RIP Bill Freehan
 

11-Time All-Star and 1968 World Series Champion Bill Freehan has passed away. Freehan was the American League's Premier Catcher from the mid 1960's through the early 1970's. He had long been battling dementia. Condolences to his family, teammates, and fans.

Another great one passes away. I don't know the answer, but is there any other player whose was an All-Star 11 times or more and they are not in the HOF.

I looked it up, so I'll answer my own question: The only others with more than 11 All-Star Selections and not in the HOF are : Rose, Bonds, AROD, McGwire and Manny Ramirez.

One of the premier catchers in the game when I was growing up. I started watching baseball in '68 and was rooting for the Tigers in the series against the Cards. Saw Lolich jump into his arms at the end of Game 7.

Nice article:

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/m...LdT6uGmp3SwYEE


Some quotes from the article...

Willie Horton:

"Bill Freehan was one of the greatest men I’ve ever played alongside, or had the pleasure of knowing," Horton said in a statement released by the Tigers. "I’ll always cherish our childhood memories together and our journey from sandlot baseball to Tiger Stadium. His entire major league career was committed to the Tigers and the city of Detroit, and he was one of the most respected and talented members of the organization through some difficult yet important times throughout the 1960s and '70s. You’d be hard-pressed to find another athlete that had a bigger impact on his community over the course of his life than Bill, who will be sorely missed in Detroit and beyond."


Mickey Lolich:

"He often kidded me about the famous picture of me jumping into his arms when we won the ’68 World Series," Lolich said Thursday. "He said, ‘it’s the most famous picture taken of me and you have my number up with your arms. Nobody knows who I am.’"

Rest in peace to one of the greats...

Impressive credentials, with everyone on the list above not in the Hall for obvious reasons.

Looking at the list of most career WAR by catchers...1-8 and 10-12 are in the Hall of Fame. #9, Joe Mauer, is commonly considered someone who will be inducted when eligible.

Mauer's WAR is 55.2, #12 is Buck Ewing's is 48.0.

Freehan is #16 at 44.8.

13, 14, and 15 are Wally Schang, Thurman Munson, and Gene Tenace.

Right behind him is Buster Posey at 44.3, who is considered someone likely to be enshrined. Yadier Molina is #21 at 41.8, and is considered another future inductee.

There are of course, several HOF catcher ranked below all of the above.

The Hall could do worse than Bill Feehan.

Even for a catcher, his counting stats just aren't enough to get him there IMO.

The raw counting numbers aren’t that impressive, for sure. That’s the big reason he still hasn’t been inducted.

I think a few things are behind that. One, he played in an era of reduced offense. His .262/.340/.412/.752 line is worth a 112 OPS+, which is pretty good for a catcher. And when a lot of your value comes from your defense, the offensive numbers may not be that great.

The last thing is that he played 14 seasons (and 4 games of a 15th). Most of the HOF catchers above him on the list had a bit longer careers.

That all said, he’s a borderline candidate for sure. But I’d put him and every other catcher above him on the BB-R WAR list for catchers in the hall and not think twice about it (plus Posey, who’s right behind him).