Charlie Keller
| Birthdate | 9/12/1916 |
| Death Date | 5/23/1990 |
| Debut Year | 1939 |
| Year of Induction | |
| Teams | Tigers, Yankees |
| Position | Left Field |
Charlie Keller has a career 152 OPS+ that ranks 28th all time, ahead of Honus Wagner, Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, Mike Schmidt & Albert Pujols.
Leave a commentIn the collection:
Five-time All Star Charlie Keller had a fine career 13-year career
Five-time All Star Charlie Keller had a fine career 13-year career
Charlie Keller played from 1939 to 1952, hitting .286 with 189 home runs, an OPS+ of 152 and a good BB/K ratio. An All-Star five times, he has the 34th best OBP all time, as well as the 65th best slugging percentage, 41st best OPS, 28th best OPS+ and 41st best OWP.
Keller’s 152 OPS+ ranks 28th all time. All but six of the men ahead of him on the all time list are in the Hall of Fame. The others are Mike Trout, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Dick Allen, Manny Ramirez, and 19th-century stars Pete Browning and Dave Orr.
In 1943, Keller led the league in OPS. He led the league in BB in 1940 and 1943. Similarly, he also led the league in OPS+ in 1943 (seeing a trend here?). Shock, awe – he led the league in batting wins, adjusted batting runs, OWP, power speed number and AB/HR in 1943. So I guess you could say that was his best year.
None of the players most similar to him statistically are in the Hall of Fame. The players he is similar to are JD Drew, Kevin Mitchell, Al Rosen, Tommy Henrich, Gavvy Cravath, Wally Post, Bob Horner, Aubrey Huff, Jeff Heath and Gus Zernial.
The Baseball Page ranks him as the 24th best left fielder of all time. He was considered in 10 different Hall of Fame elections, receiving as much as 6.1% of the vote.
Many believe Keller deserves greater consideration by the Veterans Committee.
In the collection is this 8×10 photo of Cardinals great Stan Musial and Keller taken at the 1943 World Series. Keller’s Yankees bested Musial’s Cardinals four games to one.
Both men have signed the photo.
