Chapter Nine: The True Hall of Famers – The Pitchers

Title: BASEBALL’S BEST: The TRUE Hall of Famers
Author: Michael Hoban, Ph.D.
Formats: PDF (ebook) | Paperback
Pages: 223

As we noted in an earlier chapter, according to the guidelines set forth for the BBWAA election process, “ Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability,integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.” It is obvious from this statement that a voter may consider accomplishments other than those on the field of play.But it is also fair to say that a player’s on-field performance is generally regarded as the most important consideration for induction into baseball’s ultimate shrine.

As of the end of the 2006 season, by my count, there were fifty-two (52) pitchers who played the majority of their careers during the 20 ^th century (in the major leagues) and had been elected to the Hall of Fame by either the BBWAA (baseball writers) or the Veteran’s Committee (this compares to 120 position players).And, as most fans know, there has always been a note of controversy regarding some of these players – as to whether they truly belong in the Hall.Suggestions have been made that anything from popularity to politics have driven their induction – rather than their actual performance on the field in the major leagues.

In this chapter, we will begin to examine which pitchers who are currently in the Hall of Fame(and played during the 20 ^th century) REALLY belong there on the basis of their numbers.That is, we will determine which of these pitchers had the on-field performance numbers in the major leagues to warrant their induction into baseball’s ultimate shrine.

Of course, as reflected in the voting guideline above, some fans would argue that on-field performance alone should not be the sole criterion for selection to the Hall.And I would agree that in some special cases this could be true – Jackie Robinson comes immediately to mind.So I will make the case for those pitchers who definitely did have the performance numbers to qualify– and let others make the argument as to why some pitchers who may not have the numbers should be honored.

An Illustration–Waite Hoyt and Hal Newhouser

There are probably many baseball fans who have never heard of Waite Hoyt and some who have not heard of Hal Newhouser – yet both pitchers are in the Hall of Fame.And there are probably some fans who have heard of them but are inclined to dismiss them as “not deserving of being in the Hall.”But the truth of the matter is that one of them, at least, clearly has the career numbers to be in the Hall of Fame.

One important aspect about the NEWS concept is that it can help us to see whether a particular player who is in the Hall of Fame really deserves to be there.And these two pitchers illustrate rather well the importance of looking adequately at a player’s core performance.

Waite Hoyt was a pitcher who played in the big leagues for twenty-one seasons from 1918 to 1938.That means he had a long career.During his career he accumulated 262 win shares – not an impressive number compared to the best pitchers in the game.Bob Gibson, for example, pitched for seventeen seasons and had 317 career win shares.

Hal Newhouser pitched for seventeen seasons from 1939 to 1955.During that time he earned 264 win shares – only two more than Hoyt.Looking at the career win shares alone, one might be inclined to conclude that these two pitchers had almost equivalent careers.But, of course, it took Newhouser fewer seasons to earn his win shares than Hoyt.And that is the point behind the CV (core value).When judging the value of a player’s career, it is essential to see how he did during his best seasons.

During his ten best seasons, Newhouser’s CV was 234 which means that he averaged 23.4 win shares per season for those ten seasons – a very impressive pitching performance.Any pitcher who earns 23 win shares in a single season has had a very good season.For example, Johan Santana won the Cy Young award for 2006 as the best pitcher in the American League.He had 25 win shares.Brandon Webb won the award in the National League – he had 22 win shares.A pitcher who averages 23 WS over his ten best seasons has had a great career.Newhouser’s CV of 234 puts him right up there with such pitchers as Bob Feller and Randy Johnson and ahead of such Hall of Famers as Whitey Ford and Don Drysdale.

Waite Hoyt, however, is a different story.He had a CV of only 189 which would put him in the company of such pitchers as Jim Kaat and Mike Mussina– good, solid pitchers but questionable as far as HOF credentials are concerned.

Hal Newhouser has a NEWS score of 242 – putting him among the top 30 starting pitchers of the 20 ^th century and making him an unquestioned Hall of Famer.Waite Hoyt has a NEWS score of 207 – putting him well below the benchmark for HOF numbers for a starting pitcher.

The Top 10 Starting Pitchers who are in the Hall of Fame

Here is the list of those starting pitchers who are in the HOF and had the best careers in the major leagues during the 20 ^th century.

I should point out that Cy Young (1890-1911) is not included in this list because he spent slightly more than half of his career pitching in the 19 ^th century.His NEWS score would have been at the top of the list.

Serious fans will recognize most of the pitchers on this list.But how many will be familiar with Eddie Plank or Mordecai Brown – even though they are both in the Hall of Fame?

Rankings such as these give us some idea of just how good pitchers such as Tom Seaver and Gaylord Perry really were – if, in fact, we did not already suspect this.

Obviously, these top ten pitchers deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.In the next chapter, we will look at the other pitchers who are in the Hall of Fame and determine whether they have HOF numbers.