Old Time Family Baseball

I recently participated in the Baseball Bloggers Alliance Hall of Fame vote which recommended Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven for induction into the Hall of Fame. I’m usually a smaller Hall supporter, so I was shocked when I ended up selecting nine out of a possible ten players. As promised, here is who received my votes:

Roberto Alomar: From 1991 through 2001, Alomar hit .313/.389/.477 with 168 HR and 356 steals while playing above average defense at second base. Had Alomar retired before joining the Mets and watching his career completely flame out, there wouldn’t even be a question of his first ballot worthiness.

Jeff Bagwell: Whether it was steroids or just thirty pounds of meat a day, Jeff Bagwell was the premiere all-around first baseman of his day. While his shredded shoulder kept him from reaching the 500 HR plateau, Bagwell finished with a .297/.408/.540 line, good for an OPS+ of 149. Since a 150 OPS+ is at MVP level that means that an average Bagwell season was worthy of MVP consideration for his entire career. He played above average defense at first base and was an excellent base stealer until his legs abandoned him at the age of 31. 

Bert Blyleven: There has been plenty of discussion over Blyleven so I’ll just leave these numbers: 287 W, 3.31 ERA, 3,701 K, 60 SHO. To me, that says case closed.

Barry Larkin: Injuries kept Larkin’s counting stats down, but he still found a way to hit 198 HR and steal 379 bases at an 83% clip. Larkin played strong defense, pulled down 3 gold gloves, and he got on base consistently. There is nothing he did that was completely overwhelming, but he was an overwhelmingly complete player. (You see what I did there?) Larkin is one of the players I feel strongest about.

Edgar Martinez: What is the point of having the DH if writers will not allow them into the Hall? Either it’s a legitimate position or not. (Whether the DH should or should not exist is a discussion for another day.) Martinez is one of the greatest pure hitters to ever play and he has the golden ratio of .312/.418/.515 for his career. Despite not reaching the Major Leagues until the age of 27, he still piled up 309 HR and 2,247 hits. 

Fred McGriff: This is one that I waffle on quite a bit and I’m leaning towards not selecting him next season. While his 493 home runs are impressive, he fell well short of 3,000 hits and, according to Jay Jaffe, is just short of an average HOF first baseman. By two of Bill James HOF standards, he is just about average, but falls well shy in the Black and Gray ink categories. Think I should keep beating the McGriff drum? Post a comment and let me know. 

Tim Raines: Thanks to people like Jonah Keri, I’ve become a major Tim Raines convert. There was a time when I would have pegged him as a fringe HOFer, but if walks were valued as much as hits, Raines would be revered the way Tony Gwynn was and would already be in the Hall. Considering his 808 steals at a nearly 85% rate, with a decent amount of power, and you’ve got one hell of a leadoff hitter.

Alan Trammell: People don’t seem to consider Trammell an All-Time Great(TM), but that is a mistake that needs to be corrected. Trammell was a huge force behind the dominating mid-80s Tiger ballclubs and rightfully deserved the 1984 MVP. Had he won, would that have significantly altered his Hall of Fame status? Probably. Trammell was an above average offensive shortstop at a time when that was not a common type of player. The Hall seems to reward players who were remarkable in one or two categories and forget about guys who were all around solid performers, and can’t fathom how he little support he has thus far.

Larry Walker: Walker was another player I was extremely conflicted on and could see myself changing my mind on next year. It all comes down to how you value his years with the Rockies in an already heightened offensive environment. Walker had already proven to be an extremely good hitter before ever joining Colorado, posting a .981 OPS at the age of 27 and was in his peak years when he left for Coors Field. Once there he put up an absolutely astonishing line of .341/.425/.636, good for a 150 OPS+. While there is no question that those numbers would be lower outside of Coors Field, OPS+ attempts to strip away the advantages or disadvantages of a home ballpark. As such, I have no choice but to support Larry Walker’s HOF case.

And here are the Noteworthy No’s, the Players I did not vote for, but perhaps should be given a second look later:

Kevin Brown: There was an interesting graphic on Beyond the Box Score last week that showed that Kevin Brown was the quintessential median Hall of Fame pitcher. So perhaps I’m letting his last few, ugly years color my image of him. Or maybe I’m letting the steroid use cloud my vision of him. For his career he put up a 211-144 record with a 3.28 ERA and he has three (and likely four with Curt Schilling) Hall of Famers among his top comparables on his Baseball-Reference page. Still, I could not in good conscience include Brown on ballot, something that may change if he remains on for next season. 

Mark McGwire: The most emotional decision on the ballot and the face of the steroids discussion for the Hall of Fame. I was ten years old when Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run and I remember where I was when #62 cleared the left field fence the way some people remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. There is no doubt that this is an emotional decision for me as I took it almost personally when I realized that the summer of ‘97 was fraught with steroid usage. I’ve rationalized that McGwire’s 583 HR are not that impressive when coupled with his poor defense and career .263 average. But there is a part of me that knows that I’m not being fair in my treatment.

Rafael Palmeiro: On the other hand, I have no problem excluding Palmeiro. He was already going to be the weakest member of the 500 HR, 3,000 hit club thanks to his generous home ballparks and the elevated offense of the 90s, but when his steroid usage was revealed mere months after his appearance in front of Congress, it sealed his fate. Who knows, without steroids Palmeiro may still have put together a fine career, but until further information comes out, I feel safe in my decision.