Sunday, February 27, 2011

Next Candidate?

I am trying to decide where to go from here.  I have gotten a handful of candidates reviewed.  My next person is a bit of a challenge to decide on.  The list of returning candidates is as follows.  I have put “X” next to them as I finish.  I also have done a post on Ron Santo.  I am thinking about skipping pitchers for now.  I will probably cover Bagwell (next highest), Trammel(unique position for those left), or Murphy (running out of time).  Any suggestions of these or other people let me know.  Eventually I will also get into past players who are no longer up for selection that may have been missed.  I am also willing to cover retired individuals who are not yet up for election. 

X          Barry Larkin                  62.1
Jack Morris*                 53.5
Lee Smith*                    45.3
Jeff Bagwell                 41.7
X          Tim Raines                    37.5
X          Edgar Martinez            32.9     
            Alan Trammel              24.3
            Larry Walker                 20.3
Mark McGwire             19.8
Fred McGriff                 17.9
Don Mattingly              13.6
Dale Murphy                12.6
Rafael Palmeiro           11.0
Juan Gonzalez                        5.2


X          Ron Santo

This was just a tease to get you ready.  I think I will try and get one of these done a week as my goal.  More often if possible.  

Monday, February 21, 2011

Long Interruption

It has been a long time between posts.  I did not want it to be this long.  I just did not feel I had the time to even do just the basic research that Barry Larkin deserved from me to highlight his career.  I know my posts will not convince anyone to change their opinion.  I am only hoping to get that dialogue started.  Maybe someone else will use it as a starting point to jump in deeper.  I am sure I will go into more depth with some than other candidates. 

On a second note, I want to address the idea of lowering the percentage of the vote for gaining election.  The starting point came from http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/7328/hall-of-fame-should-lower-voting-threshold
I think it is a good idea.  As has been pointed out, this would just speed up the process for people who deserve enshrinement.  I believe in making the process as quick as possible.  The long weight is unnecessary.  A Hall of Famer is a Hall of Famer.  If they get in more quickly, that is better.  It gives him a longer time to enjoy the benefits of being in the Hall.  It is no harm to anyone to speed up the Hall process.  It will be such a shame for Ron Santo to be elected in the first election after his death.  Let us not make anyone else go through that process.   

Barry Larkin

I am not going to spend much time on Barry Larkin.  He is a HOF in my mind.  I do not see how anyone argues with this statement.  He went to 12 All-Star Games.  He also won 3 gold gloves.  This may have been more if his career did not overlap with the best defensive shortstop ever (Ozzie Smith) and lost some later ones due to Rey Ordonez who was a wiz with the glove as well.  He was a major threat with the bat as well.  He won 9 Silver Sluggers, the most ever for a shortstop.  It also is only behind Piazza and Bonds all-time for players. 

He was so good in fact, that he won the 1995 MVP award while leading the Reds to a first place finish in NL Central.  The Reds made it to the NLCS that year but lost to the World Series Champion Atlanta Braves.  He even had a much better offensive year the following year but the Reds fell to third place.  Larkin was also exemplary off the field which is evident by him winning the Roberto Clemente Award in 1993 and the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1994. 

Larkin had the excellence to go along with his character.  He had around 70 WAR from both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.  Based on bWAR, he is better than 14 of the 20 shortstops in the Hall of Fame.  People claim he was hurt so much that he might not have the longevity to be in the Hall of Fame.  He has the 13th most games at shortstop.  He also has the 25th most assists and 36th most putouts at shortstop. 

He played a great deal of games.  He was an offensive force for his entire career.  He had a career wOBA of .366 with an OPS+ of 116.  He produced these by having an OBP of .371 and SLG of .444 for an OPS of .815.  He did all of this while playing gold glove caliber defense. 

I do not see how anyone could feel he does not belong in the Hall of Fame.  It seems like a pretty easy case.