Before we begin, congratulations to Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg who were both elected to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday, January 4. Both men deserved it and, in the case of Ryno, it was good to see the writers finally come to their senses.
Sandberg was a run-producing long ball threat in an era where second basemen were batting at the bottom of the order or miscast as leadoff hitters. Sure he could’ve walked a little more and his mysterious retirement in 1994 didn’t help his cause, but he was still the clear successor to Joe Morgan in the “middle infielder with muscle” department.
Also, thanks to all for their feedback on Part One of this series. Just to summarize the responses”¦everyone hates Barry Bonds.
Now, the list continues with Part Two and we begin with Ozzie’s big brother”¦
During the “image is everything” attitude of the late ’80s and early ’90s, no star burned as brightly as Jose’s. On the field, he combined power and speed (at least for one season) like no other ballplayer had before him. Off the field, he ran afoul of the law, ran with Madonna and ran his own 1-900 line.
In Canseco’s first full six seasons, he was the best young player in the game. Owner of an MVP award in 1988″¦when he became the first to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in one season. A year later, he missed half the season to a wrist injury, but still slugged .542″¦hit a fifth-deck bomb in the ALCS”¦and hit .357 in Oakland’s World Series sweep. A six-time All-Star, he finished his career with 462 home runs. Every player who’s finished his career with at least 450 jacks has gotten the call to Cooperstown. But, that streak ends here.
Canseco wasted his wonderful gifts through his own indifference and idiocy. His infamous pitching performance at Fenway Park ruined his once-powerful throwing arm, while come-and-go injuries dogged him for the second half of his career. He pretty much sealed the deal when he went public with his claim of steroid use.
Verdict: Out, although his final numbers are much better than you think.
A prodigious run-producer, Carter became one of those all-time highlight images with his championship-winning walk-off home run in Game Six of the 1993 World Series. Pretty much par for the course, as he amassed ten different seasons with 100+ RBI.
Sadly, the rest of the results weren’t so rosy. His .259 career average was a few points below the league average (.267) over the course of his career, while his lifetime OBP of .306 is more indicative of a middling middle infielder, than the middle-of-the-order masher he was often perceived to be. Hell, he finished with OBPs below .300 in four separate seasons. He averaged about 29 home runs a year over the course of his career (396 total). A number that signifies his “good, not great” run over 16 seasons.
At one time, Carter was the highest paid player in baseball. Yes, Joe Carter. If ever you needed more proof of how overrated the RBI statistic is, well, there ya go. Oh, and about that broadcasting career”¦
Verdict: Out
For 17 seasons (most of them with the Detroit Tigers), Cash was one of the most consistent first basemen in the game. His heyday came when pitching still dominated the sport, so with that kind of caveat, does Cash deserve another look?
In 1961, at the age of 26, Cash put together a season for the ages (well, at least for the ’60s). He hit .361 with a .487 OBP and a .662 SLG. In fact, he led the league in OPS (1.148) in the same year that Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were chasing the ghost of Ruth. As you might expect, it was pretty much all downhill from there, as Cash never came close to matching those numbers again. To his credit, he hit 30+ home runs in five separate seasons, finishing with 377 and an excellent .374 career on-base percentage.
There’s just not enough statistical superiority, especially with the Hall’s high standards for first basemen, for Cash to reach Cooperstown. He was an underrated glove man, but the bottom line is that, without his ’61 season, he hit just .264 over the course of his career.
Verdict: Out
Will “The Thrill” helped put San Francisco baseball back on the map in the late ’80s. After a rookie campaign where he inexplicably finished fifth in the ROY vote, behind immortals such as Charlie Kerfeld and teammate Robby Thompson, Clark would begin a run of several solid seasons.
Long time fans might remember the sight of his 1987 Fleer baseball card moving up in value each month, as Clark slugged .580, .508 and .548 from ’87 to ’89. He was even better in a pair of NLCS runs (’87, ’89), when he hit .360 in the former and .650(!) in the latter. Even though Clark’s last close-to-great season was in 1991, he parlayed his “intense gamer” reputation into big bucks from the Texas Rangers on the free agent market. He finished his career with more than respectable numbers, including a .301 average, .384 OBP and .497 SLG, but he barely reached 2,000 hits and failed to reach 300 home runs.
Fans of the St. Louis Cardinals still remember Clark’s 51 game stretch in 2000, when he filled in for an injured Mark McGwire and slugged .655 over the final two months, then .706 in an NLCS defeat to the Mets. Exceptional bookends to 15 seasons that fall far from The Hall.
Verdict: Out
From the late 1950s into the 1960s, there were few who could crush the ball like Colavito. His 14-year career took him from Cleveland to Detroit, with a quick stop in Kansas City, before enjoying his final few productive years back with the Tribe.
His stats include three 40+ home run seasons and another four where he hit more than 30. Unfortunately, his last monster year came when he should have been reaching his prime, at the age of 27. Rocky was still putting up very good, if not great, numbers, but it ended abruptly in 1967 and he was out of the game for good after the 1968 season. Those last few years would bring his career SLG below .500, while his final hits total of 1,730 pretty much puts the period on this possibility.
With a career comparable to Jack Clark, Matt Williams and Greg Vaughn, there’s something to be said for the ballplayers who enjoy long careers in productive roles. They’ll never be legends, but chances are you saw them help their teams in several ways.
Verdict: Out
Retired Hall of Fame second baseman and egotistical ESPN blowhard, Joe Morgan has often said that Concepcion is the most deserving player not currently in Cooperstown. And, since Joe has a weekly stage to discuss strategy and the squeeze play, he must be right. Or not.
While unquestionably a flawless fielder throughout the ’70s reign of the Big Red Machine, Concepcion was never really much with the lumber. Admittedly, he played in an era of “glove first” for many positions on the diamond, but his career OBP of .322 and SLG of .357 meant that he’d have to be of another world in other aspects of his game. Despite playing 19 seasons, many on some of the best offensive teams in history, he scored less than 1,000 runs. And, while fielding percentage may not be the best way to rate defense, his career mark of .971 isn’t that much higher than the league average of .964.
Of course, his supporters scream out “Ozzie Smith”, even though Ozzie’s similar offensive numbers are aided by clear advantages in the runs scored and speed departments. Concepcion was solid for his day, but nowhere near a Wizard.
Verdict: Out
During the juiced-ball season of 1987, “The Hawk” treated the sport to the possibility of the first 50 home run season in exactly 10 years. Dawson would fall one bomb shy, but would win the MVP award despite playing for a last place Cubs team.
And so goes the story of Andre, whose most Gigantic seasons had mostly materialized in Montreal and away from the big-market media. An eight-time All Star and Gold Glove winner, Dawson was very good for a very long time, but seldom great. He only reached the 30 HR plateau three times, his lifetime OBP of .323 is borderline awful and the fact that he collected nearly 1,000 useless and unproductive at-bats over his final four years make his case for Cooperstown all the less compelling.
Superfluous words like “clutch” are often tossed around when describing Dawson. And he got his share of hits when it counted. But, even at his peak, his numbers were bested by several of his contemporaries, like Dale Murphy, Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis. Questionable company, indeed.
Verdict: Out”¦as it should be.
Hmmm”¦a California-born outfielder enjoys a solid career, before finding the fountain of youth and steadily increasing his offense, as he gets older. Barry Bonds? Nope. The 34-year-old Edmonds had his best season in five years in 2004. Does he have enough left to get to The Hall?
On the surface, some of his numbers look worthy. A lifetime .294 hitter with a .384 OBP and .544 SLG, Edmonds has tape-measure power with a great eye to match. He’s also a seven-time Gold Glove winner, whose Web Gem catches are a staple on Baseball Tonight. But, one doesn’t have to dig too much deeper to find that Edmonds will be on the outside looking in. With 1,500 hits and less than 1,000 runs scored and RBI, there’s simply not enough time for him make up all that ground.
Edmonds is your run-of-the-mill 21st century slugger. Just south of “superstar”, but still good enough for someone to sign him to salaries just south of $10 million.
Verdict: Out
One of the most durable and under appreciated players of the last thirty years, Evans enjoyed several powerful seasons at the plate. He’s probably most famous for his time with the Atlanta Braves and later, the Detroit Tigers, where he finally captured that elusive championship in 1984.
With 2,687 career games played, he still ranks in the Top 30 in that department. His 414 lifetime home runs looked a lot more impressive when he retired in 1989, before ten active players would pass him in the offensive explosion of the ’90s. Still, his discriminating batting eye afforded him 10th place on the all-time walks list and a career OBP of .361. Unfortunately, he was never much of a hitter for average (.248 over 21 seasons). Batting average is probably the worst measure of offense, but in Evans’ case, it shows his feast-or-famine approach and dragged down his lifetime slugging percentage to a disappointing .431.
Much better with the glove than fans gave him credit for and still capable of drawing walks and/or knocking them out of the park until his late 30s, Evans just didn’t have enough dimensions to his game to get more than a cursory look.
Verdict: Out
The greatest Red Sox right fielder of all time, it’s a shame that more fans don’t realize how good he really was. Of course, it didn’t help that for most of his career he shared roster space with luminaries like Carl Yastrzemski, Wade Boggs, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice.
He pounded 385 career home runs, including three 30 HR seasons all coming after Dewey turned 30. He put together four 100 RBI seasons”¦all after the age of 32. Evans led the league in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) on two occasions and finished in the top six, in three other seasons. And with eight Gold Gloves, it was obvious that he was as complete a player as there was in his time (lack of speed, notwithstanding). He was still producing up through 1989, when the bottom fell out in 1990 (.249 BA, .391 SLG) at the age of 37.
Today’s theme seems to be “close, but no cigar”. And, in actuality, Dwight Evans isn’t really “close”. A tough-as-nails and overlooked star who still falls short of The Hall
Verdict: Out
Check back for Part Three of the Hall of Fame 100. Did Mark Grace do enough to get in? Can Jason Giambi salvage his career? And how clean were the hands of ‘Shoeless’ Joe? Get at me on AOL or Yahoo IM: ajcameron13
