Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
If Belle had stuck around for 5 more mediocre years, would that really matter?
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Playing more if you suck doesn’t help much. Playing more at league average can help reach major milestones and usually isn’t held against guys. Hence most HOFers have a late career falloff but still produce and only have 1-2 negative years at the end before they have to retire or be dropped.
Belles career, in the context of the HOF, is factually brief. If one thinks that shouldn’t matter and the Hall should be a reward of peaks instead of total career, that’s their argument to make. If Belle had had a normal length career, he would probably be in or at least gotten a sizable amount of votes. 41st in JAWS for his position is not exactly stellar, he ranks pretty low in most all career metrics because he didn’t play much.