Bill Monroe is a bit of a challenge, mostly because of his incredible reputation. He was hailed, again and again, as one of the greatest infielders of all time, and certainly as one of the very best of the early players outside of the Hall of Fame looking in.
The challenge is that the numbers, while clearly showing Monroe as an excellent ballplayer, fall a bit short of that level, leaving us with the question of how much weight to put on the scale, a question that may revolve around just how much consideration his stellar fielding reputation deserves.
Monroe was a good hitter, and occasionally an excellent one, with a lack of patience being outweighed by some decent power (mainly, of course, doubles and triples given the Deadball era). He struck out a lot for the era, further depressing his overall offensive impact.
We’ve added 1901 and 1902 seasons with an expectation that those were actually quite good for Monroe, who dipped slightly in 1904 and 1905, but essentially was a valuable offensive piece from his debut as a 21 year old until his early 30s. He fell off a cliff then, with his decline period hitting hard in the early 1910s.
Monroe was a spectacular fielder, both in the numbers and by reputation. He played SS on and off throughout his career, played primarily 3B for the first half before sliding over to 2B for the 2nd half. Some of that movement was due to his teammates–Candy Jim Taylor was at 3B when he was at 2B for the final few years for example–and some was due just to Monroe’s defensive skill and flexibility.
Monroe died of tuberculosis after the 1914 season. Given his overall decline, while he most likely would have played a few more years, they weren’t likely to be very impactful. As such, we’ve followed the historical record, ending his career after 1914.
I believe future revisions could nudge Monroe’s performance even higher. I don’t think he will be revised downwards, although it is possible that the years from 1910 on are deflated slightly.
| Name | Bill Monroe |
| ID / Status | monroe001bil / Draft |
| Pos | 2B |
| DOB / i9s Career | 03/16/1878 / 1899 - 1914 |
| Birthplace | Knoxville, TN (USA) |
| Height / Weight | 5'7" / 151 |
| B / T | R / R |
Batting Projections
| Year | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 1899 | 229 | 80 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 21 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 0.349 | 0.404 | 0.476 | 0.880 |
| 1900 | 183 | 61 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 0.333 | 0.387 | 0.372 | 0.759 |
| 1901 | 317 | 103 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 37 | 18 | 5 | 0.325 | 0.365 | 0.397 | 0.762 |
| 1902 | 409 | 122 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 33 | 39 | 21 | 6 | 0.298 | 0.351 | 0.374 | 0.725 |
| 1903 | 225 | 68 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 35 | 12 | 3 | 0.302 | 0.351 | 0.391 | 0.742 |
| 1904 | 402 | 99 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 31 | 49 | 27 | 5 | 0.246 | 0.300 | 0.316 | 0.616 |
| 1905 | 378 | 93 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 24 | 51 | 30 | 7 | 0.246 | 0.291 | 0.307 | 0.598 |
| 1906 | 504 | 155 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 40 | 60 | 44 | 7 | 0.308 | 0.358 | 0.379 | 0.737 |
| 1907 | 559 | 153 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 46 | 64 | 27 | 8 | 0.274 | 0.329 | 0.354 | 0.683 |
| 1908 | 527 | 148 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 66 | 38 | 6 | 0.281 | 0.318 | 0.353 | 0.671 |
| 1909 | 563 | 195 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 38 | 74 | 37 | 10 | 0.346 | 0.388 | 0.407 | 0.794 |
| 1910 | 301 | 63 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 42 | 26 | 4 | 0.209 | 0.263 | 0.246 | 0.509 |
| 1911 | 517 | 152 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 43 | 70 | 31 | 9 | 0.294 | 0.348 | 0.354 | 0.702 |
| 1912 | 493 | 99 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 43 | 74 | 21 | 7 | 0.201 | 0.265 | 0.268 | 0.533 |
| 1913 | 334 | 77 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 50 | 12 | 5 | 0.231 | 0.282 | 0.284 | 0.597 |
| 1914 | 320 | 73 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 26 | 55 | 11 | 4 | 0.228 | 0.286 | 0.288 | 0.574 |