Joe Soriano
O.J. Lewis9/2011 Historical Player Profile: Al Gallagher
September 21st 2011 15:01
"Dirty" Al Gallagher spent four years in the Majors as a third baseman, and he was also a teacher. Although he was a subpar player, he did enjoy an okay season in 1971, when he hit five triples and had an OPS-plus of 104. His career OPS-plus was 91, which isn't such a good mark.
Gallagher was a poor defensive player who never had a positive dWAR in his career. In 1971, his 1.8 WAR was a career high, and that was the only year in which he was a league-average starter. The other three years in his career were spent in the doldrums, as he never attained a positive WAR total in any of those seasons.
So overall, "Dirty Al" probably hurt the Giants more than he helped them on the field. Don't let the counting stats in the field fool you, because he was far from slick in the infield. His bat was even worse, and his negative WPA mark is a testament to his poor play. Every single metric stat regards him as a below-average player, but it's always good to learn about people who have interesting nicknames. We've all heard of "Fat Albert", but who's ever heard of "Dirty Al" before?
An interesting thing to note is that he was on the 1970 Topps All-Rookie team, despite having a poor year. It must have been a down year for rookies in '70, but it is worth noting that his OPS-plus of 91 as a rookie mirrors his career total. If Gallagher did anything well, it was probably his ability to avoid the K. His walk rate is very close to his strikeout rate. Now, Gallagher was not an unlucky player by any means, because his career BABIP was a steady .292. Therefore, we can conclude that Gallagher was a poor player whose claim to fame is being on the Topps' All-Rookie Team.
Gallagher was a poor defensive player who never had a positive dWAR in his career. In 1971, his 1.8 WAR was a career high, and that was the only year in which he was a league-average starter. The other three years in his career were spent in the doldrums, as he never attained a positive WAR total in any of those seasons.
So overall, "Dirty Al" probably hurt the Giants more than he helped them on the field. Don't let the counting stats in the field fool you, because he was far from slick in the infield. His bat was even worse, and his negative WPA mark is a testament to his poor play. Every single metric stat regards him as a below-average player, but it's always good to learn about people who have interesting nicknames. We've all heard of "Fat Albert", but who's ever heard of "Dirty Al" before?
An interesting thing to note is that he was on the 1970 Topps All-Rookie team, despite having a poor year. It must have been a down year for rookies in '70, but it is worth noting that his OPS-plus of 91 as a rookie mirrors his career total. If Gallagher did anything well, it was probably his ability to avoid the K. His walk rate is very close to his strikeout rate. Now, Gallagher was not an unlucky player by any means, because his career BABIP was a steady .292. Therefore, we can conclude that Gallagher was a poor player whose claim to fame is being on the Topps' All-Rookie Team.
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