Joe Morgan
Joe Morgan was one of the shorter modern baseball players, but he was the driving force behind the Big Red Machine because he did all of the little things very well.
Morgan debuted with the Houston Colt .45's in 1963, playing in only a few games over his first couple of seasons before the team became the Astros, and he became the starting second baseman. During that first full season, he led the league with 97 walks, which would become one of his trademarks, and came in #2 in the Rookie of the Year race.
He played with Houston through 1971, becoming a little better each year, and in his final 3 seasons with the Astros he stole at least 40 bases and drew at least 80 walks. The team did not feel like he was a powerful enough hitter, so he was traded to Cincinnati in a blockbuster deal that turned out much better for the Reds than for the Astros.
Immediately upon arriving in Cincinnati, Morgan became the best batter in baseball. He led the league in runs, walks, and on-base percentage in his first season there, and over his first 5 seasons with the Reds remained the best position player in baseball, scoring at least 100 runs, stealing at least 50 bases, and knocking in at least 110 runs in each of those seasons, while leading the league in on-base percentage in 4 of those seasons.
He received many MVP votes in those first 3 seasons, and finally broke through in 1975 and 1976, winning the award back-to-back when he raised his batting average over .320 for the first two times. The Reds also made the playoffs in 4 of those season, reaching 3 World Series, with Morgan playing well in all 3. In 1972, he walked 6 times and stole 2 bases in a 7-game loss to Oakland, and between 1975 and 1976, he walked a total of 15 times in 17 games as the Reds won back-to-back titles.
He was still the best player in the NL in 1977, marking 6 straight seasons at the top, but didn't even receive an MVP vote, probably because his numbers had dipped slightly from his dominant MVP seasons. After a couple more All-Star level seasons in Cincinnati, he left town as a free agent, and he spent the next 5 years going from Houston to San Francisco to Philadelphia to Oakland, making good contributions at all of those stops.
Morgan today stands at #11 in stolen bases, despite never leading the league in that category, and is #5 on the all-time walks list. He won two MVP awards, and probably should have won several more, and was also an important part of 2 World Series champions and two other World Series teams. He may not have been a big man, but he was a strong performer, and one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
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