Hall of Fame Early Baseball Committee

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

I find it hard to argue for his inclusion in the HoF, although Ted Williams called him the "best hitter not in the Hall" and he had his almost certain HoF career truncated by the call to duty. But, this thread gives me another chance to bring him up.

Everybody on this forum knows 1941 saw Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games (get stopped and then hit in 16 more!) and Ted Williams go 6 for 8 on the last day to hit .406 for the season (only .002 below DiMaggio’s average during his 56-game streak!). But how many know who led the AL in hits that year?

It was Washington SS Cecil Travis, who was halfway to the HoF at the end of the 1941 season -- he had 1,370 career hits and a .327 average before what would have been his age-28 season. But duty beckoned and like many ball players he joined the armed forces that winter. Although he spent most of the war playing BB for military teams, he shipped out to the ETO in time for the Battle of the Bulge, during which he earned a Bronze Star and suffered frost bite so bad an operation was required to save his feet.

He eventually returned to the Senators while still only 31 years old (military service consumed his age-28, -29, -30, and -31 seasons), but the physical trauma suffered in Europe had robbed him of his ability to excel and his career quickly petered out. Despite hitting less than .250 in parts of three seasons before his retirement (following ‘Cecil Travis Night” in 1947 at Griffith Stadium with General Dwight Eisenhower in attendance), his career .314 batting average is still the best by a SS in AL history and third in MLB history (behind Honus Wagner (who else?) and Arky Vaughan).

So, while considering the possible candidates surfaced in this thread, most of whom have stronger career counting stats, remember to at least raise a glass to what might have been for Cecil Travis, who protected democracy instead of the 4-5 hole and discarded the second half of a HoF career in the process.

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Bravo! Couldn’t agree more.

[nat]

Not all 4.04 ERAs are created the same. Ferrell pitched in a very high-offense era. As noted upthread, his ERA was 16% better than league average (once you adjust for the parks he played in). The fancy way of saying this is that he had a 116 ERA+. Here are the hall of famers with a worse ERA relative to their leagues:

Jim Bunning
Steve Carlton
Fergie Jenkins
Phil Niekro
Eppa Rixey
Robin Roberts
Mickey Welch
Chief Bender
Waite Hoyt
Nolan Ryan
Jack Chesbro
Jessie Haines
Red Ruffing
Burleigh Grimes
Don Sutton
Pud Galvin
Early Wynn
Herb Pennock
Jack Morris
Catfish Hunter
Rube Marquard

He wouldn't be inner-circle or anything. And many of the hall of famers who were worse pitchers than he was pitched far more innings, which has value.
But he would be a decent pick; not out of place given the other guys in the hall. He was also a really good hitter. For his career he had a 280 batting average, 351 on base percentage, and 446 slugging percentage. His OPS was exactly league average (once you adjust for the parks he played in). A guy who pitches as well as Jim Bunning but is also a league average batter is really valuable.