William Frederick "Bad Bill" Dahlen

[Crash Course]

He played in the major leagues from 1891 to 1911.

[mainsr]

Man, these 19th century guys sure blew hot and cold...Three truly great seasons, four serious clunkers...Dahlen has a following, but what I can't get past is the parallel to George Davis. Dahlen played 2443 games, primarily at short, from 1891 to 1911. Davis played 2368, primarily at short, from 1890 to 1909. Davis had 379 RCAA, Dahlen 186. Davis' career park-adjusted OPS was 21% above average, Dahlen's was 10%. I gave Dahlen the nod, but I think I might want to take it back in a day.

[nyy26wc]

186 RCAA
3 excellent years of 41, 42, 50 RCAA in 1892, 1894, 1896 but not much otherwise

in my grey area
The fact that he had as many years in the top 10 for worst RCAA as he had in the best (2 each) makes him a no
Only 37th in the majors in RCAA during his time in the majors (only counted his time as a starter, 1891-1908, otherwise he would faired even worse) is also a negative

[KCBOOMER]

I've always felt that Dahlen has been seriously overlooked due to playing half his career in the 19th Century and the other half in the Dead Ball Era. Thumbs up to me.

[crazydiamond]

Had he retired after the 1906 season, I would have voted yes almost definitely. After that year, he has 222 RCAA. With the old format, I was pretty much voting everyone that had over 220 RCAA in. 186 puts him in a very grey area. I'll come back to this one.