Reggie Smith

I usually hate the whole underrated/overrated conversation, because it rarely references who's doing the rating in the first place. Indeed, if a proponent for a particular player's underratedness is bringing up the guy to begin with, that has to mean at least that person thinks highly of them, right?

Today, however, Cardboard Gods' Josh Wilker -- giving his right brain a bit of a break in favor of his left -- sets forth an argument for Reggie Smith being the most underrated player of the 70s. I like it because rather than just dwell on how good Smith was -- a mistake most people in the underrated/overrated game usually make -- he analyzes the ways in which Smith was underrated:

My guess is that, unless you are a Cardinals fan, you may have been a little surprised by the card featured today, either not knowing or forgetting that Reggie Smith was ever on the Cardinals. In fact, he played well for them for more than two seasons (the only time he ever drove in 100 runs in a season was with the Cardinals). I guess my point is that recognized superstars don’t generally have forgotten stops in the middle of their careers.

There's more where that came from and, as this is one of Wilker's "nagging question" features, he invites you to suggest your own underrated 70s player as well.