More Deserving of the HOF? Travis Jackson or Sherry Magee
 

I find myself wondering why some players are in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, when their stats or achievements wouldn't seem to be the reason. Is it because they have a cool name? Were popular among their peers and other players? There is one particular example involving a player who has never been enshrined, while others with must less accomplishments have. That is Sherry Magee. Why is Sherry Magee not in the HOF, but Travis Jackson is?

Sherry Magee broke into the Big Leagues in 1904 with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he played for for 11 seasons, until 1914. During his tenure with the Phillies, he won the NL Batting Title in 1910 and was the NL RBI Leader 3 times (1907, 1910, 1914). His most productive season came in 1910, when he led the League in batting (.310), RBI's (123), Runs (110), Total Bases (263), On-Base Percentage (.445), Slugging Average (.507) and OPS (.952), and finished second in Doubles (39) and Triples (17).


In 1914 Magee led the League in Hits (171), Doubles (39), RBIs (103), Extra Base Hits (65), Total Bases (277) and Slugging (.509). A year later, he was traded to the Boston Braves. He remained at Boston until the 1917 midseason, when he was sent to the Cincinnati Reds. In 1918, he led the league in RBI's (76) for the fourth time. In 1919, Magee was seriously ill for two months and he concluded his major league career by pinch-hitting twice during the 1919 World Series.

From 1905 through 1914, Magee finished in the National League Top 10 in Home Runs and RBI's (7) times, including leading the NL in RB'Is (4) times. Magee also hit over .300 (5) times, including a Batting Title to his credit as well, while also being known as one of the finest defensive outfielders of his day.

While today, he is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, he is on the Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame.

Magee finished his 16 year career with a .291 Batting Average, 2,169 Hits, 83 Home Runs, 1,176 RBI's, & 441 Stolen Bases, including 23 steals of home plate. He was a part of (1) World Series Champion: the 1919 Cincinnati Reds.

Travis Jackson broke into the Big Leagues in 1922 with the New York Giants, where he played for 15 years. His entire career. Jackson never led the League in any statistical hitting category during his 15 seasons. Jackson was considered one of the best shortstops of his era, and he led NL shortstops with a .970 Fielding Percentage in 1931. However, he missed considerable playing time in his career resulting from injuries and illnesses. Jackson re-injured his knee in 1925, missed significant time during the 1926 season and had surgery for appendicitis during the 1927 season. He missed time with mumps in 1930 and influenza in 1932, and he continued to battle knee problems, missing much of the 1932 and 1933 seasons. Jackson was said to "at 28, already have one foot in the minors". Despite this, Manager Bill Terry said that Jackson would "make or break" the 1933 season. Though Jackson fell behind Blondy Ryan on the team's depth chart during the season, he returned in the 1933 World Series, which the Giants won.

Jackson finished his 15 year career, with, like Magee, a .291 Batting Average, 1,768 Hits, 135 Home Runs, 929 RBI's, & 71 Stolen Bases. Jackson batted over .300 (6) times, including a career-high .339 in the 1930 season, and hit 21 Home Runs in 1929. He was on (4) NL Pennant-winning teams and (1) World Series Champion (1933).

In comparison, Sherry Magee played (1) more season than Travis Jackson, and had 401 more hits. Magee finished with 425 Doubles, versus 291 for Jackson. Magee had 166 Triples against 86 for Jackson. While Jackson did hit 52 more Home Runs, Magee finished with 247 more RBI's.

In 8,544 At Bats, Sherry Magee struck out 624 times. In 6,681 At Bats, Travis Jackson struck out 565 times.

Sherry Magee's career WAR is 59.4 versus 43.7 for Travis Jackson.

So why is Travis Jackson in the Hall of Fame when Sherry Magee not?

This is just one example. There are several other players in the Hall of Fame that did not have as good of a career as Sherry Magee. Magee's only real fault was his intensity that he played with. He once decked an umpire for a called 3rd Strike. If that is the reason he is not in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, then we have definitely allowed politics to infest the greatest sport on earth. But if it is not the reason, then what is the reason?

So if Travis Jackson was good enough to be in the Hall of Fame, then Sherry Magee was definitely worthy of the Hall of Fame. And he should be in.

I really need the value of my Sherry Magee cards to increase!

Magee also has
 

500 more total bases than Jackson does which is impressive since Magee was playing in the dead ball era. Still his HOF voting % from guys that saw him play was not good at all. Maybe the 59 WAR will get him looked at!

Neither one IMO.... Bill Dahlen would deserve a nod over both of these players....

Dahlen is another solid example. No disrepect, but look at Phil Rizzuto. He was a fantastic defensive player, but his career stats do not spell "Hall of Fame". He only played 13 seasons. And he played in an era where popularity and being on a 7x World Series New York Yankees team got him elected. The Veterans Committee had to put him in.

There are a lot more. Dave Bancroft. Magee & Dahlen's numbers are much better than Bancroft.

Sherry Magee is getting the shaft.

162 Game Career Averages.

Bill Dahlen

599 AB 105 Runs 163 Hits 27 Doubles 11 Triples 6 HR 82 RBI 36 SB .272 BA

Sherry Magee

578 AB 86 Runs 168 Hits 33 Doubles 13 Triples 6 HR 91 RBI 34 SB .291 BA

It's close. I guess it comes down to personal preference. Dahlen's WAR was 75.3, placing him tied with Sam Crawford all-time at #77. In any regard, both players belong in Cooperstown.

There are many players who were better than Jackson who are not in the hall. And the percentage of hall of famers who were worse than Jackson is pretty low. That Magee was better than Jackson is not a good argument that Magee deserves enshrinement, because Jackson was a mistake.

A better argument would be to look at the number of players who were better than Magee who are not in, and the percentage of players who were worse than Magee who are in. That will give you an idea about how he stands up to the standards that the hall has set for itself. (Standards that, to reiterate, Jackson does poorly against.)

Here are some players who are similar to Magee in offensive production, career length, and position (1B or corner outfield, ie, not a defense-first position): Will Clark, Jack Clark, Carlos Delgado, Reggie Smith. (Also Bill Terry, but Magee didn't post any .400 batting averages.) These guys were all really good ball players, but also pretty much the guys who you'd think of as pulling up "just short" of hall-standards. Smith was probably the best of them, but he's also the one that spent some time in center field.

As for why some guys get support whereas others don't, I recommend Bill James' book "The Politics of Glory". (The paperback version was retitled "Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame".) Hall of fame voting has been an irrational mess pretty much since the beginning, and the result is a class of hall of famers that doesn't really make much sense.

Magee was elected to the hall of merit in its year 1926 election back in 2004. Back then HOM was still relying a lot on win shares instead of more advanced stats. Magee sailed in pretty easily.

(Hall of merit at baseball think factory — attempted sabermetric approach to picking best all time players— some great discussions over the years—can still read most of them.). Most of the voters very knowledgeable. I still go back to the site to look at old discussions of various players when seeking info.

I don't believe the baseball hall of fame should be exclusive like Augusta National. I'd like to see them follow the basketball hall of fame model, where notables like Rudy T. get enshrined. Magee and Jackson are both worthy to me. It's a museum to learn about the history of the game, not a golf club. Rob

Well, if it's a "museum to learn about the history of the game, not a golf club", then why call it the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Why not just call it the National Baseball Museum?

Sometimes numbers mean something, and sometimes they do not. I’m not saying he deserves a Cooperstown plaque, but I’ve always it boggling that the player with the fourth highest all-time career batting average is not a Hall of Famer. Lefty O’Doul played 11 seasons and has a .349 career average.

He was unpopular with his team mates early in his career, and was suspended for punching an umpire.

I would suspect that had some sway with early HOF voting and by the time the huge push in the 60's and 70's came along for pre-war players, he was probably largely forgotten.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/303fac26

Magee vs. Jackson
 

Travis Jackson was a shortshop and that position has been more critical to team success than an outfielder. There aren't too many good hitting shortstops.
Jackson was also named in MVP voting 7 times in his career so he was highly regarded during his paying days.

Magee was a very fine player, too, of course. I think New York players get more attention from the media.

I have wanted Magee in for a long time. His numbers are very solid for his time. He was also a decent fielder (6 seasons in the top 10 fielding %).

I think he was an outsider though and rubbed people the wrong way.

Joshua

Jackson was one of the two or three best in his era, Magee too, both should be in.

Travis Jackson got into the Hall of Fame thanks to an assist from his former double play partner, Frankie Frisch, who somehow managed to gain control of the gate to Cooperstown for a number of years. Before the gate was closed, a whole bunch of old Giants (like Highpockets Kelly) and Cardinals (like Jesse Haines) were let in, permanently crashing the criteria for what establishes a Hall of Famer. To be fair, the 1945 Hall of Fame election was a serious joke, but Frisch was the king of lowering the Hall of Fame's standards.

With "Fame" in the name, it's not necessarily all based on ability.