Hall of Fame 2010: Tim Raines

From now until the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is announced, The Hall is going to be breaking down each candidate. Some write ups will be lengthy...some will be the opposite. Some will be brand new pieces...some will be re-hashes of previous pieces.

I always kinda thought that Tim Raines was one of the best out there. Along with Rickey Henderson, there were really only two guys you would want to lead off for you.

That being said…I am handing the reigns (terrible pun intended) of this case over to good friend of The Hall Jason as he recently threw out a very positive critique of “Rock” over at his site.

Here goes:

The Case for Raines
Raines is currently 5th all-time with 808 stolen bases and first in stealing percentage (84.7%) among those with more than 300 attempts. He won 2 World Championships (in 1996 and 1998) and made seven All-Star Appearances. He scored 100 runs six times, stole 70 bases seven seasons in a row and hit .300 six times.

The Case Against Raines
Raines was essentially a part-time player from 1996 onward, and really started fading in 1993. It is hard to see how he got to 2605 hits without a 200 hit season. His speed faded fast and his hitting did not appear to have recovered from the missing speed.

Analysis
That career steal number really stands out to me. I consider the fact that he finished his career fifth all time in such a major statistic to be extremely impressive. All four players who finished in front of him are all in the Hall of Fame.

Raines’ role was always to be a table-setter, and it shows in his fairly low career slugging percentage. It really concerns me that he dropped off so precipitously after the 1993 season.

After 1993, he never played more than 133 games or stole more than 21 bases, and only had one season with at least 500 at bats. That encompasses a period of almost ten seasons, nearly half of his career.

So what do the season-to-season numbers tell us? From 1981-1987 he was an extremely dominant player.

During that time he:
- stole 70 bases or more each season
- led the league in steals four times
- hit .300 or better five times
- scored 100 runs four times (led the league twice)
- had an OPS+ of 129 or better six times
- posted an on-base percentage of .390 or better six times
- went to all seven All-Star games

Simply put, he was one of the most dominant lead off hitters during this period. I am really torn on whether or not he deserves induction. The fact that his career seems to have tailed off so fast worries me. However, the fact that he was able to embrace these roles, and still provide some solid production leads me to believe that he is a Hall of Famer.

MY VOTE: YES

Short, simple and to the point. You can read more from Jason over at Jason’s Baseball Blog or follow him on Twitter at @jasonsbaseball.

Hall of Fame 2010: Dave Parker

From now until the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is announced, The Hall is going to be breaking down each candidate. Some write ups will be lengthy...some will be the opposite. Some will be brand new pieces...some will be re-hashes of previous pieces.

If there was a “Badass Hall of Fame”, Dave Parker would have made it in long ago.

First ballot.

His toothy grin would surely be up on that stage praising Willie Stargell and condemning Marge Schott. Sitting behind him in whatever the “Badass Hall of Fame” requires inductees to wear (I imagine a blazer and a fedora…perhaps accented with a cane) would be such luminaries as Dick Allen and Albert Belle.

No doubt, Parker would bring up that collision with John Stearns during his MVP season of 1978 that broke his jaw and cheekbone. Surely, he’d talk about his return two weeks later when he stepped into the plate wearing a goalie-style mask.

Perhaps he’d mention whether or not that kept him from sneaking smokes in the dugout. Maybe we'd even hear about the battles he had with his weight and the Pittsburgh drug trial of 1985.

Parker was a rebel…nothing like his predecessor in rightfield for the Pirates Roberto Clemente. “The Cobra” played mean and looked meaner.

Early in his career, he could go toe to toe with Stargell when it came to knocking the ball out of the park, he had the hitting prowess to match former teammates Al Oliver and Bill Madlock at the plate and at 6’5” he was surprisingly nimble.

Add to that his cannon for an arm, three Gold Gloves and Parker possessed many of the tools it takes to be a Hall of Famer…”Badass” or otherwise.

As it stands, there are only seven Hall eligible players with more hits that Parker’s 2712…and three of them (Harold Baines, Andre Dawson and Roberto Alomar) are on this year’s ballot. A seven-time All-Star, Parker hit 339 home runs and knocked in 1493 runs. Only Baines, Dawson and fellow member of this year’s ballot Fred McGriff have more and are Hall eligible.

Unfortunately, this is Parker’s 14th time that he’s appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot and never has he even approached a third of the votes needed for induction.

So, until that “Badass Hall of Fame” gets built…we’ll have to just wonder what the career .290 hitter would have had in store for us when he gave his speech.

Hall of Fame 2010: Dale Murphy

From now until the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is announced, The Hall is going to be breaking down each candidate. Some write ups will be lengthy...some will be the opposite. Some will be brand new pieces...some will be re-hashes of previous pieces.

It’s hard to remember how dominant Dale Murphy was when he hit his peak in the mid-80s. Consider this…when he retired, his 398 home runs ranked 19th all-time. Now…he sits at 48.

After winning his back-to-back MVP awards in 1982 and 1983, Murphy appeared to be on his way to Cooperstown.

Now…not so much.

Earlier this year, good friend of The Hall, Josh Bennett, stopped by to sing the praises of Murphy…here goes.

I have an unfortunate addiction to fixating on anything that comes across the TV with a scoreboard.

Golf, tennis (preferably women’s, for obvious reasons), badminton…doesn’t matter. Hell, if I come across MTV and the “Real World/Road Rules Challenge” is on…I want to know who wins in the gauntlet.

This past weekend, I stumbled upon the Under Armor All-America High School Football Game.

I started seeing listings for this guy rated THIS by that service and this guy rated THAT by this service…blah, blah, blah. What intrigued me the most was seeing several players with a position listed as “ATH”.

It stands for “ATHLETE”, which apparently means the individual is far too talented to be listed at just one position.

As I watched several 18 and 19 year-old boys do sack dances and stand over the Blue Chip QB they just hammered, I reminisced about an “ATH” I loved during my youth. He was drafted in the first round by an MLB team and gravitated to become the face of the franchise.

He was drafted as a CATCHER (I know…“ATHLETE” and “CATCHER” in the same paragraph, but give me a second here), but was far too talented to ruin his knees and wreck his offense worrying about how to handle a pitching staff.

Though you may have a recent retiree in mind, don’t even think about saying Craig Biggio…"The Murph” was a catcher with entirely too much offensive talent, a cannon arm and a gait like a gazelle to spend his time rotting away behind the plate.

When the Atlanta Braves made Dale Bryan Murphy the fifth overall pick in the 1974 draft, they knew they were choosing a 6’5” 215-pounder out of Portland, Oregon (when do you get to play baseball in Portland…between downpours?) with an unlimited supply of power from the right side of the plate. Only problem…he’s a catcher and the DH rule wasn’t available to the Senior Circuit.

Besides, Murphy was too good to be DH material anyhow.

After spending his call-up in 1976 and 1977 as a backstop, the Braves had a brainstorm. They needed to move this catcher, with tons of offensive potential, a rocket arm and athleticism for days, to a position that was better suited to his tools…first base!

Now a more accurate reason for Murphy’s switch from first to the outfield in spring training 1980 is Bob Horner, the Braves 1978 first rounder (number one overall pick), needing somewhere to play when he wasn’t fighting off groundballs like a hockey goalie at the hot corner or injured.

Again, I am arguing it was because of Murphy’s athleticism…not too hard though. Murphy’s FIVE Gold Gloves (playing mostly centerfield) wins that debate for me.

So let’s get to it, Dale Murphy should be a Hall of Famer.

He destroyed National League pitching in the 80’s. On top of the five, 24K Rawlings, he was a seven time All-Star and was 30-30 in 1983…year two of back-to-back MVP seasons. He very easily could have won two more…one in 1984 (.290, 36 HR, 100 RBI) and again in 1987 (.295, 44, 105) if not for two Cubs.

Two Cubs!

Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson did both deserve it, not disputing that, but Murphy finished ninth and eleventh in voting respectively in those years. Guys named "Wallach" and "Cruz" finished ahead of him in voting and in ’84 he beat Jody Davis in voting by just 3 points.

Come on…Jody Davis?!? The guy on top of trophies had a better batting stance than him.

How does Murphy stack-up with some current Hall members?

Let’s put him up against two…one a catcher, one a center fielder (irony intended). “The Murph” scored more runs, had more hits and homers than the catcher and won as many MVP awards. The center fielder…Murphy had 2 more MVP awards than him.

Is Murphy better than Johnny Bench and Duke Snider? Probably not.

Does he belong in the same class? Absolutely.

He unfortunately did not have the benefit of playing for, and winning World Series titles like Bench and Snider did. He played in Atlanta when they were shitty at best and he was most, if not all, of what they had.

As I drifted back into consciousness to some wide receiver from the State of Florida committing LIVE, on the spot to the Gators (what a shocker), I longed for the days of a true “ATH.” Like when a 1983 Dale Murphy Topps card made my day when I got one in a pack.

As I recalled the stale flavor of baseball-card-pack bubble gum, I thought to myself what I thought then…“The Murph” sure smells like a Hall-of-Famer.

Hall of Fame 2010: Jack Morris

From now until the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is announced, The Hall is going to be breaking down each candidate. Some write ups will be lengthy...some will be the opposite. Some will be brand new pieces...some will be re-hashes of previous pieces.

When someone brings up Jack Morris…people point to what some call (with all do respect to Don Larsen and Curt Schilling), one of the most memorable performances ever in the World Series.

It was his 1991 post season performance with the Twins (four victories scattered across five games), coupled with his 1984 and 1992 appearances, that make most people stand up and take notice of the mustachioed hurler.

But all those successes aside, it was in the 80s where Morris made a name for himself…not just in October. And it’s safe to say that if the Hall of Fame decides to start looking at pitchers who made their bread and butter throughout the 80s…Morris would be at the top of the list.

Let’s break down the facts.

While not the sole reason to induct someone, Morris had the consistency and durability needed to become the epitome of a pitching Iron Horse. Matter of fact, this innings hog (he had eleven seasons of more than 235 innings pitched) also holds the record for most consecutive opening day starts…14.

And if you thought Cal Ripken’s streak was impressive (it was), Morris went nearly 500 starts without missing his turn in the rotation. He only appeared on the disabled list twice.

Again, not a reason to bronze his head…but not too shabby either.

On to more conventional stats, Morris notched a career 254-186 record…good for a .577 winning percentage.

For the record, 254 wins is more than Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal and Whitey Ford among plenty of others. In the 80s alone…Morris won a decade best 162 games, compiled a .577 winning percentage and exhibited his amazing consistency by finishing in the top ten of the Cy Young Award voting in half of the decade’s contests.

He finished in the top five in 1991 and 1992 as well.

As alluded to earlier, Morris was the ace of three World Series teams (he was injured and couldn’t play in 1993 or else there’d be a fourth)…the Tigers, Twins and Blue Jays. And he threw a no hitter.

Instead of repeating myself…let’s look at these numbers from 1979-1992.

WINS
Jack Morris...233
Bob Welch...192
Dave Stieb...174
Nolan Ryan...168

COMPLETE GAMES
Jack Morris...169
Fernando Valenzuela...107
Charlie Hough...106
Dave Stieb...103

ERA (2,200 IP min.)
Nolan Ryan...3.21
Bob Welch...3.32
Fernando Valenzuela...3.34
Dave Stieb...3.39
Dennis Martinez..3.61
Jack Morris...3.71 (8th)

I think the main reason he gets overlooked is his career ERA of 3.90. He never led the league (much less came close to it) and make no bones about it...he gave up a ton of runs. However, his teams produced behind him and regardless of his ERA, he virtually always managed to stay below the league average.

Will Jack get into the Hall? Perhaps.

Does he DESERVE to? Absolutely…but it will take a while.

The Veterans Committee does like to look at players that got close (Morris appeared on a best 44% of the ballots last year) but not close enough. And some day, hopefully, the 80s won’t be as overlooked as they have been in the past.

Twitter Tuesday...December 29, 2009

If this was a football site, I'd start with something witty about Brett Favre...but, thankfully, it is about baseball.

Unfortunately...not much of anything happened over the last week.

Since we last met, a little holiday called "Christmas" came and went...making this week's Infield Chatter a no brainer.

mattkemp27 (Matt Kemp): Still got to get out and finish my Shopping.

rwells36bsi (Randy Wells): nothing beats hooters with the boys on Christmas eve. ho ho ho!

str8edgeracer (CJ Wilson): go lakers. santa: I want another championship for them, and one for the TX rangers. thanks- cj

DrewStoren (Drew Storen): Watching The Dark Knight with the dog n her snuggie. Merry Christmas!

ESPY_TEAHEN (Mark Teahen): Ah Christmas! Over eating, exccessive gift giving, football, cookies, midnight mass, and a time 2 share the love u have 4 those close 2 u.

G_Sarge_M (Gary Matthews): Happy Halladays, er, Holidays!!!

hyphen18 (Ryan Rowland-Smith): If any of you are checkin twitter right now instead of hanging with your fam's, your in big trouble!

In what appeared to be the tweet spat heard 'round the world...Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman hopped online Sunday night to defend his choice to NOT include Bert Byleven on his Hall of Fame ballot this season.

Here are some of the jabs poor Jon had to endure. Thankfully, with close to 27,000 followers...there were far more supporters than detractors.

lonestarball: Jon Heyman announces his HOF ballot, and it is stupid

leokitty: I can't wait until we're 10 years in the future and Jon Heyman is voting for Andy Pettitte every year for the HOF but not Mike Mussina

petzrawr: I think Jon Heyman is an elitist ass, by the way. Just cuz you have press creds and BBWAA membership doesn't make you a good baseball writer

DashTreyhorn: Jon Heyman voted Jack Morris over Bert Blyleven for the HOF. Attack!

jakelarsen: foolish, yes, dumb, maybe, insane, definitely.

Cox813: Because Bert's HOF resume is near unimpeachable yet he's 3 years away from falling off the ballot because of voters like you.

Sticking with the Christmas theme...I am not sure whether or not to be frightened by this picture of "Tommyclaus".

Yikes!




I was pointed in the direction of the Silva Brothers by former pitcher Jeff Juden (of all people) and I am glad I was. Without his direction, I would never have stumbled upon NY Baseball Digest.

Chris and Mike are pretty active in keeping their followers up to speed on what they are up to and you don't have to be a New York fan to appreciate it.

Have someone you think everyone should follow? Perhaps you yourself have read some interesting tweets in the past week…drop me a line or leave a comment below. See you next Tuesday!

Hall of Fame 2010: Mark McGwire

From now until the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is announced, The Hall is going to be breaking down each candidate. Some write ups will be lengthy...some will be the opposite. Some will be brand new pieces...some will be re-hashes of previous pieces.

Plenty has been written regarding Mark McGwire’s Hall of Fame credentials, but all of them pretty much begin and end with the speculation around whether or not he was guilty of using performance enhancers.

To me, it doesn’t matter.

Even without the steroids discussion, McGwire’s stats don’t warrant the poaitive lip service that everyone is given him.

Sure…“Big Mac” has a heap of home runs. With 583 under his belt, he has more than everyone but seven. As we all know, he was the guy who, in 1998, toppled Roger Maris and his legendary 61 home runs.

And while I’ve heard all the OPS+ arguments, you can take away his tremendous home run total and all you’ve got is a guy who played in a ton (if you consider 12 “a ton”) of All-Star games and had precious little to show for it.

Now, I’m not one of those guys who thinks that McGwire was basically a clone of Dave Kingman…I tend to give him a little more credit than that. When healthy (and McGwire only played in 140 or more games eight times), he was one of the best out there.

The problem I have is that he wasn’t durable, wasn’t consistent and, frankly…was the baseball world’s equivalent to a Long Drive contest participant.

I mean, the fact that McGwire hit a home run once in every ten at bats (and yes, he is first all-time) is impressive. What isn’t is the .263 career batting average, 1626 hits and almost as many (1596) strikeouts.

McGwire was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 1987, but not once did he take home an MVP Award. And while you could argue he should have won the hardware in 1998 (and he probably should have), he only managed three Silver Slugger awards.

I realize that many scoff at the hardware argument, but let’s face it…it is all part of the overall package. It’s either the icing on the cake (ask Bert Blyleven) or the entire cake itself (ask Ozzie Smith).

For me, it is the icing and for McGwire…a handful of huge years needed those trophies to go along with them.

Hall of Fame 2010: Fred McGriff

From now until the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is announced, The Hall is going to be breaking down each candidate. Some write ups will be lengthy...some will be the opposite. Some will be brand new pieces...some will be re-hashes of previous pieces.

And only because I can't argue with what Gary Armida over at FullCountPitch has to say...here is his take on Fred McGriff.

The case of Fred McGriff is quite curious for a number of reasons.

On one hand, he was a player who was remarkably consistent during his career. On the other hand, he was a player whose statistics were often dwarfed by his peers during one of the most controversial eras in Baseball history.

Because of the latter reason, one could often forget a player like Fred McGriff who played for 19 seasons and posted strong numbers. Unfortunately, McGriff played in the era when players like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmiero, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa made headlines. This has led to the general feeling that McGriff was not an elite player and that he was simply a solid player with a compiled end result.

It is an interesting debate as McGriff is really one of the first players who actually brings the impact of the era to the forefront. Should he get bonus points because he played at the height of the performance enhancing drug era?

Probably not, but one has to take out the idea of perception when discussing McGriff’s Hall of Fame credentials.

When discussing Hall of Fame candidates, the question about being the most dominant player in the era usually is brought up. It is a question that may likely keep McGriff out of Cooperstown.

However, it is a question that just be unfair.

Read the rest of what Gary has to say HERE.

Hall of Fame 2010: Don Mattingly

From now until the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is announced, The Hall is going to be breaking down each candidate. Some write ups will be lengthy...some will be the opposite. Some will be brand new pieces...some will be re-hashes of previous pieces.

The “Bronx Bombers” owned baseball in the late 70s. They averaged 98 wins from 1976 to 1980 and took home two world championships.

Owner George Steinbrenner was at his most colorful. He hired and fired Billy Martin twice (he’d make three more stints as manager throughout the 80s) and brought players in left and right to capture the pennant.

Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Goose Gossage all brought in to win.

And they did.

In the decade following, Steinbrenner again opened up his wallet to buy some hardware. He brought in Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson and Don Baylor to round out a lineup already chock full of established stars like Guidry, Willie Randolph, Graig Nettles and a certain up and coming first baseman.

Steve Balboni.

Problem is…this didn’t work.

The Yankees went from dominating the American League to going twelve straight years of NOT making the playoffs…their longest such streak since BEFORE Babe Ruth came over from BeanTown.
Apparently, you can’t buy chemistry.

Now, to think I’m going to spend the next dozen (or more…probably many more) paragraphs trumpeting Balboni’s career would be insane. Granted, his lifetime numbers of .229, 181 homeruns and 495 RBIs are as rotund as he was, but it’s the Lou Gehrig to Balboni’s Wally Pipp that I’m excited about.

Don Mattingly.

I know what you’re thinking…did this guy lose his mind? He must’ve just got done watching the Cheers finale (that’s a 1993 reference, gang), because “Donnie Baseball” hasn’t been relevant since before the strike of 1994.

Like most of the world, I was enamored with Mattingly when he hit the scene. I had his 1984 Donruss rookie card encased in Lucite and thought I was witnessing the second coming.

That being said, I’m not so sure we weren’t.

During a six-year run beginning in 1984, Mattingly averaged 26 home runs, 114 RBIs and a .327 batting average. No player during that stretch had more RBI than Mattingly's 684, while only Hall of Famer Wade Boggs (1,269) had more hits than Mattingly's 1,219.

That six-year peak (from 1984 to 1989) is clearly one of the best of his generation and overall, his brief career stacks up with some others in the Hall.

Let’s compare him with a recently inducted Hall of Famer and YOU explain to ME why Mattingly can’t get more than 28 percent of the vote. Matter of fact, if someone can tell me how less than ten percent of the voters in 2007 thought Mattingly was Hall worthy…I’m waiting.

So, let’s compare!

HALL CANDIDATE A played in only 1785 games at the major league level. However, in that short career…he notched 2153 hits, 222 homeruns and 1099 RBI.

Known primarily as a contact guy, this player had a career batting average of .307 and an on base percentage of .358. Seven times, this player finished in the top ten in hits and five times, he was in the top ten in batting average…leading the league only once. He had a stretch of five out of six years, where he finished in the top five in RBI.

Let’s look at the trophy case.

HALL CANDIDATE A was once a league MVP and four straight years, he finished in the top ten in voting. He was an All-Star six times and had a surprisingly spectacular glove, bringing home the Gold Glove at his position in nine out of ten seasons.

As I’ve said before, post season accolades can make you or break you. In this player’s career…he had a career post season batting average of .417.

Now…let’s check out the resume of HALL CANDIDATE B by using the same exact criteria. Matter of fact, I’m going to cut and paste the preceding and make the appropriate changes.

Here we go.

HALL CANDIDATE B played in only 1783 games at the major league level. However, in that short career…he notched 2304 hits, 207 homeruns and 1085 RBI.

Like HALL CANDIDATE A, HALL CANDIDATE B was also known as a contact guy. He had a career batting average of .318 and an on base percentage of .360. Ten times, this player finished in the top ten in hits and seven times, he was in the top ten in batting average…leading the league once. Only twice did he finish in the top five in RBI.

Let’s look at the trophy case.

HALL CANDIDATE B was never a league MVP, but there was a stretch where nine times in eleven years, he finished in the top ten in voting. He was an All-Star ten straight years and while he was heralded as having a spectacular glove, he was only golden six times.

Again, as I’ve said before, you have to look at post season accolades. In this player’s career…he had a career post season batting average of .309.

Now, here’s the part where you can separate who is who.

HALL CANDIDATE B has two World Series rings in two chances and if you paid any attention in the first half of this post, you know that Mattingly has none.

So, who is HALL CANDIDATE B? It’s the very guy who gave Mattingly the moniker “Donnie Baseball” of course…Kirby Puckett.

Yeah, the same Kirby Puckett who went into the Hall in 2001...coincidently, both his and Mattingly’s first year on the ballot. 2001 also yielded the highest amount of support for Mattingly…28.2%.

"I don't think I'm a Hall of Famer," Mattingly told Newsday a couple years ago. "I don't think I have the numbers. Part of it is longevity, and I wasn't able to do that and do the things that I did early in my career."

Mattingly is a modest, modest man.

If his numbers show anything it’s that he HAS the numbers. As I’ve shown, his numbers are on par with Kirby Puckett. Sure, neither had the longevity (both were forced out due to injury)...but there are a number of players in the Hall who played in LESS games.

If you’ve heard me sound off about Albert Belle…you know I think the longevity argument is flawed. On the flipside, I think some players play their way into the Hall by playing in too MANY games.

Simply put, the “longevity” argument is garbage and Mattingly is, again, being modest by bringing it up. But I get it, he’s not out there playing the “I’m a Hall of Famer” game like some players do...he’s allowing others to bang his drum.

And I guess that’s what I am doing.