Once again I've been inspired by a conversation on one of my local sports talk stations. There was a discussion about Bret Favre and where he would rank in the pantheon of Vikings greats and of Twin Cities sports greats. The discussion hinged on how significant the Vikings' success last year was. The argument ran that if the Vikings had won the Super Bowl last year then Favre would automatically rank in the top 5 Vikings of all time. As part of the argument, Jack Morris and his performance in 1991 was cited as evidence. One of the radio personalities asserted that Morris was on of the ten greatest Twins ever based almost entirely on his performance in game seven of the 1991 World Series.
The problem here is one of semantics.
Jack Morris was the key figure in one of the greatest single games in Twins' history.
Jack Morris is one of the ten greatest players to play for the Twins. (He would be in the top ten for most teams had he played for them.)
Jack Morris was not one of the ten greatest Twins in history.
Jack Morris was not one of the fifty greatest Twins.
There's a distinct difference between being one of the greatest to play for and one of the greatest X. Jack Morris was a Twin for one year. He was worth 4.1 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) that season. That total was third among Twins pitchers that season and forth on the team. Additionally, since Morris was only a Twin for one year, those 4.1 wins are all he can get credit for for his Twins career. To put this in perspective, there have been more than 100 seasons by Twins/Senators that have been more valuable. Even if we ignore those performances by players before the move to Minnesota there have been at least 27 pitchers in Twin's history who have had seasons that are more valuable than Morris's entire Twins career.
Jack was more valuable in 1991 than many pitchers and he was largely responsible for the victory in game seven. But one win, no matter how big isn't enough to vault Morris ahead of any number of other players.
Jack Morris was a great player. He had a very good season and a great game for the Twins. He did not have a great Twins career.
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