their adopted hometowns. Stargell was the emotional leader of the Pittsburgh teams of the 70s, the most popular player that brought the city a long-awaited championship. Ortiz does the same thing in 2004 with the Red Sox. Both have been valued as the best “clutch” hitter of their generation.

Both are/were massive, lumbering lefties

Stargell: 6’2” 225 lbs.

Ortiz: 6’4” 230 lbs.

Ortiz came into the league at the age of 21 to a small market team. Stargell came into the league at 22.

Stargell’s best season came as a 31 year old in 1971:

.295/48/125/.398/.698

Ortiz’ best season to date (2005) is pretty comparable

.300/47/148/.397/.604

Stargell's year was a little better because he slugged .248 over the league average.
Papi was just .177 over the league in 2005...

Stargell didn’t have the benefit of the DH, and therefore was more susceptible to nagging injuries. He never played more than 145 games in a season. He also never had the benefit of playing with a dominant slugger like Manny Ramirez.

That said, barring injury, Ortiz will ultimately be remembered as the greater player. He has another 8 seasons or so to surpass Stargell’s statistics and he plays in the second biggest market in baseball.

On the other hand, in 1996, at the age of 28 (Ortiz is 29 now), Mo Vaughn went for .326/55/143/.420/.576, a significantly better season than Ortiz’s 2005 campaign. Mo was another giant lumbering lefty (6’1” ???) who flamed out at the age of 34, before he could reach important career milestones. Mo had hit 190 HRs by the age of 29. Papi hit 177…