Most Overrated Pre-War Player is...

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

So let's dial it up a notch...what is your worst possible hall of fame team? I'm sure I've missed a couple

of: Hooper

Don't agree at all that Hooper is one of the worst HOFers. Hooper was a star and mainstay of one of the first great dynasties of baseball.

I wrote the following a year ago in response to another post suggesting Hooper did not belong in the HOF:

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A few points about Hooper:

- He was a lead-off man with more pop than most,
- His job was to score runs - he scored 1429 of them (#79 all time), averaging 100 per season over his entire career,
- Top 100 all time in career base hits,
- #39 all time in triples, which means, in that era, both speed and power,
- Drew over 1000 walks, averaging 80 per season,
- Glove? Not even a question. One of the greatest. Key component of what many regard as the best outfield of all time,
- World Series? Unreal with both glove and bat. Won 4 World Series titles with Red Sox. The key player who was a constant in all 4 Red Sox championship years. First player ever to hit 2 home runs in a single WS game in 1915,
- Also stole 375 bases,
- The first and longest part of his career was played in the dead ball era with Boston. He hit .272 over this period. He went to Chicago roughly when the lively ball came into play and after that - in the twilight of his career - he hit .302...pretty good evidence of the effect of the lively ball on the stats of some players.

So I strongly disagree with the widely-held idea that Hooper does not belong.

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Cheers,
Blair

[FrankWakefield]

Mr. Schoendienst was a pretty solid baseball player, and baseball man. He played in a lot of ballgames, got a bunch of hits. He helped winning teams win. Would have been likely to have contributed more, but for some serious health matters. And then he coached. Then he managed. Then he coached some more. I figure he would rank among the top in major league ball games seen... as a player, coach, manager, and spectator.

Some folks here are aware I'm a Cardinal fan. Notwithstanding that, Mr. James' fine book about the Hall opened my eyes to what 'politics' did to the Hall. And Mr. Frisch had a hand in that... I still think Mr. Schoendienst is a sound choice. I didn't see Kell play, but I've talked with people who saw him, he deserves to be in. I've read what Traynor's contemporaries said, and I'm satisfied that he deserves to be in. Hooper should be in. Combs should be in. I do think that some players got in years ago that really lowered what I considered to be the standards for admission. Now that Puckett and Carter are in it really doesn't matter much any more... reminds me of that Queen song.