One Man’s Hall of Fame Ballot

• One Comment
• Posted: January 9th, 2007
• Filed Under: Baseball, Personal

I haven’t talked about it too much here, but I’m a darn big baseball fan. And today at 2:00, this year’s Hall of Fame announcement will be made. I’ve done some writing about the Hall of Fame in the past at the Rule V Baseball Blog. The Hall is something I’m very passionate about. So, I wanted to quickly share who I think should be selected from this year’s ballot, but also add a few players who I have researched that should be in—but they are no longer eligible.

From this year’s ballot, the new faces:

• Cal Ripken: There’s “The Streak”. There’s the MVPs. There’s the 3,000 hits. There’s really no question here. Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus called him “the best candidate on the ballot since Henry Aaron” this past weekend.
• Tony Gwynn: Never hit below .309 in a full year. .338 career average. 3,000 hits. Again, there’s no doubt here.
• Mark McGwire: I’m not a police officer. We don’t have a positive drug test (though I’m not naive, and supposedly the government has damning documents). But MLB has allowed him to reach the ballot, so I feel it is the voters’ responsibility to vote on the merit of his candidacy. They did not allow this debate to happen with Joe Jackson and Pete Rose. MLB needs to take this matter into its own hands and not let Hall of Fame voting be as vague as the enigma that is the MVP award.

Among the new faces, it is worth mentioning that Harold Baines will become the new all time hit and run batted in leader among eligible non-Hall of Famers. Also, I believe that Bret Saberhagen was on a Hall of Fame track before injuries derailed him. He gutted it out, but it no doubt affected his performance. Still, he retired with an ERA+ of 126.

And now, the returning candidates that I believe should be in:

• Bert Blyleven: A poor man’s Nolan Ryan. Blyleven played on similarly poor teams but won 287 games. His 3.31 ERA, 3701 strikeouts (5th all time), and 60 shutouts (9th all time) show his dominance. Then there’s the fact that he is tenth all time in games started and thirteenth in innings pitched. Call me crazy, but I think longevity is a good thing. Longevity AND dominance? Rare.
• Tommy John: Speaking of longevity, Tommy John pitched 26 seasons and won 288 games (most of any player not in the Hall). There’s the surgery named after him. Does a player get credit for taking that type of chance and coming back when nobody had ever done it before? Think of the doors he opened. Then again, how much is that worth to voters? Think of the doors Buck O’Neil opened. It’s not like all Tommy John did is hang on, too. He posted a 3.34 ERA in his career, won 20 games three times, and hurled over 4700 innings.
• Rich Gossage: Did Bruce Sutter deserve induction last year? Yes. Did he deserve induction over Gossage? No. I did a modern reliever analysis a while back. In fact, Gossage isn’t the only one I’d put in over Sutter. Gossage had 310 saves when they meant something. He posted a 3.01 ERA and was a multi-inning closer. If Gossage was elected, he’d be the second best reliever in the Hall, behind Wilhelm.
• Lee Smith: Now that the new closer role has been created by Eckersley, Lee Smith was really the first pitcher to make a definitive career out of it. It’s not just the 478 saves (#1 until Trevor Hoffman recently passed him) that made Smith so great. It was his 3.03 ERA when the league was posting a 3.99 ERA (giving him an obscene ERA+ of 132).
• Andre Dawson, Jim Rice, and Alan Trammell: Why is it that with some generations, the players have to be some sort of absolute superhuman to get inducted? I group these players together because it seemed that while they were active, everyone just assumed we were looking at Hall of Famers. Now, years later, our minds have been altered by the bloated stats of the modern era players. Hall of Famers need to be rated against their peers. These three players clearly stood out. Does the ticket to the Hall of 1980s players have to be 3000 hits? Robin Yount had an OPS+ of 115. Paul Molitor’s was 122. These guys had no problem. Rice’s is 128. Dawson’s is 119. Trammell’s is 110, but compare that to 1980’s shortstops (the elite, Cal Ripken, was 112).

As an endnote for the returning candidates, some say that Jim Rice’s relationship with the media (or lack thereof) has hurt him. Well, that’s nothing compared to Albert Belle. Kirby Puckett and Sandy Koufax had short careers and got in the Hall. Albert Belle’s play was on the same level as them, but he has not shot—he was really that much of a jackass. It’s very interesting that nobody is rallying to his defense.

There are a few players out there who are no longer eligible for the Hall that really should be in. Here are mine:

• Ron Santo: Let’s not screw this up like we screwed up Buck O’Neil. Santo is getting older and has been plagued by health problems. I’ve written about Santo and other third basemen before. Get this man in the Hall. There’s no reason he is not there already.
• Dan Quisenberry: My pet case. We already screwed this up. Dan passed away from a brain aneurysm. You’ll notice that I like the ERA+ and OPS+ stats (the ratio of ERA and OPS to the league average). Pedro Martinez has the best ERA+ ever with 160. Lefty Grove is behind him with 148. Then, four players are tied for third at 146—Walter Johnson, Joe Wood, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Quiz. Quiz’s ERA, 2.76, is better than all Hall of Fame relievers as well as Gossage and Smith—except Wilhelm.
• Bill Freehan, Wally Schang, and Ted Simmons: Compared to other positions, there are not enough catchers in the Hall. I did some research a while back attempting to see what players should fill the gap and these were the three I came up with. Simmons is the all time hit leader among catchers and somehow is not enshrined. The Schang vs. Schalk arguments are numerous. Schang was a dominant offensive player for man World Series winners. Freehan was a defensive wizard that holds many records for his glovework. he was a consistent power hitter with a great eye to boot.
• Buck O’Neil: Better late than never.

Thoughts?