Clint Hartung Award

Clint Hartung Award

The Clint Hartung Award first appeared in the Bill James Historical Abstract (Bill James, Simon and Schuster, 2001) and was the sole creation of James himself. George William "Bill" James was named in Time magazine (2006) as one of the 100 most influential people in the world and his approach to baseball history and statistics can only be described as incredibly influential.

Clint Hartung played for the New York Giants from 1947 through 1952 and his name has now become associated with very promising rookies who have had less than distinguished careers. James "awarded" the most over hyped rookie of each decade with the Clint Hartung Award and his recipients appear below.

"What we now know as Moneyball and sabermetrics came from James, 56. He taught us, among other things, that individual ballparks have a profound effect on a ballplayer's production, that the largest variable determining how many runs a team will score is how many times the leadoff hitter gets on base, that much of what we perceive as pitching is actually defense." - Boston Red Sox Owner John Henry in Time Magazine (04/30/2006, Link)

Clint Hartung Award In Chronological Order / By Bill James
Decade	Player Name	Years Played
1870s	Steve King	DNP
1880s	Ebenezer "Ed" Beatin	1887 - 1891
1890s	Lou Sockalexis	1897 - 1899
1900s	Johnny Lush	1904 - 1910
1910s	Walter Barbare	1914 - 1922
1920s	Moe Solomon	1923 - 1923
1930s	Don Padgett	1937 - 1948
1940s	Clint Hartung	1947 - 1950
1950s	Billy Consolo	1953 - 1962
1960s	Mike Epstein	1966 - 1974
1970s	David Clyde	1973 - 1979
1980s	Shawn Abner	1987 - 1992
1980s	Brad Komminsk	1983 - 1991
1990s	Brien Taylor	DNP
2000s	Awarded Discontinued	- -
Decade	Player Name	Years Played
Clint Hartung Award

A description of the Clint Hartung Award appeared on page 283 of his Historical Baseball Abstract (2003 edition) and it also appears on our Clint Hartung page.

Baseball's Most Wanted (Floyd Connor, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2006) wrote the following very unflattering excerpt, "Perhaps the biggest bust in baseball history was Clint Hartung. Ballyhooed as the next Babe Ruth, Hartung had batted .567 and was 25-0 as a pitcher while playing for armed services teams during World War II. He showed promise as a rookie, batting .309 and compiling a 9-7 record as a pitcher with New York in 1947. The Giants couldn't decide if he should be a pitcher or play in the outfield. Soon it became apparent that he was a double threat: he couldn't pitch and he couldn't hit."

Do you agree with the choices made by Bill James? Disagree? Share your opinions with us about the Clint Hartung Award winners on Baseball Fever.

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