Baseball Hall of Fame-Classic Era Nominations
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I remember Bill James used to argue that Boyer was better than Brooks Robinson--that Boyer was a better hitter (career OPS+ of 116) than Robinson (career OPS+ of 105) and every bit as good of a defender.
From 1958 to 1964, Boyer averaged 6.4 bWAR per season and an OPS+ of 128. He is an 11x All Star (granted, four years of that was in the two AS game era), a 5x Gold Glove winner, and the 1964 MVP where he also led the Cardinals to the World Series. There are many worse players in the Hall of Fame than Ken Boyer.
From 1958 to 1964, Boyer averaged 6.4 bWAR per season and an OPS+ of 128. He is an 11x All Star (granted, four years of that was in the two AS game era), a 5x Gold Glove winner, and the 1964 MVP where he also led the Cardinals to the World Series. There are many worse players in the Hall of Fame than Ken Boyer.
The way they set these up, I think only two can go in of the eight. Dick Allen should be the first. I'm split on Tiant, Donaldson, and Harris as the other.
Donaldson was Satchel Paige of the pre-organized Negro League era. He played for hundreds of teams all across the country, barnstorming for years as the biggest draw on the circuit. Researchers have found 400+ wins and 5,000+ strikeouts in his career.
Vic Harris was a very good player and the best manager ever in black baseball. He'd have to be treated like Joe Torre was, where if you combine what he did on the field and in the dugout, you have a Hall of Famer.
Donaldson was Satchel Paige of the pre-organized Negro League era. He played for hundreds of teams all across the country, barnstorming for years as the biggest draw on the circuit. Researchers have found 400+ wins and 5,000+ strikeouts in his career.
Vic Harris was a very good player and the best manager ever in black baseball. He'd have to be treated like Joe Torre was, where if you combine what he did on the field and in the dugout, you have a Hall of Famer.
Parker was cool af, but I'm not sure that's a HOF resume
Hall of Fame Statistics
He's closer than I thought on some of them--his career isn't there based on WAR, but his 7 year peak isn't far off.
Hall of Fame Statistics
| Black Ink |
| Batting - 26 (90th), Average HOFer ≈ 27 |
| Gray Ink |
| Batting - 145 (125th), Average HOFer ≈ 144 |
| Hall of Fame Monitor |
| Batting - 125 (121st), Likely HOFer ≈ 100 |
| Hall of Fame Standards |
| Batting - 42 (146th), Average HOFer ≈ 50 |
| JAWS |
| Right Field (42nd): 40.1 career WAR | 37.4 7yr-peak WAR | 38.8 JAWS | 2.6 WAR/162 Average HOF RF (out of 28): 71.1 career WAR | 42.4 7yr-peak WAR | 56.7 JAWS | 5.1 WAR/162 |
He's closer than I thought on some of them--his career isn't there based on WAR, but his 7 year peak isn't far off.
100%. His 156 career OPS+ is tied with Frank Thomas for 25th all time. For reference, that's ahead of every hall of fame third baseman and is higher than Aaron, Mays and a ton of other legends.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/onbase_plus_slugging_plus_career.shtml
But he played only a little more than one third of his career games at third base, so is that a fair comparison. It is correct that his OPS+ is higher than Aaron and Mays, but they were both 155, so its not like a huge difference, and he played many fewer games, several seasons worth. As a result, he has less than half as many hits or HRs as Aaron, and only a bit more than half as many of both as Mays. He disappeared from the scene right when I started following baseball, so its hard for me to calibrate how much his let's say fiery personality harmed his career numbers. He certainly seemed to have attracted a lot of controversy, but its hard from a distance to know how much was his fault versus the reactionary, racist baseball press of the time, Philadelphia being a tough place, etc...
His career arc kind of reminds me Rice's. Dominant player in his 20's, fell out of the game pretty quickly in his 30s, partly because he was seen (maybe unfairly) as a bad teammate so nobody wanted him on a roster as the skills started to decline. Played in a northeastern town where fans didn't always appreciate minorities who were somehow perceived as not meeting expectations. Not exactly beloved by some teammates, but lauded by others. There are certainly much worse players in the Hall of Fame, but I guess I'd lean on him being out, as I guess I would on Rice too, even though I was always sympathetic to his case for Bosox reasons.
I have similar sympathies for Tiant, and I think the HoF standard for starting pitchers has been absurdly high (unlike that for, say, outfielders). If you don't have a Cy Young or two, its pretty hard to get in, which seems kind of crazy. That said, his career was pretty up and down and he's well short of some of the magic numbers (300 wins, 3000 Ks) that get you in even though he played into his 40s. Even in his glory days with the Red Sox, he had some mediocre seasons.
Boyer is the only one on this list (other than the Negro Leaguers, I don't know enough about them to have an opinion) that seems like he should probably be in. Third base has probably had an even more ridiculous bar to exceed than starting pitchers. He seems pretty comparable to Scott Rolen, except maybe an even better fielder.
Can't see a case at all for Garvey, Parker or John.
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You make some excellent points about Allen. I’m too young to have seen him play and am not super familiar with his career. Just looking at the counting stats, he’s more of a borderline case.
I like Dave Parker and he was maybe the best position player for a brief time. But if he’s a HOFer then Dustin Pedroia has an argument. Seems like too short a peak for Parker compared to most recent inductees.
Although I don’t mind a bigger Hall.
Dustin Pedroia does have an argument. Especially since his career was ended by an on-field play rather than a natural drop off a cliff. But I'm a peak over longevity guy when it comes to the Hall, so I'd put Dick Allen in over someone like Fred McGriff 10 times out of 10.
he’s not as good as Aaron or Mays, obviously. But the stat posted is illuminating nonetheless
There’s a running debate on longevity vs dominance and reasonable people can draw lines where they want. That said, Allen’s counting stats weren’t only affected by his relatively short career. His career also happened to span one of the most suppressed offensive eras in baseball history and that needs to be accounted for, as OPS+ does.
Posnanski wrote a fantastic article about some of the bullshit Allen had to deal with in Philadelphia. Calling it a "tough place" is an understatement. The poor guy had to wear a batting helmet when fielding because fans were throwing batteries at him for Christ sake. And he still managed to put up a 164 OPS+ in his first 9 years in Philly. Bill James said that Allen "did more to keep his teams from winning than anybody who ever played major league baseball" was a completely unfounded statement that haunted his HoF case for decades. I think Bill is a smart guy, but he was completely wrong about Allen. Dozens of teammates, managers, staffers, and other people who worked and played with him never had a bad thing to say about him.
I think the guy's a Hall of Famer and it's a travesty that he never got in while he was alive.