Golden Era Hall of Fame Ballot announced

[Exhibitman]

With Kaat there are certainly some 'if he is in then Kaat should be in' arguments to be made. I never thought of him as a HOFer but I never thought of Blyleven or Sutton as one either.

Hodges? I am for it because he was the 2nd most prolific slugger of the 1950s. Snider had 326 taters, Hodges 310; Snider had 1,031 RBIs, Hodges 1,001. And that was when 50 HRs was a Ruthian milestone. A decade as the #2 slugger in the game and the 69 Mets manager? I say HOFer.

Minoso has always been a favorite of mine. The racial context definitely helps his case in my mind. He was a Negro League star for three years then spent two years in AAA [really for no good reason other than the fact that clubs were not bringing up more than one black player a year and Doby and Paige were ahead of him at Cleveland], before being brought up at age 25 where he became an instant star for a decade. A good argument could be made that he was a NL star and then an MLB star for better than a decade. Plus a total character [Don Newcombe told me a great story about Minoso: There was only one restaurant near Vero Beach that would serve the black ballplayers, so all of them went there. Minoso was easily distracted and the game was to get him going and then slip food off his plate until it was gone. Newk said that Minoso got so mad one day that he spit all over his chicken and then challenged the other players to try and take it]. I'd certainly love to see him get in.

Tony "Wish They Could Have Scoped The Knee" Oliva I'd also vote for: three batting titles, five times leading the league in hits. Better to burn out than it is to rust...

[Econteachert205]

I'd like to see tiant for reasons purely selfish. Would like Luke Easter to get attention on the negro league side. My dad says Kaat should be in and I trust his opinion.

[Centauri]

before my time, but as I understand it Jim Kaat was the best shortstop to ever play the pitcher position. That's gotta be worth somethin.

[quinnsryche]

Had to look up Bob Howsam, never heard of him, so no. Not on the original posters list but I vote for Steve Garvey and Dave Parker, no one else.

[kkkkandp]

I think Allen and Oliva belong.

Kaat (as much as I'd like to see him in) and Minoso are close but no cigar.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Hodges? I am for it because he was the 2nd most prolific slugger of the 1950s. Snider had 326 taters, Hodges 310; Snider had 1,031 RBIs, Hodges 1,001. And that was when 50 HRs was a Ruthian milestone. A decade as the #2 slugger in the game and the 69 Mets manager? I say HOFer.

This falls into the "whoopdeedoo" category of stats. Yeah, he hit the most homers in the 50s. Why? Because Willie Mays missed 2 years to the military. Hodges just happened to his prime fall perfectly in line with the decade of the 50s. Does anybody really believe he was the best slugger of the 1950s? Of course not.

Hodges misses the cut, IMHO.

[Eric72]

Wills, Hodges, Allen.

Nuf ced.

Best,

Eric

[Peter_Spaeth]

Maury Wills stats. Nuf ced indeed.


JAWS Shortstop (46th), 39.5 career WAR/29.5 7yr-peak WAR/34.5 JAWS
Average HOF SS (out of 21) = 66.7 career WAR/42.8 7yr-peak WAR/54.7 JAWS

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Maury Wills stats. Nuf ced indeed.


JAWS Shortstop (46th), 39.5 career WAR/29.5 7yr-peak WAR/34.5 JAWS
Average HOF SS (out of 21) = 66.7 career WAR/42.8 7yr-peak WAR/54.7 JAWS

Peter,

It's not the, "Hall of Statistical Superiority". Maury Wills was a great player. Why shouldn't he make the cut?

Best regards,

Eric

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Peter,

It's not the, "Hall of Statistical Superiority". Maury Wills was a great player. Why shouldn't he make the cut?

Best regards,

Eric

Because he was eligible 15 times from 1978 to 1992 and nobody thought him worthy. He never garnered more than 40 percent of the vote. Most things in baseball come down to stats, you know. If you're a great player, you usually put up great numbers, and the opposite (the contrapositive? I forget my logic) is also true.

[ejharrington]

a

[earlywynnfan]

If any exec out there is going to get in, it should be Howsam. He built the Cardinals of the 60's and the Big Frickin' Red Machine!

Not to start a war, but how many chances do you Hodges fans want???

[Peter_Spaeth]

My reluctance to go back and admit old timers aside, the argument for Hodges, and it's not a bad one in my view, is that there was an overall lowering of standards since his eligibility. Is he really all that different from a Jim Rice, an Andre Dawson, a Tony Perez, an Orlando Cepeda? I don't like those types of arguments in general -- X got in so Y must too -- but it seems like more of an argument about overall standards than a particular guy.

[ejharrington]

I think the Baseball HOF gets it right compared to other Halls of Fame; it strikes the right balance between being too stringent and letting too many players in.

In my opinion, just looking at the numbers I would not vote for any of the listed players but, having said that, except for Kaat and Tiant at the tail end of their careers, I never saw any of them play.