Here come the 1950's Hall of Fame blog Part 6!!

Alrighty boys and girls, I know it’s been a long time since my last installment into the wonderful world of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but here we are the 1950’s.

1959- Zack Wheat

Zach Wheat- Yes- Zach Wheat is fairly marginal as far as Hall of Famers go, but I do think he is a Hall of Famer. His slash numbers are .317/.367/.450, which aren’t spectacular, but are very good. He accumulated 2884 hits, 1248 RBI, and 1289 Runs. He was known as a quality defensive outfielder and was considered one of the best players in baseball by his peers.

1957- Sam Crawford

Sam Crawford-Yes- Sam Crawford is nearly and identical player to Zach Wheat with the exception that he was one of the great defensive outfielders of his generation. His percentage numbers are .309/.362/.452. He gets extra points for playing Right Field next to Cobb for several years without killing him. Overall, it is basically the same thing as Wheat. A few more hits, a few more Runs, and quite a few more RBI’s.

1956-Hank Greenberg, Joe Cronin

Hank Greenberg- Yes- Normally I don’t go for the short career guys, but you know what there are seldom guys who have been truly this great. .313/.412/.605. Yep folks that’s a career 1.017 OPS. That’s pretty damn good.

Joe Cronin-Yes- Joe Cronin is actually in my top five greatest shortstops of all time. His slash numbers are a very, very solid .301/.390/.468. He was an amazingly good defender, one of the best. As far as shortstops there are very few who can combine his defensive prowess with the ability to hit both for a decent average and with some pop. His .857 OPS ranks very high amongst shortstops.

1955-Dazzy Vance, Ray Schalk, Ted Lyons, Gabby Hartnett, Joe DiMaggio, Home Run Baker.

Dazzy Vance-Maybe- Dazzy Vance is a tough person to rate. I put a lot of weight towards how their peers viewed them in their playing days. Dazzy Vance was always considered one of, if not the best by the hitters he faced. There is no question that he was tough to hit, and his 1924 season is one of the greatest of all time. He also led the National League in K’s 7 years running. However, other than his 3 great seasons, he wasn’t all that good and he didn’t pitch for very long. He has a career 3.24, which would have been a lot higher is his ERA hadn’t been ridiculously low in his 3 great seasons. In the rest of his seasons he was only average or a little above or below. He only had 197 wins to 140 losses. He does have 2045 career K’s, which given the strikeout rates of players in his day, is very impressive. Its equivalent of about 3200 k’s now. All in all it’s a tough case to judge, so I am putting it at maybe, but I think I am inclined to leave him out.

Ray Schalk-No- This pick is one of the ones that gets the most attention as being a farce. This is because his career slash numbers are .253/.340/.316. That is the lowest batting average of any player in the Hall of Fame. His OBP is actually pretty remarkable considering how little of a threat he was with the stick. What’s even worse than his batting average is his putrid .316 slugging average. He was a good defensive player, a great one even. But he is not the greatest defensive catcher off all time. Maybe not even in the top five greatest. He was an excellent base stealer for a catcher and he did have some speed, but its not enough to get him into the Hall of Fame.

Ted Lyons-No- As far as I can tell, Ted Lyons isn’t really all that good a player. He had a career 260-230 record, for a less than stellar .531 winning percentage. His career high in k’s for a season was 74, for a career total of 1073. I am not a big fan of pitchers that walk more than the strikeout and Lyon’s did that for his career. His career ERA of 3.67 is not really indicative of him having a Hall of Fame career.

Gabby Hartnett-Yes- Gabby Hartnett was an excellent catcher. He was great defensively with a rocket arm, and he could hit. He could hit very well. His percentage numbers are .297/.370/.489. That gives him a very solid .858 OPS. His cumulative numbers are lacking, of course, but with catchers especially you have to make an exception for that. Due to the nature of their profession they are always going to have less games played than other positions.

Joe DiMaggio-Yes- Three time MVP, great defensive centerfielder, and a great hitter. His career OPS of .977 make him a HOF lock. A curious thing about DiMaggio, he was known as a very speedy player but his career high in SB’s was 6. In fact he only had 30 career stolen bases. I know it wasn’t a stolen base era, and that he was a middle of the order type hitter, but you would think he would have gotten at least twice that accidently.

Home Run Baker-Yes- Mr. Frank Baker was known as Home Run Baker because of his ability to knock the ball out of the park. Of course 12 was his career high and he only hit 96 in his career. His career slash number are .307/.363/.442. Given the time period in which he played he was a legitimate big time slugger. He was considered by his peers to be the best third basemen in the game. His 12 home runs were also a record until Babe Ruth broke it. He is a Hall of Famer without question.

1954-Bill Terry, Rabbit Maranville, Bill Dickey

Bill Terry-Yes- I am not a huge Bill Terry fan. His .401 average is incredibly over rated and should not be considered with the same reverence as the other .400+ hitters. Basically anything offensive that was done in 1930 shouldn’t really count. Outside of that he was a very good player. His career .341 average is extremely impressive and he had a little bit of pop in his bat as well.

Rabbit Maranville-No- He got in because he was a media riot. His numbers certainly don’t verify Hall of Fame status. His career OPS of .658 is unimpressive to say the least. He was not that exceptional a fielder to make up for the poor average. I am really not sure why he is in the Hall of Fame to be honest.

Bill Dickey-Yes- Mr. Dickey grew up in Kensett, Arkansas, which is a little town that is basically a part of Searcy. After he finished his career he moved back to Arkansas until his death in Little Rock in 1993. Most people rate Yogi Berra as the greatest Yankee catcher of all time, but my vote goes to Bill Dickey. He was a man that was well liked and a leader on his team. He was a smarter player than Yogi, he was a much better defender and had a rocket arm. And in my opinion he was much more consistent hitter. He put up a nice career .313 batting average, with a .382 OBP, and .486 SLG. He is a no doubter as a Hall of Famer, and one of the greatest catchers of all time.

1953-Bobby Wallace, Al Simmons, Dizzy Dean, Chief Bender.
Bobby Wallace-No- Bobby Wallace was a whole lot of average over a very long career. He was a career .268 hitter with no power. He managed to rack up 2309 hits but it took him 25 seasons to get them. He didn’t steal bases, he was only a slightly above average fielder, he only batted over .300 once. There is absolutely nothing remarkable about him.

Al Simmons-Yes- Al Simmons is no doubter of a Hall of Famer, but one that flies under most people radar. “Bucket-Foot” Al could flat out hit the baseball. He racked up 2927 hits, ending up just shy of 3000, but we will give him the benefit of the doubt there. His percentage numbers are a more than solid .334/.380/.535 for a career .915 OPS. He tends to get overlooked because he played on team with about seven other Hall of Famers.

Dizzy Dean-Yes- Dizzy gets into the Hall but I don’t know that I would put him in if he hadn’t been a Hall of Fame type broadcaster too. I will give him the benefit of the doubt because he was a great player, and because of his overall contribution to baseball. And because he is just a damn interesting guy. First of all he one 30 games in 1934. He followed that up with 28 wins the next year. The problem is he only has 150 career wins. On the plus side he had a career winning percentage of .644. That’s pretty spectacular.

Chief Bender-Yes- Charles Albert Bender could play some baseball. He had a career 212-127 record for a .625 career winning percentage. Not to shabby, especially when combined with his career 2.46 ERA. He was always considered one of the best pitchers in the league.

1952-Paul Waner, Harry Heilman

Paul Waner-Yes- Big Poison was a much better player than his brother, Little Poison. He put up a career .333 batting average, and unlike his brother he could slug the ball a little and tossed up a career .473 slg to go along with his good batting average. For good measure he tossed in 3152 career hits, 1627 Runs, and 1309 RBI’s.

Harry Heilman-Yes- A guy most people don’t think about, or have even heard of, Harry could flat out rip the ball. He put up a .342 batting average and put up a .410 OBP and a .520 slugging percentage just for good measure. That gives him a career .930 OPS which is pretty stellar. He put up 2660 career hits, 1291 career runs, and 1539 career RBI’s. No question he belongs.

1951-Mel Ott, Jimmie Foxx

Mel Ott-Yes- No doubter. 511 career home runs, with .304/.414/.533. This gives him an outstanding .947 OPS. Mr. Ott was a professional slugger and his numbers show that. He also put up a very respectable 2876 career hit total and had over 1000 career extra base hits. 1859 career runs with 1860 career RBI’s are also very impressive.

Jimmie Foxx-Yes- Another no doubter, Jimmie Foxx goes into the argument as one of the greatest right handed hitters of all time. 534 homers, 1751 runs, 1922 RBI and 1000 extra base hits. His slash numbers are even more impressive .325/.428/.609. There is no question to membership into the Hall of Fame.