The Veterans Committee Nominees: “After-1942 Election”

The Hall of Fame has announced the candidates for the Veterans Committee’s “After-1942 election.”   Here is part of the press release.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.— Ten former Major League players, whose careers began in 1943 or later, will be considered for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 by the Veterans Committee, with results to be announced Dec. 8 at baseball’s Winter Meetings, it was announced today.

Dick Allen, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torreand Maury Willswill be considered for election by the Veterans Committee for enshrinement in 2009, with votes to be cast by Hall of Fame members this fall. Any candidate to receive 75 percent of the vote among all ballots cast will earn election to the Hall of Fame and will be enshrined on July 26, 2009. There are 64 living Hall of Famers.

In this group, only Dick Allenand Ron Santohave obvious Hall of Fame numbers according to the NEWS HOF Gauge and deserve to be elected on the basis of what they achieved on the playing field .  Of course, there are those fans who believe that other considerations should come into play as well.  And the managerial careers of Joe Torre and Gil Hodges are often mentioned in this context.

The Position Players

Dick Allenhas by far the best numbers of any 20th century position player who has been eligible but has not been elected to the Hall.  His career numbers are the 36th best of all position players in the century.  Look at the players who surround him on the NEWS list. The first number (CWS) is career win shares, the second (CV) is the sum of win shares for the ten best seasons and the third is their NEWS score (career score).  The number before the player’s name is his rank compared to all position players of the 20th century.
Of course, McCovey, Murray, Ripken and Yount are all in the Hall of Fame.  You will note that Allen’s CV (his win shares in his ten best seasons) is better than any of the others.  (Only thirty 20th century position players have a CV greater than 300.)

All serious fans are familiar with the “bad attitude” rap that surrounds Allen.  And there is no denying that he had his problems in this regard.  But I believe that it is time for this outstanding player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame regardless of any such opinions.  After all, it is not the Hall of Saints.

Ron Santohad the 5th best career among third basemen in the 20th century.  Only Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, George Brett and Wade Boggs (in that order) had better careers at third.  The NEWS HOF Gauge has Santo ranked #71 of all position players of the century.  Here are a few players ranked near him on the list.

Carew, Heilmann and Goslin are in the Hall and Bill Dahlen is on the “Pre-1943 list” for consideration.  All five of the players on this list have HOF numbers and deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

What of the other six position players on the “After-1942” Veterans Committee list: Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Joe Torreand Maury Wills?  None of these players achieved HOF numbers on the playing field according to the NEWS Gauge.

Here are the NEWS scores for these six players (in italics).  I have also included the scores of some other players for comparison purposes.  Those players already in the Hall of Fame are in bold type.  (None of the players on this list have HOF numbers.)

A few questions/comments:

1.    Why is Minnie Minoso not on the list of finalists?  His numbers are better than any of these finalists other than Vada Pinson.
2.    Joe Torre, if considered to be a catcher (where he played the greatest number of games), may be the most deserving of these six players – based on his playing numbers alone.3.    Would you vote for Maury Wills for the Hall of Fame when Alan Trammell is not there yet?
4.    Look where Jim Rice is on this partial list.  And he is about to be elected by the BBWAA?  How could anyone possibly vote for him ahead of Dave Parker or Andre Dawson?

Let us hope that Dick Allenand Ron Santowill be elected to the Hall of Fame and finally get the recognition that they have earned.

The Pitchers

What about the pitchers?  There are only two pitchers among the ten players on the Veterans Committee list: Jim Kaatand Luis Tiant.  And, unfortunately, neither pitcher has numbers meriting serious consideration for the Hall of Fame.

A NEWS score of 235 is considered necessary for a starting pitcher to have obvious HOF numbers.  Only 35 pitchers in the 20th century have achieved that score and most are in the Hall of Fame.  Bert Blylevenand Carl Maysare two of those pitchers who have achieved that score but are not yet in the Hall.

Here is a short list of pitchers who are comparable to Luis Tiant and Jim Kaat.  A few are recent players and two (bold type) are in the Hall of Fame.  (Scores at the end of 2007.)

None of these pitchers has HOF numbers. If John Smoltz reaches 300 CWS (which it seems he will), then he deserves serious consideration – primarily because he spent a number of seasons in relief.

There is one other interesting fact here. The NEWS HOF Gauge contends that among retired starting pitchers whose careers began after 1942, only Bert Blylevenand Roger Clemenshave obvious HOF numbers and are not yet in the Hall of Fame.

For more information on the NEWS HOF Gauge, see BASEBALL’S BEST: The TRUE Hall of Famers on this site.