Every year since 1991 you could assume first base was the most productive position on the diamond. That is no longer the case.

I have some bad news for Clu Haywood (of Major League fame), Jack Elliott (Mr. Baseball), Lou Collins (Little Big League), Stan Ross (Mr. 3000), George Bush (Yale ’48) and Lou Gehrig (the real Pride of the Yankees) and the 23 other Hall of Famers that made first base a position of glamour and power: first base stinks in the big leagues right now.

The two worst OPS+ for first basemen relative to league splits, at least as full records exist since 1973, have occurred in each of the past two years: 111 last year and 112 in 2018. And the early returns this year are that it’s getting worse. It’s down to 106. First basemen are off to a .222 start.

The last time any