Tag: Hall of Fame

Buehrle future HOFer?

With Mark Buehrle’s perfect game under his belt now, sportswriters aren’t wasting any time making their case for his eventual induction into the Hall of Fame.

Jon Paul Morosi makes his case.

Ten years down, he’s got 133 wins with a career 3.76 ERA.  But Buehrle does bring a lot more than stats.  He’s got a world championship in his pocket and he’s a consistent winner. The perfect game added on the no-hitter he already had looks real good.  Plus he’s played for one team for his whole career.  For some reason, that looks to the BBWAA. 

It’s too early to tell, of course, but I think if Buehrle stays the course and the Sox continue to get him the wins he needs, I don’t think he should have much trouble.  He’s only 31 years old.  Barring injury or scandal, he’s got plenty of time to boost the numbers he got. 

just how good could Albert be?

Offensively, Albert Pujols pretty much single-handedly won the game for the Cardinals today against the Indians.  They had some good pitching from Brad Thompson and their committee of relievers they trotted out there who kept Cleveland to just one run. 

But Pujols went 3 for 4 with a double and two homeruns.  That gives him 22 for the year.  If you take the trouble to pro-rate that out for 2009, he would have somewhere around 57 homeruns at this pace.  That would eclipse his current career record by eight. 

I was playing APBA baseball against my buddy Mike, who is a Cardinal fan while watching today’s game.  We talked a bit about Pujols’ future and even hypothetically wondered to ourselves, “still in his 20s, would Albert get in the Hall if he retired today?”

Putting aside the 10 year requirement, you really could have a case.  With 341 homers, 1304 rbis, 997 runs and a .334 batting average, those numbers put him up there.  His rbi numbers are already above the average HOFer though admittedly Evers, Maranville and company do adjust the curve a bit. 

But Pujols won’t retire and at age 29, he does have the potential to break some serious records. 

Food for thought.

Disclaimer:  don’t get the wrong idea… the author is a Cub fan

Does Little Poison belong in the Hall?

lwaner

Last weekend, I made the mistake of questioning whether Lloyd Waner should be in the Hall of Fame with a die-hard Pirate fan in the room.

THAT was met with silence, I can tell you.

Do a Google search on Hall of Fame and overrated and Lloyd Waner is all over the place. 

So here are a couple links to prove I’m not the only one. 

Baseball Think Factory’s Merit Discussion on Lloyd Waner

A more thoughtful critique on Lloyd Waner by What the Hall

uh-oh… now Dave Parker is talking in the third person

Dave Parker couldn’t hold it in when he found out he didn’t pass muster in this year’s Hall of Fame election. 

Part of his rant (my emphasis):

“What I represented to my teams also should be considered,” Parker said. “I was always the guy or one of the guys. It seems like none of that is taken into consideration.

“I think it’s gonna take a (public relations) campaign to really bring to the light that this guy was a heck of a player.”

Parker didn’t come close to the 75% vote in the 2009 ballot.  He garnered just 15% of the writer’s votes.


 

Was Dwight Evans HOF good?

Tonight, I ran across Baseball Hall Monitor’s latest post on Jim Rice.  They state:

Rice’s teammate on the Red Sox, Evans has more career HRs than Rice, more runs scored, a higher on-base percentage and nearly as many hits and RBI. Oh, and Evans won eight Gold Gloves to Rice’s zero. But you can’t vote for Evans anymore, since he was dropped from the ballot in 2000 for lack of support.

It’s a compelling argument and I don’t necessarily disagree.  Honestly, I didn’t know Evans’ stats compared that well.

My guess for Rice’s appeal is the intimidation factor.  Rice hit 35+ homeruns four times back when 35 homeruns really meant something.  He can also point to his mantle and right there is his MVP award from 1978.

Evans offensive stats were gathered over a longer period of time (20 seasons to Rice’s 16).  That doesn’t discount it in any way at all but it does mean for less impact per year.  Ironically, Evans’ most productive year came at the advanced age of 35 when he hit 34 homers and drove in 123 runs.

Was Evans HOF material?  It’s a moot point since we’re too late to vote him in now.  But considering that Evans’ and Rice’s OPS+ are within 1 point of each other plus add to that Evans’ defensive value, it would have been close.

On the other hand, comparing players for the Hall of Fame is a slippery slope.  If you start playing this game instead of holding players up to a certain standard (most likely standardized to their era), it could never end.  Then you could end up inducting players like Mark Grace and Greg Vaughn.

thoughts?

Upon Further Review Joe Deserves HOF Nod

Hall of Fame Gordon Baseball A while back I wrote a controversial piece, saying the Veteran’s Committee got it wrong, and Joe Gordon didn’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Well I’m not too big to admit it when I made a mistake, and boy, did I ever make one here! Here is why I changed my mind.

Nine of Gordon’s eleven years in the majors, he was an All Star. In 1942 he won the AL MVP Award over Triple Crown winner, Ted Williams. He was arguably the best secondbaseman of the forties. Known for his acrobatic defense, he led the AL in assists four times and in double plays three times. He was the first AL second baseman to hit 20 home runs in a season, doing so seven times, and holds the league mark for career HRs at second base (246), Joe held the single season mark until 2001. Gordon’s 25 home runs as a rookie set an AL record for second basemen which stood until 2006. All of these accomplishments were achieved with the heart of career yanked out, as he went off to fight a war for two years, when he was 29 & 30, in the prime of his career.

After the war Joe had his worst season with the Yankees before being shipped off to Cleveland, batting .210, with 11 HRs, & 47 RBIs, in only 112 games played. With the Indians Gordon rebounded to find his game, hitting 29 HRs & 93 RBIs in 1947. Then in 1948, teaming with DP partner Lou Boudreau, to make the Cleveland Indians World Series Champions, leading the team in HR’s (32) & RBIs (124).

One of the big reasons for my change of heart comes from the MLB Network. I got a chance to see some film of him playing the game, AMAZING! Congratulations to HOFer Joe Gordon, a deserving recognition that was long over due.

Thoughts on the Hall of Fame ballot results

The way it went today was no real surprise.  From all the possible permutations the ballot could have gone, there was probably only one other result that realistically could have happen and that was Henderson getting in by himself.  Fortunately for Rice, the BBWAA saw things his way. 

The Hall of Fame ballot results do provide an angle for the media.  Henderson, who gets in on his first try and Jim Rice who finally was deemed good enough on his last try. 

One prediction I made came true… Bloggers were out in force questioning the members of the BBWAA with some of their crazy voting.  That was a safe bet, though. 

In a way, I’m glad Henderson got in but didn’t get in unanimously.  It would be a shame if Rickey Henderson, who, let’s face it, prolonged his career to up his career numbers, got in with a unanimous ballot in his first year of eligibility while true superstars like Aaron and Ripken did not. 

And congrats to Jim Rice who certainly deserved to be voted in all along.  Rice suffered a love-hate (but mostly hate) relationship with the media while he was playing with Boston.  I would think most of that animosity had dissipated by the time he was up for Hall of Fame nomination but who knows. 

Read The Baseball Zealot’s HOF ’09 profiles of all the 2009 candidates for the Hall. 

Henderson, Rice make it into the Hall

It was announced today that Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Player 2009 Votes 2009 Percent
Rickey Henderson 511 94.8
Jim Rice 412 76.4
Andre Dawson 361 67.0
Bert Blyleven 338 62.7
Lee Smith 240 44.5
Jack Morris 237 44.0
Tommy John 171 31.7
Tim Raines 122 22.6
Mark McGwire 118 21.9
Alan Trammell 94 17.4
Dave Parker 81 15.0
Don Mattingly 64 11.9
Dale Murphy 62 11.5
Harold Baines 32 5.9
Mark Grace 22 4.1
David Cone 21 3.9
Matt Williams 7 1.3
Mo Vaughn 6 1.1
Jay Bell 2 0.4
Jesse Orosco 1 0.2
Ron Gant 0 0
Dan Plesac 0 0
Greg Vaughn 0 0

HOF ’09: Dale Murphy

“I’m a natural left-hander, but I bat and throw right-handed because that’s the way I learned. But, I eat left and drink left and write left. I’m amphibious.”

– Dale Murphy

 

First, how many of you remember Dale Murphy ending his career with the Colorado Rockies?  Not me. 

It can be argued that Murphy was a five-tool player.  He had speed (161 career stolen bases), power (398 homers), and was adept in the field (5 Gold Gloves).  While his career average is only .265, he managed to toy with .300 in his prime.  .

Murphy Facts
  • Drafted 1st round (5th overall) in 1974 by the Atlanta Braves
  • Played for Atl, Phi, Col (1976-1993)
  • 7 time All-Star
  • Back-to-back MVP awards in 1982-83
  • Won 5 straight Gold Gloves

 

Let me start with Murphy’s positives at the outset.  Between 1982-1987, he was one of the best if not THE best hitting outfielders in the game.  If he crunch the stats, he averaged 36 homers, 104 rbis, 110 runs and a .382 OBP over those six years.  On top of that, he played excellent defense, winning those Gold Gloves. 

dale_murphy1-full Murphy won back to back MVP awards in 1982 and 1983.  Ironically, it was in the next two years, 1984 and 1985 when he led the NL in homers with 36 and 37 respectively (His 36 homers in ’82 and ’83 placed him second).  Health and consistency had much to do with Murphy’s success in the mid-80s.   He played every game from 1982-1985 for the Atlanta Braves. 

After his great season in 1987 when he hit 44 homeruns and 105 rbis, something snapped in Dale Murphy and he wasn’t quite the same player.  The next three seasons, he suffered sub-.250 batting averages though he managed to hit 20+ dingers.  This prompted a trade from Atlanta to Philly where his offense continued to slip (.252 and 18 homeruns in 1991).  He finished his career in Colorado in 1993 after 18 seasons of service to the game. 

If I could base my decision on Murphy’s five or six years when he was at his peak, he’d be a shoo-in.  No doubt about it.  But that’s not how it works and I can’t ignore the rest of his career (I don’t want to hear any crap from anyone about Sandy Koufax either). 

CLuke, who is the Dale Murphy fan in our APBA league, sees things a bit differently.  I did offer CLuke a chance to write this profile but he’s a bit busy this week.  He did email this though:

If Jim Rice is in then Murph deserves it. (He won’t get in or even get as close to Rice’s votes due to the east coast media’s bias towards Boston/ New York players.In Bill James’ book What ever happened to the Hall of Fame- he puts Dale as having 42 of the necessary points for Hall of fame induction. Jim Rice has 43 points.

Yes, put him in.

Nice try, CLuke.  Next time, you’ll write the article. 

I’ll say it’s close but I’d vote no.

 

  Hall of Fame

Hall of Very Good
  Why is he even on the Ballot?

 

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.

Bringing Rickey down a notch

Corky Simpson, former writer for the Tucson Citizen and voting member of BBWAA is making news for his Hall of Fame ballot.  Who he voted for… and more importantly, who he didn’t vote for. 

Matt Williams is on his ballot.  So is Alan Trammell and Don Mattingly. 

…but no Rickey Henderson. 

And that’s got bloggers, baseball pundits and baseball fans in general up in arms. 

You can read Simpson’s full ballot and his reasoning at his current paper, the Green Valley News and Sun (which still gives him BBWAA voting rights). 

His picks:

  • Bert Blyleven
  • Andre Dawson
  • Tommy John
  • Don Mattingly
  • Tim Raines
  • Jim Rice
  • Alan Trammell
  • Matt Williams

I admit, his ballot selection seems a bit inconsistent.  He’s voted for Tim Raines but not Rickey Henderson. He’s voted for Matt Williams but not Mark McGwire (if you’re thinking not McGwire because of PEDs, keep in mind Williams was listed in the Mitchell report). 

I don’t agree at all with Simpson’s ballot but I’m not getting bent out of shape because of it.  On the other hand, if Rickey Henderson got into the Hall of Fame unanimously while players like Hank Aaron and Cal Ripken did not, now THAT would be something to write about.