Worst Team of all HOFers

[Shoeless Moe]

Rat,

Thank you for putting Lee Smith.

Guy never won a WS, never won a Cy Young.

Pitched for 8 teams......how does a HOFer get released by 7 teams?????

Lifetime WL Record 71-92

Postseason ERA 8.44

and I'm a Cub fan and saw him many times, never thought for a second he was a HOFer. Wanted him out of town most of the time.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Shoeless Moe

Rat,

Thank you for putting Lee Smith.

Guy never won a WS, never won a Cy Young.

Pitched for 8 teams......how does a HOFer get released by 7 teams?????

Lifetime WL Record 71-92

Postseason ERA 8.44

and I'm a Cub fan and saw him many times, never thought for a second he was a HOFer. Wanted him out of town most of the time.

Smith is borderline HOF at best, but he was “released” once in his career...in Sept of his last season. And he played for 4 of those 7 teams after age 35 at the end of his career.

That being said, he’s below the average for a HOF reliever (only a few enshrined). He got elected based on holding the save record for a time. The HOF really hasn’t “figured out” relievers yet.

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Smith is borderline HOF at best, but he was “released” once in his career...in Sept of his last season. And he played for 4 of those 7 teams after age 35 at the end of his career.

That being said, he’s below the average for a HOF reliever (only a few enshrined). He got elected based on holding the save record for a time. The HOF really hasn’t “figured out” relievers yet.

Definitely true, Billy Wagner was way better than Lee Smith ever was and he's waiting.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Definitely true, Billy Wagner was way better than Lee Smith ever was and he's waiting.

Wagner is an interesting case. Only 903 career IP...but about 1 fewer career WAR than Smith, who threw 1289 innings.

Not that WAR is great for relievers...but still!

[riggs336]

Twenty-five years ago Bill James published a great book called The Politics of Glory (later reissued as What Ever Happened to the Hall of Fame?). The book is full of analysis of the HOF: who's in, who's not, who should and shouldn't be, etc.
Here's his list of the least qualified members. Remember it's from the mid-1990s.

C. Ray Schalk
1B. (tie) George Kelly and Frank Chance
2B. Johnny Evers
3B. Jimmy Collins
SS. Joe Tinker
LF. Chick Hafey
CF. Lloyd Waner
RF. Tommy McCarthy
SP. Jesse Haines
RP. There were only 2 in the Hall at the time so no pick

I don't agree with all of it, but it's a good list.

[JollyElm]

It's funny how Tinkers, Evers, and Chance are all on that list. I've always thought the 'only' reason they are in The Hall is because every baseball fan knows the saying, "Tinkers to Evers to Chance," so they each achieved more acclaim than they probably deserved?? (To be fair, I've never actually studied their stats.)

[riggs336]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

It's funny how Tinkers, Evers, and Chance are all on that list. I've always thought the 'only' reason they are in The Hall is because every baseball fan knows the saying, "Tinkers to Evers to Chance," so they each achieved more acclaim than they probably deserved?? (To be fair, I've never actually studied their stats.)

This 1910 poem by Franklin P. Adams is why that trio is in the Hall:

These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double-
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."