How often does a player lead the league in more categories than an average Hall of Famer and finish in the top ten in more categories than an average Hall of Famer but not get elected to the Hall of Fame himself? Among non-pitchers eligible for the Hall of Fame, it has happened eight times. One of those eight instances belongs to a man named Sherry Magee, who from 1904 to 1919 was one of the top outfielders in the National League. He was an outfielder who, according to 84% of the voters on a Baseball-Fever.com poll, should be in the Hall of Fame.
Indeed, during his time, Magee was a great offensive player who finished with 2,169 hits, a .291 batting average, 441 stolen bases, 1,112 runs and 1, 176 RBI. Not impressed? Let’s adjust those numbers to reflect how he would have done in a non-Deadball Era, which is when he played. Had he played now, he would have hit .311 with 2, 516 hits, 509 stolen bases, 1,345 runs and 1, 442 RBI. Tack onto that 192 triples and you got yourself a Hall of Famer.
Unfortunately, Magee does not have those adjusted numbers – the numbers he actually has aren’t as impressive at first glance. A .291 batting average? Meh, Ellis Burks hit .291 too. 441 stolen bases? Steve Sax had 441 stolen bases – in fact, he had three more than that. 1,112 runs? Toby Harrah had more than that. 1,176 RBI? Vic Wertz did better than 1,176 RBI. A look back in history will show that Magee’s career totals have been bested by a bunch of guys who no one would really ever consider to be Hall of Famers. So why should anyone think that Magee would make a good Hall of Famer?
Well, as stated before Magee led the league in more categories than an average Hall of Famer and finished in the top ten in more categories than the average Hall of Famer. None of the other players I mentioned did that. In fact, let’s go down the list of all the major categories that Magee led the league in at least once: batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, games played, runs scored, hits, total bases, doubles, OPS+, extra base hits, times on base, and offensive winning percentage. He led five of those categories more than once.
While his 83 career home runs are far from impressive by today’s standards, one must consider that he played in era where 20 home runs in a season was unheard of and less than five home runs in a season was normal. Consider this – in 2008 alone, 122 batters hit 15 or more home runs. How many times did a batter hit 15 or more home runs from 1904 to 1919, the span of Magee’s career? 13. And Magee actually had two of those 13 instances, as he hit 15 home runs twice. Power was a rare commodity during Magee’s time, but it was an area at which he excelled.
According to BaseballLibrary.com, “Magee was one of the great players of the dead-ball era, 1900-1919. He could hit, run, field, and throw with the best, and played intelligently and aggressively,” and according to TheBaseballPage.com, “he had no real weaknesses…” Furthermore, the Baseball Reference Bullpen says, “[he] was one of the top players of his time.” So, what is a player who had “no real weaknesses,” who could, “hit, run, field, and throw with the best” and who was “one of the top players of his time” not doing in the Hall of Fame? Your guess is as good as mine, however I can offer two possible explanations. One: people don’t take into account that he played during the Deadball Era, and therefore don’t realize that his statistics were a lot better than they look at first glance. Two: No one remembers him because he played a century ago. The more time goes on, the harder it will be to get great players like Magee into the Hall of Fame because no one has heard of them, and because no one was actually alive to see them play.
I’ll leave you with this bit of information, however. From 1904 to 1919 – the span of his career – Magee appeared in more games, had more plate appearances, more at-bats, more runs, more doubles, more triples, more RBI, more total bases, more extra base hits and was on base more than anyone in the National League. Now THAT is impressive. That is Hall of Fame impressive.
References:
Baseball-Reference.com
TheBaseballPage.com
BaseballLibrary.com
