Centerfield Blog

Cub fans don’t worry, this post is not a Andre Dawson bash fest. I am just getting tired of seeing above average players making it to the hall of fame!

Look at the list of the players that have been inducted in the past 5 years:

2010: Andre Dawson

2009: Rickey Henderson, Jim Rice

2008: Goose Gossage

2007: Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr.

2006: Bruce Sutter

Rickey Henderson, Tony Gwynn & Cal Ripken Jr are all deserving of the induction. Their careers were either record breaking or well above average for their era. But, why was Dawson, Rice, Gossage & Sutter inducted? I feel like all 3 were inducted because there was no sure fire HOF player to vote for (except Roberto Alomar, which I’ll discuss later).

Jim Rice played for 16 years and had a total of 382 HR’s, 1451 RBI’s, 58 SB, .298 AVE, 1 MVP, 2 Silver Sluggers, 8 All-Star games. He averaged (if you remove his 1st & last year) 27 HR’s & 100 RBI’s each season. While those numbers look good on average, lets look at a couple of other things:

.300 or better average: 7 of 16 years

.500 or better slugging average: 5/16 years

100 or more runs scored: 3/16 years (only averages 87 runs/year)

670 career walks…1423 career strikeouts…77 career intentional walks… doesn’t jump out to me as a feared hitter of his era!

Lets look at Andre Dawson. He played for 21 years had a total of 1373 Runs, 438 HR’s, 1591 RBI’s, 314 SB’s, .279 AVE, 1 MVP, 4 Silver Sluggers, 8 time all-star, 6 Gold Gloves. His accolades show that he was more than average at some point during his career. His averages (if you remove his 1st and last year) are 71 Runs, 22 HR’s, 82 RBI’s, 16 SB’s. These averages are well below what you’d consider a HOF career. Dawson is the case where his overall numbers during a 5-7 year span were phenomenal and it made his overall statistics look very above average. Let’s look at the key stats:

.300 or better average: 5/21 years

.500 or better slugging average: 5/21 years

.350 or better on base percentage: 3/21 years

100 or more runs scored: 2/21 years

389 CAREER base on balls… he had over 1500 Strikeouts, so he was almost at a 3/1 K/BB ratio… That does not translate into a feared hitter of his era either!

I don’t believe that a 5-7 year run should warrant HOF consideration. I think you should have to have more than 60% of your yearly play be HOF caliber to be elected into the HOF. Let’s look at a couple of players from the past couple of years that are what I consider sure fire HOF hitters:

Ken Griffey Jr. – While he is one of the better players to ever play the game, this is the type of player that should be inducted into the HOF. He has over his career 1656 Runs, 630 HR’s, 1829 RBI’s, 184 SB’s, .285 Ave, 1 MVP, 10 Gold Gloves, 7 Silver Sluggers, 13 time all-star. His yearly average is 78 Runs, 33 HR’s, 87 RBI’s… WOW these look similar to the players that are listed above, right? Well, lets dig a little deeper as we did with the others:

.300 or better average: 8/21 years

.500 or better slugging average: 13/21 years

.350 or better on base percentage: 18/21 years

100 or more runs scored: 6/21 years

1303 career base on balls…1762 career strikeouts…246 career intentional walks. This shows that he is walking almost at the same rate as he strikes out. He also has over 200 intentional walks, showing that he was a feared hitter of his era.

Let’s look at another guy that I think should be a HOFer, but some think he is on the bubble. Frank Thomas. Over his 19 year career he has totals of 1494 runs, 521 HR’s, 1704 RBI’s, .301 Ave, 2 MVP’s, 4 Silver Sluggers, 5 time all-star. His yearly averages (if you remove his 1st and last year like above) 84 Runs, 29 HR’s, 96 RBI’s. Again the averages look very similar to the above players. Let’s dig deeper:

.300 or better average: 10/19 years

.500 or better slugging average: 13/19 years

.350 or better on base average: 16/19 years

100 or more runs scored: 9/19 years

1667 career base on balls…1397 career strikeouts…168 intentional walks.

The above statistics show that Frank Thomas was dominant for an extended period of time during his career.

In my opinion these are the statistics that you need to take a look at, instead of looking at career numbers. If someone plays the game long enough and are above average players, they will accumulate HOF CAREER numbers. However, if you dig deep (I just touched the surface) you’ll find stats that will tell you about the player and how he was against the players of his era. I feel like the HOF should be for players that DOMINATE an era, not somone that dominates for 4-5 years during their long career. If this is the case Magglio Ordonez will be in the HOF… or Gary Sheffield because he’s stuck around soooo long that his career numbers are on par with other HOF players.

The next part of this equation is the people who are voting for the HOF. Why do the baseball writers have the power to control the fate of an induction into the HOF? There is nothing different between a baseball writer and a 15 yr old kid that watches baseball. In NO WAY should they be the only voters in this election. Should the fans vote? NO WAY! Look at what the fans do to the all-star game… NO THANKS! Who knows the honor better than the current HOF members? This is where you need to use their expertise on what you need to do to deserve induction into the halls of Cooperstown! Look at this past years voting… Roberto Alomar recieved 73% of the vote. That means there are 27% of baseball writers that are voting for the HOF that believe Robert Alomar isn’t HOF worthy, but Andre Dawson is??? Alomar averaged 22 HR’s, 70 RBI’s, 29 SB’s, 10 Gold Gloves, 4 Silver Sluggers… He did this as a SECOND BASEMEN! Dawson had almost similar yearly averages as what a lot of people to believe a POWER OFFENSIVE POSITION!