An evidence based discussion about the players who've been overlooked for Cooperstown

[the 'stache]

Thank you, Raymond.

Jack Clark was a nice player. He provided solid offense throughout his career, and it seemed to me that he always came up with the clutch hit when his team needed it. But when I look at his career stats, he was in reality quite average with runners in scoring position, or in high leverage situations. Perhaps his reputation as a big time clutch hitter was overblown.

The thing that's really strange about Clark is his career walk rate, and its effect on his OBP. Between 1975 and 1986, he got on base at about a .360 clip. That's pretty good. When you add in his 20-25 home runs every season, he made a nice player. But he seemed to figure something out in 1984. He only had 203 at bats, but he walked 43 times. He hit .320 in that shortened season, and his OBP was .434, which was highly irregular for Clark. For the next two seasons, his OBP dipped back between .362 and .392. But then in 1987, he became an on base machine at age 31. He walked 90 times in 1982, but he had 659 plate appearances. Well, in 1987, seemingly out of nowhere, he walked 136 times. Not only did his walks spike, but so did his strikeouts (139 Ks, 95 prior career high), and his home runs jumped up to 35. He had a .459 OBP and a .597 SLG for a spectacular 1.055 OPS, and a 176 OPS +. He would move over to the American League, and the Yankees the next season. He still walked 113 times. The next two seasons, he went back to the NL and played with the Padres, where he again led the NL in walks each season, with 132 in 1989 and 104 in 115 games in 1990. He played two more years, both with Boston, before retiring. He had 96 walks the first season in 140 games, and 56 walks in 81 games his final season. He he ended up walking 1,262 times in his career.

I don't know much about Reggie Smith's defensive abilities. He spent his first 8 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, and won one Gold Glove there in 1968. He had a 3.4 dWAR in total in those 8 seasons, his best being a 2.1 1970. He has a 64.5 career WAR, made up almost entirely from offensive contribution. His dWAR for his career ended up at 2.6. I don't know all that much about him, just what he did while with the Dodgers for the most part. He had back to back top 5 MVP finishes in 1977 and 1978, his best season being in 1977 when he had a 1.003 OPS, and a 168 OPS + which led the National League. He also led the league with a .427 OBP.

He had a really nice career. 300 + home runs, 2,000 hits, and an .855 OPS. He led the AL in doubles in 1968 and 1971, with 37 and 33, respectively. Hard to imagine somebody leading the league with 33 doubles now, isn't it?

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Another wonderful job, Bill!

I am more sure that Minoso is a HOFer than Tiant, but, as you said, he deserves strong consideration.

While on that island, how about Tony Oliva...I think his injuries cost him any serious consideration, but he would also be close.

I also noticed a couple of names high on your Dwight Evans-related tables:

Reggie Smith and Jack Clark

While I am sure Clark is no candidate, how bad was Smith in the field?