Hall of Fame Part 2, the Nineties

Part 2 of my Hall of Fame Series. This section will detail those elected from 1990-1999.

1999-Robin Yount, Nolan Ryan, Orlando Cepeda, George Brett.

Nolan Ryan-no- He is the all time strikeout leader, has over 300 wins, and pitched 7 no hitters. He was hard to hit. And also probably the most overrated pitcher of all time. I am excluding him. He won 324 game but you know what he lost 292. He was very nearly a .500 pitcher for his career. He walked 200 batters not once, but twice in his career and he never won a Cy Young award. He only won 20 games twice, and both times he lost 16 games as well. He did play for some bad teams, and had some bad luck but there is a lot of pitchers that put up good careers that suffered because they were on bad teams. If you take away his strikeouts, which do not make you a great pitcher, what you have is a very average pitcher who pitched for a very long time.

Robin Yount-no- He had some good years, but other than the 3000 hits I don’t think you could say he was a great player. As my cousin pointed out to me he only made 3 all-star teams. And its true that that is not always an accurate indicator, but you would think that if he was truly one of the best more managers would have picked him for the team. I have a familial connection to him of sorts, my nephew’s wife’s maiden name is Yount, and they are related, so I hope she doesn’t kill me in my sleep.

Orlando Cepeda- maybe- I will admit I don’t really know enough about him to make an informed decision, but looking at the raw data his percentage numbers are pretty damn good and he played in an era where a .500 slg. Meant something. I may add him via the veterans committee in a few years.

George Brett-yes-This man could hit, and play defense, and steal some bags. It is hard not to include him in the Hall of Fame.

1998-Don Sutton, Larry Doby, George Davis

Don Sutton-yes- Sutton was a very good pitcher in the National League, and then hung on a little to long in the American League when he should have called it quits, so that hurt his numbers a little bit. He won the exact same number of games as Nolan Ryan, with a much better Winning percentage.

Larry Doby-yesx2- Jackie Robinson got all the press, but this guy had it even worse. They both made their appearances in the same season; Jackie was first in the National League and Doby a couple of months later in the American League. However, Jackie had it easy in comparison. The spotlight was on Jackie Robinson because he was the first. The spotlight tempered some of the things he went through, as well as being on a team with more media coverage. (Robinson still had it horrible, Doby just had it worse.) In the American League Doby played for Cleveland, which no one cared about, and was younger than Jackie. He was terrorized to a degree that Jackie wasn’t and nobody ever really knew about it. It is unfair and a shame that Jackie Robinson has a day and nobody even remembers that Larry Doby went through even worse for Baseball integration.

George Davis-yes- Not only is he a Hall of Fame pick for me, he is also one of my five best shortstops. His .295 .361. .405 were very, very impressive for the time.

1997-Phil Niekro, Nellie Fox

Nellie Fox-No- Another veteran’s committee pick before they made the switch making it more difficult to get elected that way. Nellie Fox put up a decent average (.288) and a decent but not spectacular obp of .348. He couldn’t slug his way out of a wet paper sack. His career OPS of .710 is not that great. He was however, a very, very good defender. I just don’t know if he was good enough to make up for the fact that five or six of his full time seasons were truly terrible. He was selected to several all-star teams, which aids to his cause, but he comes up a bit short for greatness.

Phil Niekro-yes-Not a great career winning percentage, but he did get 300 wins and 3000 k’s. Unlike a lot of other marginal pitchers though, Niekro was a good deal better percentage wise than the teams he played for. For a four-year stretch he lead the league in losses each year. Still in each of those years he was a lot better than his team. I understand that sometimes a pitcher plays for a bad team and that hurts him, but if you want to get sympathy for that you had better have a superior winning percentage than those poor teams, and Niekro does. Plus I got to say the 245 complete games are kind of impressive.

1996-Jim Bunning

Jim Bunning-no-I am not really sure why this guy is in the Hall of Fame. He didn’t get close to 300 games; he had a pretty decent winning percentage, but not good enough to counteract the 300 games given the period he pitched in. He never won a Cy Young; he didn’t get 3000 k’s. He only won 20 games once. Doesn’t seem like a Hall of Famer to me.

1995-Vic Willis, Mike Schmidt, Richie Ashburn

Vic Willis-yes- It’s tough to know a ton about these guys that ended there career in 1910 and before, but I am going to have to go with a no for Willis. He was considered a good pitcher, but his 2.63 ERA is pretty high when compared with others from his time. However, he once lost 29 games because he played for perhaps the most legendarily bad team ever. When given the chance to pitch for even mediocre teams, he did well.

Mike Schmidt-yes- Not much to say here, perhaps the greatest third basemen to play the game. He get hit it 800 miles and he could play his position. Plus he is a great golfer.

Richie Ashburn-yes- He came up short of 3000 hits but his career average of .308 and career obp of .396 is very, very strong. He was a lead off man who knew what he needed to do, and he was excellent in the field as well. He also won two battings titles. Maybe the best leadoff man of his time.

1994-Phil Rizzuto, Steve Carlton

Phil Rizzuto-no- If I can take his playing career and combine it with his broadcasting career then maybe, but as it is he is a big time no. His most noteworthy statistical achievement is that he led the league in sacrifice bunts 4 years in a row. He is a very modest .273, .351, .355. He also only amassed 1588 hits, not a very convincing total. He did win an MVP and it was a worthy year, but one MVP does not a Hall of Famer make. He is perhaps one of the most marginal of Hall of Famers and he is not in my Hall of Fame.

Steve Carlton-yes- Steve Carlton won 20 games 6 times, and won over 300 games with a good winning percentage. He also had over 4000 k’s. A pretty convincing number. Not only that he had one of the most impressive seasons of all time. In 1972 he had 27 wins, and his team only had 59 in total. It took a 1.97 era to get those 27 wins though.

1993-Reggie Jackson

Reggie Jackson-Yes- He is not my kind of player, but he is a Hall of Famer, I guess. He has a pretty good reputation for coming through in the clutch. He does have a good total of home runs with 563. However, I found his career OPS of .846 underwhelming, especially since his career slugging is under .500. But with over 550 homers I guess I will take him, although I am not feeling thrilled about it.

1992- Rollie Fingers, Tom Seaver, Hal Newhouser

Rollie Fingers-yes- See comments on the other relievers in the 2000’s section. He is better than both Sutter and Gossage so I included him.

Tom Seaver-Yes- Possibly the best pitcher of all time. He had an astounding career winning percentage of .605 for a 311-205 record. He also had 3640 k’s. He won 20 games five times, and he won three Cy Young awards. There isn’t any possible argument to make that he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame.

Hal Newhouser-no- He does meet one of my requirements for induction. For a three-year period he was truly great. In that three-year period he won 80 games and picked up 2 MVP awards. He won 20 games 4 times in a short career. The problem with him is that he was pretty much only good those 4 years. He just wasn’t good for long enough to really be considered one of the all time greats. For three years though he was stellar.

1991- Rod Carew, Fergie Jenkins, Tony Lazzeri, Gaylord Perry

Rod Carew-Yes- 7 time batting champ with a career .328 batting average with a nice .822 OPS. He was a mediocre fielder, but man he could really hit. He also got over 3000 hits in his career and stole 353 bases as well.

Fergie Jenkins-Yes- Not the greatest in the Hall, but he did win 20 games 7 times with a good winning percentage and that is pretty impressive. He didn’t win 300 games, but that is not a requirement really and he did get over 3000 k’s. I do have concerns over the fact that he was only named to three All-Star games.

Tony Lazzeri-Yes- Well this guy doesn’t have the cumulative numbers, but he could really play. He was good defensively, and he was pretty legendary as a leader. His percentage numbers were really good at .292, .380, .467, which ends up with a very nice .846 OPS. Probably the second best second basemen of his time.

Gaylord Perry-No- Maybe I think I will take a stand here. This is a guy whose numbers don’t really matter, and who had made a mockery of the game. He did win 300 games with a decent percentage and won 2 Cy Young awards, but, does someone who blatantly breaks the rules deserve to be in? Everybody knows that Gaylord Perry used the spitball, A LOT. That is an illegal pitch and has been for years, and many pitchers have used it illegally. Just not as brazenly as Perry. Knowing what I know about his wet one, I don’t think I want him in the Hall of Fame.

1990- Joe Morgan, Jim Palmer

Joe Morgan-Yes- Joe Morgan is a pompous prick who doesn’t understand near as much about the game as he thinks he does, and routinely makes the people around him want to throttle him. However, that doesn’t change the fact that he was an excellent second basemen. He was an absolute on base fiend who could find away to draw a walk on three pitches. He was also a great defensive second basemen and two time MVP. He also stole 689 bases while only getting caught 162 times.

Jim Palmer-Yes- Great pitcher, with an absolutely stellar winning percentage of .638. That’s a really rocking percentage. He didn’t get 300 wins, or 3000 k’s, but when you trotted him out there you knew more often than not you were ending the day with a win, and that counts for a lot.

In Recap, for those elected in the 1990’s I have retained the following for my Hall of Fame:

George Brett

Don Sutton

Larry Doby

George Davis

Phil Niekro

Vic Willis

Mike Schmidt

Richie Ashburn

Steve Carlton

Reggie Jackson

Rollie Fingers

Tom Seaver

Rod Carew

Fergie Jenkins

Tony Lazzeri

Joe Morgan

Jim Palmer