Lee Smith & Harold Baines??

[packs]

I don't think anyone would say Lee Smith was better than Rollie Fingers or Dennis Eckersly, both of whom overlapped with his career. He was left out for a reason. Nothing has changed in the time between.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Closers only pitch one inning..usually only in the game half an inning..or only 3 outs worth

At least Baines got 4-5 at bats in a game.

I always felt closers besides elite elite like M. Rivera are guys that are one or 2 bad seasons away from being the 25th guy like Axford and the list goes on..

Being a DH is fine to be in the HOF as long as they let closers in ....any number 2 starting pitcher could of been a decent closer i believe..

[ramram]

The simple fact is that the Hall of Fame voters, or at least enough of them, had signed Harold Baines rookie cards in their collections.

Rob M

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think anyone would say Lee Smith was better than Rollie Fingers or Dennis Eckersly, both of whom overlapped with his career. He was left out for a reason. Nothing has changed in the time between.

Part of that reason was that he was unpopular with the sportswriters and did not have a dandy memorable thing like a handlebar Finger's handlebar mustache or Gossage's mutton chops or Hoffman's Hell's Bells.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I know W-L isn't that meaningful for a reliever, but Smith was 71-92, that has to be the worst percentage of any HOF pitcher, no?

[1952boyntoncollector]

I got this from SB Nation


Martinez won two batting titles, led the American League in on-base percentage thrice, doubles twice, and led once each in OPS, OPS+, runs scored and RBI. He was named a Silver Slugger as the best hitter at his position seven times.

Baines won a Silver Slugger once (1989), and led the AL in slugging percentage once (1984). That is the extent of the black ink on his Baseball-Reference page.

Baines was a compiler over a long period of time, which absolutely has value, to be productive over 22 years in the majors. His hit total is relatively high (2,866), good enough to rank 46th all-time. He has 619 more hits than Martinez, which is a lot.

But to put this in perspective, Baines reached base in his career by hit, walk, or hit by pitch 3,942 times, a big number. Martinez reached base 3,619 times, closing the hit gap quite a bit. While Baines did reach base 323 more times than Martinez, he did so in 2,418 more plate appearances. Martinez would have to go 1,513 plate appearances without reaching base to lower his OBP to Baines’ level; that’s nearly three full seasons’ worth.

For now at least, only one of those two is a Hall of Famer. Shocking, indeed.

[vintagewhitesox]

So proud of Harold. Richly deserved.

I do find it funny how some people are shocked/outraged that he made it.
More hits than Jeter, more RBI than Schmidt, Mantle, Speaker, Hornsby, Dimaggio, Matthews, Rice.

Consistent hitter, quiet, just did his job. The anti-White Sox bias is strong still in the national media.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by vintagewhitesox

So proud of Harold. Richly deserved.

I do find it funny how some people are shocked/outraged that he made it.
More hits than Jeter, more RBI than Schmidt, Mantle, Speaker, Hornsby, Dimaggio, Matthews, Rice.

Consistent hitter, quiet, just did his job. The anti-White Sox bias is strong still in the national media.

more hits than jeter????? not quite!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by vintagewhitesox

So proud of Harold. Richly deserved.

I do find it funny how some people are shocked/outraged that he made it.
More hits than Jeter, more RBI than Schmidt, Mantle, Speaker, Hornsby, Dimaggio, Matthews, Rice.

Consistent hitter, quiet, just did his job. The anti-White Sox bias is strong still in the national media.

That really isn't a good argument. Omar Vizquel had more hits than Gehrig. So what?
Sad Sam Jones and Jerry Reuss had more wins than Pedro.
Could do that sort of comparison forever.

The JAWS metric tries to give equal weight to career stats and peak period, and again, Baines is the 74th best RFer by that metric.

[riggs336]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

That really isn't a good argument. Omar Vizquel had more hits than Gehrig. So what?
Sad Sam Jones and Jerry Reuss had more wins than Pedro.
Could do that sort of comparison forever.

The JAWS metric tries to give equal weight to career stats and peak period, and again, Baines is the 74th best RFer by that metric.

They can put his plaque next to Freddie Lindstrom whose JAWS rating
is 74th among third basemen.

[Shoeless Moe]

Originally Posted by vintagewhitesox

So proud of Harold. Richly deserved.

I do find it funny how some people are shocked/outraged that he made it.
More hits than Jeter, more RBI than Schmidt, Mantle, Speaker, Hornsby, Dimaggio, Matthews, Rice.

Consistent hitter, quiet, just did his job. The anti-White Sox bias is strong still in the national media.

Cubs/Sox fan here, and never once did I think of him or Lee Smith as HOFers during their careers or when they ended. A HOFer is a no brainer, you don't need to think on it, they just are. Both were good players, but never great.

By your reasoning you'd have Frank Tanana and Jamie Moyer in over Sandy Koufax. Longevity doesn't mean you were great.

[vintagewhitesox]

Not OVER, but along with.
It's a museum, the more the merrier.

If RBI and HRs dont matter or are not good arguments, whats the point then?

Here's a video of Harold clinching the AL West in 1983. Winning Ugly indeed.

https://youtu.be/qp2XWfMOCLY