Slightly OT - 2020 Modern Baseball Era HOF Ballot

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by ejharrington

He has a GREAT case. A five time All Star, a batting champion, an MVP, eleven Gold Gloves, and ist baseman for two different World Championship teams. A little known fact, but he also is the single season and all-time leader in Game Winning RBIs, which is no longer tracked.

Let's be brutally honest - Gold Glove defense at 1B doesn't mean a heckuva lot. It's BY FAR the easiest position on the diamond. Yes, Hernandez was probably the best ever but he doesn't lap the field in that regard.

So that leaves us 5-time All-Star, MVP, batting champion. That's a good career. It's not a HOF career. We're talking a guy who played a premium offensive position but delivered mediocre - at best - power. Of all players who've played at least 1000 games at 1B since the live ball era started, Hernandez ranks 79th in home runs. That puts him in the company of guys like Walt Dropo and Pete O'Brien. No, home runs aren't everything, but they are super-important. When you play a power position like 1B, and you're trying to make a case for the Hall, your career high in homers better be more than 18 during a juiced ball year.

With respect to advanced sabermetrics (i.e., JAWS, WAR), the only retired first baseman that ranks higher than him not in the HOF (other than PED users Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGuire) is Todd Helton and that is almost a dead heat. Of the 21 first basemen in the HOF, Hernandez ranks higher than Hank Greenberg, George Sisler, Harmon Killebrew, Jake Beckley, Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeda, Frank Chance. Jim Bottomley, and High Pockets Kelly.

Hernandez gets a lot of credit in WAR and the like because, well, most of his cohorts at 1B weren't that good. That era is littered with guys hitting .260 with 7 homers. And, even then, his top WAR is 7.6, the year he won the MVP. And that's well below normal MVP standards. Dave Winfield was far more deserving that year, to boot.

At the end of the day, at 1B, you gotta do one of two things - hit for a high average or hit with power. Hernandez didn't do either one (for his career). .296/13/83 every 162. That's just not great.

He has no case for the Hall.