O/T 2026 HOF Contemporary Ballot

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

I just read a quote from Don Baylor, who was a very smart baseball man, who won the MVP in 1979 based almost entirely on traditional stats. He thought his teammate Grich should have been considered for the award over him. Now in full hindsight, Brett or Fred Lynn probably should have won the award, but Baylor obviously saw something in Grich with his own eye test, that traditional statistics did not.

I also maintain baseball people back then weren't as ignorant about player value as we thought they were...even if they didn't have a handy statistic to pin it on.

I think the general public has become more informed of player value through statistics like WAR and defensive metrics, but inside baseball people always knew players like Mark Belanger, Brian Downing, Bobby Grich and other players like them, were very valuable to have on your team, even if the back of their baseball card didn't make them seem like a superstar.

Great points, and well taken.

When you consider players who may not have seemed like great stars, yet spent most/all of their careers with the same team, it's always cause to wonder why and look more deeply into it if the answer may not be readily apparent. You picked such a good example in Belanger. Then, I start thinking of Frankie Crosetti and wondering about him. A pretty decent player, but always among absolute greats. Clearly, he had a wonderful baseball IQ which served him for many decades to come. That must be a big part of his "why". My old friend Mel Harder isn't someone who you have to wonder about the reasons why. Bobby Richardson would be another.