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With the impending retirement announcement of Yankee veteran Jorge Posada, baseball fans are wondering, what will his legacy be? For the diehard fans of New York, Posada will go down among the greats. For those who analyze statistics, Jorge Posada was a quality player on both sides of the plate, but his lack of production in the playoffs and overall average seasons leave much to be desired.

A career .273 hitter, Posada racked up 275 home runs, a .374 on-base percentage, a .474 slugging percentage, and a respectable .848 OPS. Posada collected 936 walks which is good enough for 15^th place among active players and swatted 379 doubles. Yet, Posada also managed to strike out 1,453 times (58^th most all-time and 13^th most among active players). The 40-year-old catcher’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) stands at 44.7, which means he has consistently made himself an asset to the Yankee starting lineup. Among active players, Posada ranks 27^th in Runs Created (RC) with 1,100. Defensively, he provided a career 7.49 Range Factor per 9 innings (RF/9 is a statistic used to measure how many outs a player is involved with, thus allowing a more comprehensive evaluation of one’s defensive play), which ranks 24^th all-time among catchers. Also don’t forget Posada’s 2007 season, he remains the only catcher in history to hit at least .330 with 20 homers and 90 RBI.

Posada’s postseason shortcomings damaged what is otherwise an outstanding catching career. With the exception of last fall’s ALDS, Posada failed to impress during the crucial playoff games. What’s worse is that as the Yankees got deeper into postseason, Posada’s production fell further into the abyss. Posada’s postseason batting average is a measly .248. In six World Series, he hit just .219. His OPS in the playoffs is more than 100 points lower than his career average at just .745.

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Still, Yankee fans will see far past those lackluster playoff numbers and remember the mighty catcher who won five World Series rings, caught a perfect game, collected five Silver Sluggers, was named to five All-Star games, and started 1,574 games behind the plate for the Yankees (trailing only Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey). Posada was an integral part of the latest Yankee dynasty, part of the legendary “Core Four” along with Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte. What’s even more impressive about Posada is his durability, which until recently was unwavering.  The Bronx Bombers never placed Posada on the disabled list until the 2007 season.

Is Jorge Posada a Hall of Famer? No, probably not. Will he be remembered as a winner, an intense competitor, and a highly respected battery mate? Absolutely. Take a look back at the infamous 2003 ALCS brawl between the Red Sox and Yankees (Note: Pedro Martinez vs. Don Zimmer). Who was the first to stand up to the mouthy Martinez and defend his team? Captain Jeter? Joe Torre? No, it was Jorge Posada who took the first bullet for New York by exchanging verbal jabs with Pedro. He’s a fiercely loyal guy who didn’t mind taking a back seat to big name players in the name of winning championships. If there was a Hall of Fame for players with heart, Posada would be one of the first inducted.

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This is the time of year when the Baseball Writers of America (BBWA) submit their final ballots for the players they think are deserving of induction into Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Among the eligible nominees this year, Barry Larkin and Jeff Bagwell may have the best chance of being elected.

But an equally deserving candidate for HOF enshrinement is Larry Walker.

Walker was overshadowed in his day (1989-05) by players like Ken Griffey, Jr., Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa.  But, with the tainted exception of Barry Bonds, Walker was arguably a more complete player than any of the others.

In fact, only Barry Bonds and Jeff Bagwell were truly comparable to Walker as complete Major League players.

One way to go about evaluating a potential Hall of Famer is to start with his weaknesses (or at least his perceived shortcomings).

Thus, one can argue that Edgar Martinez, for example, was “only” a DH, and therefore, because he seldom played in the field, his Hall credentials are penalized.

As for Sammy Sosa, (aside from the steroid issue), he was neither a great base-runner, nor was he a legendary defensive outfielder.  And in many seasons, his batting average wasn’t all that fantastic, either.

Barry Bonds, even before he ever (allegedly) used steroids, was nearly a complete player, but his throwing arm was just average.  If he could really throw, he would have played right field.

Jeff Bagwell was as close to being as complete a player as you could find during this era, but first basemen have to be exceptionally superior around the bag to win a reputation for defensive excellence.  Bagwell won just a single Gold Glove, and his throwing arm was considered average.

Ken Griffey was a sleek, graceful defensive outfielder and an excellent power hitter who won 10 Gold Gloves, had an average arm, and who never led his league in OBP, OPS, OPS+, hits, doubles, or walks.  His base-running skills were considered solid, but not fantastic.

Frank Thomas was a devastating hitter for both power and average, walked a lot, but was a poor defensive player and a below average base-runner.

I’m not arguing that the aforementioned players have questionable Hall of Fame credentials.  If any of them don’t make it into The Hall, it will be due to the taint of steroids.

But suppose you can find a truly flawless player?  Doesn’t it stand to reason that this player, given enough time on the baseball diamond to prove himself, would be a Hall of Fame quality player?

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Enter Larry Walker.

Every player has at least one minor shortcoming, right?  I’ve listed the relative shortcomings of several Hall of Famers already.

But as I searched for Larry Walker’s hidden weakness, I kept coming up empty.

Let’s start with a couple of traditional stats: batting average, and its sexy younger sister, on-base percentage.

Batting average is overrated, I know.  But a player with a career .313 batting average, who happened to win three batting titles (as many as George Brett,) has certainly demonstrated at least one strength.   And for those of you who snicker at the very mention of batting average, Walker posted an On-Base Percentage in his entire career of exactly .400.

By way of comparison, Derek Jeter, whose specialty is getting on base, has posted an OBP of .400 or better in just four of 16 seasons.  Brett reached that magic number in just three of 21 seasons.  Walker topped .400 in eight consecutive seasons.

Fine, he got on base a lot.  But what about hitting for power?  Let’s look at homers and RBI‘s.  Acknowledging (again with a nod to the sabermetric crowd) that RBI’s are overrated, Walker drove in 1,311 runs, topping 100 RBI five times.  He drove in over 90 runs for the first time, while playing with the Montreal Expos, at the age of 25.  He drove in over 90 runs (104, actually) for the last time, playing for the Rockies, at age 35.  Thus, for a solid decade, he was a serious middle of the order masher.

As for home runs, he hit 383 in his career, topping 30 homers four times.  He topped the N.L. in homers with 49 in 1997, and he averaged 31 per 162 games in his career.  Albert Pujols, who, if he quit playing tomorrow, would be a definite inductee into The Hall, also reached 49 homers just once.

In addition to Walker’s 383 homers, he also produced 471 doubles and 62 triples.  His 916 extra base hits are 56th all-time, more than Hall of Famers Paul Waner, Joe DiMaggio, Harmon Killebrew and Duke Snider, and just four fewer than Willie McCovey.

Impressively, Walker’s career slugging percentage is a remarkable .565, good for 14th best all-time.  Virtually every single player ahead of him on this list is either in the Hall of Fame already, or will be elected eventually (Pujols) unless their alleged use of steroids keeps them out (A-Rod, Bonds, Manny Ramirez.)

Likewise, Walker’s OPS (on-base + slugging) of .965 ranks 16th best all-time, just below Stan Musial and just ahead of Johnny Mize.  He posted an OPS north of 1.000 six times in his career.  By contrast, Hank Aaron reached that level five times in his career.

Enough already, you say.  So he was basically just a big, slow-footed Canadian who could slug the ball.  There have been lots of sluggers.  What else does he bring to the table?

How about seven Gold Gloves?  And how about 150 outfield assists?  Walker led the N.L. in assists three times, and his career total of 150 assists ranks seventh best, just four behind Jesse Barfield, and only five behind the legendary Dwight Evans.

Clearly, Walker was an excellent defensive right fielder with a gun for an arm.

Base-running skills?  Check.  In poll after poll of managers and of his peers, Walker was consistently on the short-list of best base-runners in his league.  Only Jeff Bagwell and a couple of other players were considered comparable to Walker during the entire decade of the ’90′s.

Not only was Walker extremely adept at turning singles into doubles, and reading the ball off the bat so that he knew when to score from second base, but he was an underrated base-stealer, too.

Larry Walker stole a surprising 230 bases in his career, and was caught 76 times.  His career stolen base percentage of 75% was about the same as Lou Brock’s and better than Maury Wills’.  Walker set a career high with 33 stolen bases in 1997, and topped 20 steals in two other seasons.

In his base-running prime, over a seven-year period (1993-99), Walker’s stolen base percentage, in 153 attempts, was an even more impressive 81%.

So Larry Walker could hit for average and for power, he could field his position with the best of them, and he was an excellent base-runner.

Oh, and due to his great base-running and his excellent power, he scored 1,355 runs in his career, topping 100 runs scored four times, and 90+ runs scored in two other seasons.

But I’ll bet he hit into a ton of double-plays, right?  Sluggers like him, even if they are smart on the base-paths, are susceptible to the old 4-6-3 double-play. And hitting into double-plays is an underrated killer of a player’s total value.

Even here, however, Walker’s career numbers are fantastic.  He hit into just 153 double-plays in his career.  Cal Ripkin is the all-time leader, having hit into 350 double-plays.  Jim Rice and Eddie Murray each hit into 315.  Frank Robinson checks in at 270.  Willie Mays hit into 251.  Charlie Hustle himself grounded into 247 twin-killings.  Derek Jeter clocks in at 235.

Walker was about as difficult to double-up as Craig Biggio (150), and Biggio once went an entire season (1997) without grounding into a double-play.

Larry Walker was a five time All-Star.  He won the N.L. MVP award in 1997.  He won three Silver Slugger awards.  He had a 200 hit season.  He won three batting titles, a home run title, and he led his league in OPS twice.

Now this is where you pull out your trump card.  Walker played his home games for nine+ seasons in the most favorable hitters park ever constructed, Coors Field in Denver, Colorado.

There is no doubt his overall career numbers were given a boost by this ballpark.  But in the last of his five seasons with his first team, the Montreal Expos, (1994) Walker posted an OPS+ of 151, a number he surpassed just four times in nine full seasons in Colorado.

Walker’s career OPS+, which takes into account a players’ home ballpark as well as the era in which he played, sits at 140, the same as Hall of Famer Duke Snider. His career OPS+ is also better than Hall of Famers Paul Waner, Eddie Murray, Joe Morgan, Eddie Collins, Dave Winfield, and Roberto Clemente, among others.

Moreover, while in Montreal, he had already established himself as a fine defensive outfielder by winning two Gold Gloves.  He had also already demonstrated fine base-running skills by swiping 29 bases in 36 attempts in 1993, and he led the N.L. in doubles with 44 in ’94.

As for his home-road splits, consider the following.  In Walker’s finest season, 1997, he slugged .709 at home, and .733 on the road.  He belted 20 homers at home, and 29 on the road.  He drove in 68 runs at home; he drove in 62 runs on the road.  His home on-base percentage was .460; his road OBP was .443.  So his numbers, in some cases, were actually better on the road, and even the stats that were better at home were not vastly superior.

Other Hall of Fame ball players certainly benefited tremendously from their home ballparks.  Mel Ott, for example, hit 323 of his 511 career homers (63%) at the Polo Grounds.  If Jim Rice had played his entire career in Houston, there would have been little difference between him and Jimmy Wynn.

Finally, a few of you may even pull out the “whiff of steroids” excuse to besmirch his reputation.  But no credible evidence exists to suggest that Walker ever used steroids.  Frankly, as intelligent adults, we need to move beyond the perversely gratifying, sensationalist rumor-mongering on this issue.

Not everyone who hit 25 or more home runs in a season in the ’90′s and early 2000′s used PED’s.  Unless credible evidence has come to light regarding a particular player, we have no choice but to extend to them the benefit of the doubt on this issue.

According to baseball-reference.com, of the ten players whose careers were most similar to Walkers, four of them, (DiMaggio, Snider, Chuck Klein and Johnny Mize) are already in the Hall of Fame.  Another close comp., Vlad Guerrerro, will be once he becomes eligible.

Taken as a whole, then, Larry Walker clearly produced Hall of Fame numbers.  Whether or not the BBWA sees it this way, and I suspect many of them won’t agree with me, Larry Walker deserves enshrinement in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bill James: The Father of Sabermetrics photo found on Google Images

The standards by which the elite are chosen for election into Cooperstown are evolving. This transition can mostly be attributed to the growing popularity and acceptance of Sabermetrics. The decision to vote Ron Santo into the sacred Hall is a prime example of the shift from traditional thinking.

While greatness on the diamond has its conventional and established characteristics, future Hall of Famers may be relying more on Sabermetric measurements to punch their tickets. For position players, the Hall of Fame has been reserved for the great power hitters, those with batting averages over .300, and a high number of career RBI. For pitchers it’s all about the career strikeouts, ERA, as well as wins and losses.

Ron Santo unfortunately passed away in 2010 without ever hearing his name called by the HOF. The Baseball Writers Association of America decision to induct Santo in 2012 isn’t just posthumously honoring a Chicago icon, but is truly a testament to the level of acceptance Sabermetrics has achieved. Santo had a career .277 batting average. He hit only 342 home runs, and drove in a very respectable 1,331 base runners. Santo definitely compiled above average career statistics, but not “elite” numbers to the naked eye. This is where Sabermetrics influenced his worthiness to the voting writers.

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For five seasons, 1963-1967, Santo had an OPS of .905 which would classify him in “Category A” according to Bill James’ “The 96 Families of Hitters.” Category A is reserved for batters with an OPS greater than .900, which is elite and, by all measures, great. He finished first in walks in the National League four times in his 15 year career. He led the NL in OBP three times. Santo was an even better fielder. A five time Gold Glove recipient, he finished in the top five in fielding percentage for third basemen eight times. Santo is currently ranked 105^th all-time in Wins Above Replacement, which is nothing to scoff at.

Ron Santo most likely wouldn’t have reached the Hall of Fame without the help of Sabermetrics. HOF voters are taking into consideration the statistics that are often undervalued and contribute to team wins. Ron Santo helped the Chicago Cubs win and by Sabermetric standards is an elite player deserving of Hall of Fame status.

Sabermetrics will continue to influence Hall of Fame voting. Particularly after an era of steroids and inflated power statistics, Sabermetrics provides a fresh perspective on players who may be on the “bubble” regarding their chance at being inducted. Position players and pitchers who come to mind include Tim Raines, Lee Smith, Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettite, Trevor Hoffman, and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez to name a few. Many of those may be considered shoe-ins for the Hall, but these players are nothing short of Sabermetric superstars and shouldn’t (and probably won’t) be overlooked by voters in the coming years.

Photo taken from Google Images

This is a post written by Jeff Herbst. Jeff has had a passion for sports ever since he could first walk and enjoys writing in his spare time. He works with Phoenix Bats, a company that manufacturers wood bats and specialty composite wood bats for amateur and professional ball players around the globe.

Since 1936, the baseball Hall of Fame has inducted 296 players, managers and executives who have excelled on the field of play, behind the scenes as manager, coach or executive, or who played a part in advancing the game of baseball itself. In its induction criteria, players must have played a minimum of ten years, and have been retired for five years. A screening committee then ciphers through the list of eligible players after they have waited the mandatory five-year period after retirement. Once the screening committee clears the list of lesser-qualified players, members of the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) must then cast their votes for players on the ballot and players who receive a minimum of 75 percent of the votes cast is automatically inducted.

While the process itself may seem foolproof, there are flaws in the system and those flaws have certainly come into play during and after what has been termed as baseball’s Steroid Era.

The Steroid Era can be loosely defined as the era between the late 1980s until now, when many ballplayers were suspected to have used performance enhancing drugs to in order to increase offensive output. Many players during this time were alleged to have used PEDs, while others actually tested positive for banned PED substances after MLB implemented PED testing in 2003.

The voting bloc for baseball’s Hall of Fame, the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) has largely denied entry into the hallowed halls of baseball for players suspected of PED use, including those who have tested positive in recent years. Mark McGwire, the slugging first baseman who originally broke Roger Maris’ all-time single-season home run record in 1998, is one such player who has failed to gain enough votes for entry. In the five years that McGwire has been eligible for Hall of Fame induction, the highest number of votes he has achieved has been 23.7 percent in 2010, far short of the 75 percent required for automatic induction.

So too is the case with former designated hitter Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro famously declared at a Congressional hearing in 2005, “Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don’t know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never.” However, just four months later, Palmeiro tested positive for a banned substance, rendering his very public statement useless. Despite the fact that Palmeiro is just one of four men in baseball history who have collected 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, he only received 11 percent of the votes in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility.

Cheating is cheating, no matter what form it takes. That is exactly why Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose have been barred from entry into the Hall of Fame—they were both involved in gambling on their own teams in some way. Baseball writers in the BBWAA have taken a stand that anyone accused of, or who tested positive for PED use also cheated and also should not gain entry in baseball’s hallowed halls.

For this writer, were I eligible to vote, I too would absolutely not cast a vote for any player who willingly changed his body via unscrupulous means in order to pad his statistics. Are there players in the Hall of Fame who were not the nicest of people, or who were disliked for various reasons? Yes, but none of them were accused of cheating the game. The Hall of Fame should only be reserved for players who earned it the right and honest way.

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The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for next year is so controversial that the conversations discussing whether two key names should be voted on has overshadowed this year’s entire class. If you didn’t guess already, the two players that will be eligible for entry are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. They are two poster boys of baseball’s steroid era that have yet to come clean about using.

Here are my first thoughts about what it would take for Bonds and Clemens to get voted in after all of the negative publicity and legal battles that have taken place were pretty extreme.

Remember the good times?

They both would need their publicists and marketing teams to create an intense email marketing campaign designed to target all of the Hall of Fame voters starting as soon as possible. They need to send out stats, records and highlights from their careers that focus only on their skills on the field and none of the off-the-field issues. The voters and fans need to remember the milestones these guys were able to reach for them to have any shot at being voted in. The steroid scandal and their reactions have marred their legacies almost to the point of no return and people need to have fresh thoughts about them.

Other players (Alex Rodriguez, JasonGiambi and Andy Pettitte) were able to recover from their steroid controversy by coming out and admitting to using steroids at one point and apologizing. They went through a tough period of questioning and being bashed my players, fans and the media but both of them were able to continue on with their careers.  If Bonds and Clemens had come clean and worked on apologizing and salvaging their reputations initially instead of going through these ugly court cases and denials, things would look much different for this upcoming Hall of Fame ballot.

Tainted history

Let’s be honest here, the Mitchell Report named 89 players who took steroids or human growth hormones (HGH) but there is no way that only 89 players have taken steroids. These are just the ones who were caught. There are athletes in the Hall of Fame right now who took steroids at one point or maybe even throughout their entire careers. You may say there’s no proof but people know it’s true. From the media to employees in the front office, people understand that there was a period of time in professional baseball when steroid usage was taking place at an alarming rate. Those players won’t come out and admit it now but Bonds and Clemens are taking the fall that many other players avoided.

I’m not saying they should get a pass for taking steroids. They have been punished and they will continue to suffer the consequences of their actions but they have dedicated their lives to the game of baseball and they did work hard. Taking steroids doesn’t guarantee you to be a good hitter or locate spots with your pitches. You have to have natural skill and talent. The voters should consider that when it’s time to vote.

Until then, let the debates begin.

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Ron Santo spent 14 of his 15-year career as a professional baseball player with the Chicago Cubs before he joined their broadcasting team. He was the self-described “single biggest Cubs fan of all time.” He was vocal on and off the field too, especially when it came to his desire to be voted into the Hall of Fame.

Santo had fallen short of being voted in over and over again (15 years to be exact), but today his wish was finally granted. He was voted into the Hall of Fame, receiving 15 votes from the 16-voter panel of the HoF Veterans Committee. Sadly, Santo passed away just over a year ago after suffering from diabetes and bladder cancer.

A few people argue that Santo was a great player, but not worthy of the Hall of Fame. I couldn’t disagree more with these people. Sometimes there are circumstances that need to be taken into account when it comes to voting a player in.

Santo was forced to retire at the age of 34 because of his illness. He was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 18 but he didn’t make it known for the majority of his career. Doctors gave him a life expectancy of only 25 years. He continued to battle on despite the odds stacking up quickly against him. He would eat candy bars in the clubhouse to keep his blood sugar up during games.

Santo didn’t reach the milestones that usually make a career considered Hall of Fame worthy: 3,000 hits and 500 homeruns. But at the time of his retirement, not many others at his position had reached those stats either, so it’s not surprising he didn’t meet those criteria. Santo did win five Gold Gloves and played in nine all-star games.

More importantly, he was able to do all that while fighting through an illness. If he was healthy, his career may have been another 10 years longer. Detractors also point to the fact that Santo never reached the postseason. While that is true, the blame for it shouldn’t fall directly on Santo. The pitching staff had breakdowns and the team around him wasn’t as good as the competition. After the playoff argument, people talk about how he only hit .277 for his career. Statistics show that his OPS would have him right in the mix with the other third basemen that are currently in the Hall of Fame.

His commitment to the Cubs should count for something too. If you ever listened to him call a game with Pat Hughes, it was impossible to not hear his passion. I had to redo my home theater design to get better speakers just so that I could catch the excitement in his voice with every homerun or the disgust of an error or tough loss. Santo was great with fans and he genuinely cared about the Chicago Cubs organization.

image provided by Icon SMI

He wasn’t happy about being repeatedly snubbed from the Hall of Fame, but in 2003, when the Cubs honored him by retiring his number 10 jersey he yelled out, “this is my Hall of Fame.” Well Ron, it’s a shame you weren’t able to be here for this honor, but now you made it, you’re in the Hall of Fame.

Photo taken from Google Images

Could he be elected to the Hall of Fame had he not broken the color barrier?

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was ahead of his time. Emerging almost 20 years before the Civil Rights movement, Robinson is known to African-Americans as a pioneer. He played second base in the Negro Leagues until age 25, when Branch Rickey, then the General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, discovered the talented prospect. Rickey, known as “the mahatma” for his devout faith, had been looking for the right guy to break the “color barrier” for years and felt Robinson fit the bill. After successfully proving himself in the Minors, Jackie Robinson shocked the world when he was called up to the Dodgers for the 1947 season at the ripe age of 28.

Robinson made an immediate impact, though initially it was not positive. By the end of April, he was only batting .225, but still garnered much attention from the media. He improved throughout the year and ended strong. He finished the season batting .297 with 125 runs scored, 29 stolen bases, and only 36 strikeouts. For both his bravery and performance, Jackie Robinson was awarded the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award and also finished fifth in MVP voting.

His career took off from there: after a similar 1948 campaign, Robinson exploded in 1949. Other than runs scored, he had career bests in every major offensive statistic. He batted a league leading .342 with 122 runs scored, 124 runs batted in, 37 stolen bases, 203 hits, 86 walks, and only 27 strikeouts. 1949 was obviously Robinson’s best year, and he was awarded the MVP for his feats. The second baseman would have many more notable years, but none comes close to 1949.

In 1956, his 10^th and final season, Robinson had a rather pedestrian showing for the second consecutive year, and afterwards, he decided to call it quits—to the chagrin of fans across the country.  Over the years, there has been much speculation as to the reason for Robinson’s retirement. Jules Tygiel, author of the acclaimed biography Extra Bases: Reflections on Jackie Robinson, Race, and Baseball History states that “upon his retirement in 1956, Robinson…had already begun to manifest signs of the diabetes that would plague the rest of his life.” Others believe he withdrew from baseball due to his refusal to play for his new team, the New York Giants. Regardless, Robinson had a successful ten-year tenure with the Dodgers.

Robinson was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) in 1962, his first year of eligibility. The question is, upon what merit was he elected? Was it for his playing ability and leadership of the Dodgers? Or was it for his resolve in breaking the color barrier? Or both?

The middle question is quite easy to answer: Robinson’s boldness and grit merit him a spot in baseball’s hallowed grounds regardless of his playing career. He received an overwhelming amount of hate mail and death threats, and the typical man would have given up from the start. So the question now becomes, could Robinson’s playing career alone have gotten him accepted into the HOF?

We’ll look at the conventional stats. Basically, Robinson had eight great years in the MLB: 1947-1954. During this span, there were few people in the MLB as productive offensively as Robinson. He was in the top 10 in batting average six times, in the top 10 in runs scored seven times, in the top 10 in hits five times, and selected to six all star games. He also was in the top 10 in stolen bases seven times during that period. Traditionally, Bill Mazeroski is known as the greatest defensive second baseman ever, but had Robinson played longer, he would have given Mazeroski a run for his money. Robinson led the league in fielding percentage among second basemen every year from 1948-52, which were his only years that second base was his predominant position. Moreover, Robinson’s stats probably would have been even more impressive had he not been dealing with hate mail and death threats.

Though Jackie Robinson had all of that single season success, his career numbers are lacking. He did bat .311, good for 100^th place all time, but he is behind players like Nomar Garciaparra and Magglio Ordonez, neither of whom will get elected into the HOF. Robinson’s highest career ranking is on base percentage, in which he ranks 36^th all time. Other than that, he is not in the top 100 in any major offensive statistic. While he missed much of his prime, entering the league at 28, so did Ted Williams, Bob Feller, and Joe DiMaggio. Still, their career stats are far more impressive than Robinson’s.

Marker Illustration by Neal Portnoy www.idrawpeople.com

Robinson’s Dodgers won the pennant six times during his tenure, and, in the World Series, they lost to the New York Yankees five times. They conquered their only World Series trophy in 1955, avenging their losses to New York. However, Robinson was hardly superhuman in the Fall Classic. He batted lower than .200 in half of those series, and he never stole more than two bases. The nostalgic baseball fan would now point out Robinson’s memorable steal of home in Game 1 of the ’55 Series. While that was one of the most remarkable moments in World Series history, the rest of that Series was lackluster: he batted an anemic .182, and had no more stolen bases during the remainder of the Fall Classic. Overall, Robinson batted just .234 in his six career World Series appearances, and swiped only six bases. Clearly, Robinson’s two statistical weaknesses are his career and postseason stats.

So we have a problem: his single season stats are herculean, but his career and postseason stats are not there. Renowned statistician Bill James ran into the same problem as I have, so he invented four statistics specifically for judging a player’s HOF status: Black Ink Test, Gray Ink Test, Hall of Fame Monitor, and Hall of Fame Standards. The Black Ink Test rewards a player for leading his league in any major statistic, while the Gray Ink Test rewards a player for coming in the top ten in any major stat. Hall of Fame Monitor rewards a player for having statistics higher than a benchmark total (i.e. above a .300 batting average) in a single season, while Hall of Fame Standards does the same thing, except for career totals.

So when you test Jackie Robinson with these stats, he appears to be a borderline HOFer. The average HOFer scores 144 on the Gray Ink Test, while Robinson scored 121. Similarly, a likely HOFer scores 100 on the Hall of Fame Monitor Test, and Robinson scored 98. In James’s other two stats, Robinson’s scores are very similar. According to these stats, it appears Robinson is in the lower echelon of HOFers.

All in all, my best judgment says that, based solely on statistics, Robinson would have eventually reached the HOF, but not on the first ballot. This, of course, is a moot argument because regardless of his stats, Jackie Robinson was a pioneer for baseball and for African-Americans throughout the entire country. His efforts toward improving the quality of life for African-Americans were ahead of his time, and he deserves to be in the HOF, whether or not his stats show it.

Trevor Hoffman photo taken from Google Images

Trevor Hoffman Calls It Quits

So, after the trials of the 2010 season where Glenn’s little brother saw himself loose his job as the closer for the Brewers for a while, yet rebound and still get his 600th career save (most ever), he decided to hang ‘em up! Here is the video of his retirement announcement…

By the way, his big brother Glenn Hoffman was the SS for the Boston Red Sox from 1980-1987, then turned to coaching. He managed in the Dodgers minor league system up until 1998 when he became the interim manager of the big club in mid-season (replacing Bill Russell). The next year (1999) he became the club’s third base coach where he remained until 2005. Since then (2006) he has been the third base coach of the San Diego Padres.

Yankees‘ Andy Pettitte Announces Retirement

Yesterday, longtime Yankees (with a short stop playing for Houston from 2004-2006) pitcher Andy Pettitte retired after 16 seasons. Pettitte is the all time leader in playoff wins with 19 (in 42 starts, which is also a record).

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

As an aside, Pettitte may also need to testify in court this year against former teammate and friend Roger Clemens on his PED use. Might this be part of the reason Pettitte isn’t playing in 2011 and left the door open for a possible return to the game in 2012 (if he gets that itch back once the season begins)?

South Park is one of my favorite programs on television these days. Trey Parker and Matt Stone trash everyone. So, while I may bristle somewhat at the fact that they trash my church or heritage, I chuckle because they trash everyone. In particular, they have managed the almost impossible feat of making Satan a sympathetic figure. In the same way, it has become an American tradition to make certain groups sympathetic when they otherwise wouldn’t be. In the 1600s it was eccentric women in Salem. In the 1950s it was people that may have had left leaning political beliefs. In the 2000s, it is baseball players that hit home runs under suspicious circumstances. Scapegoating and hysteria is an American tradition.

Hopefully, when you are done reading this you will check out The Hall of Fame Index at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com. I spent nearly ten years working on it. I changed the formula at least three different times. I looked for traditional publishers and finally settled on IUniverse (a self-publishing company). You can also check out the book on their site. Many might assume I want a Hall of Fame vote. I wouldn’t mind one, but that wasn’t what the book is all about. Others may assume I want the voters to pick my Hall of Famers. That would be great too, but that wasn’t the purpose. The real purpose was to get voters to think more about what they are doing. They need to care as much as some of us do.

I hate calling out writers, but I have to in this case. Jeff Pearlman almost single-handedly made juicers sympathetic. I thought that was impossible. Like Satan and South Park, I thought they were forever banished to the island of misfit toys. Of course, the juicers themselves aren’t really that sympathetic. In most things, it is never that simple. It is folks like Pearlman that make it that simple. In doing so, they insult our intelligence and just make themselves look like jackasses.

As a native Houstonian, I am most concerned with the “case” he made against Jeff Bagwell, but this treatise would easily be applicable to similar players. Allow me to walk through his argument one by one to really demonstrate how blatantly stupid it really was. I hate to give Pearlman anymore pub than he deserves, but these arguments are made by many, so they deserve some mention.

His Numbers Shot up

The funny thing, this is the most compelling of all of the arguments. Jeff Bagwell never hit much more than ten homers in the minors and won the ROY award with 15 home runs. He would eventually hit 47 as a career high. Of course, those numbers came in Minute Maid Park after a career in the Astrodome. I’ll admit, it is unusual to see that much power with a paltry minor league total, but it has happened before. If Pearlman had offered any other compelling evidence he might have had something.

He got bigger

The funny thing is that this is the kind of argument that sounds good on the surface. It’s used against Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, and most other sluggers. In some cases, it appears to be compelling and in other cases it’s just window dressing. I’ve put on weight since college. I’m reasonably sure some it may even be muscle. I guess I oughta get tested. It’s an absurd example I’ll grant, but so is an argument built on something that happens naturally to most players over time.

He broke down at the end of his career

This one is akin to the question of when you stopped beating your wife or girlfriend. There is no way to answer this one. Most players break down. So, you could just as easily ask a Barry Bonds why he didn’t break down in his late thirties. So, you simply take the result and frame the question to match the result. Bagwell did break down around the time when testing began. He couldn’t lift weights because of his shoulder condition so he also got smaller. See, add two asinine arguments together and you get a seemingly compelling case. Pretty tricky isn’t it?

He associated with other users

This is actually my favorite. Bagwell was on the same team as Ken Caminiti and Jason Grimsley. This is according to Jeff Pearlman’s crack research staff. Pearlman needs to fire his fact checker. Grimsley was acquired in the Curt Schilling trade. He was out of options so he was released when he didn’t make the 25 man roster. So, he technically was never a teammate outside of spring training. However, let’s suspend disbelief for a moment. Let’s say that Jason Grimsley offered Bagwell steroids in that five week time period they were together. Grimsley held one NL record: the most wild pitches in an inning. So, he approached the reigning NL Rookie of the Year and said, “I was so terrible I set the record for wild pitches in an inning. I know you are the reigning rookie of the year and all, but I’ve found that these have enabled me to achieve high levels of greatness to date.”

Allow me to offer an otherwise more plausible explanation. Both Caminiti and Grimsley used steroids after they were in Houston. By Pearlman’s own foolproof test, they got bigger and saw an increase in performance after leaving Houston. Sure, Bagwell and Cammy remained friends. I have no idea if he and Grimsley even spoke let alone remained friends. This is all true, but by the same seven degrees of a Kevin Bacon test we can link any big leaguer to steroids. If we try hard enough we can get Bob Feller busted for HGH. Ridiculous? Sure, but he knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy that did HGH.

We all know Houston and Arlington were ground zero for steroids

Really? You’ve got to be pulling my leg now. I didn’t know Pearlman was a comedy writer. Usually, the phrase “we all know that” is a precursor to an argument someone can’t possibly defend. How exactly did the Mitchell Report miss that one? Ask even the most casual of fans about the origins of steroids and they would point to the Bay Area. So, obviously we all don’t know that nugget Pearlman. Perhaps you can offer a shred of evidence of the countless Rangers and Astros that used steroids or HGH. This is how he lumps Craig Biggio into the discussion too. Notice Biggio doesn’t even have to go through the same exhaustive logical chain of tests Pearlman used on Bagwell. He played in a hotbed of steroids so therefore he must have used steroids. Case closed.

The damage has been done

Could Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio have used performance enhancing drugs? Anything is possible. Bagwell admitted to using Andro during his playing career before it was put on the banned substance list. So, it isn’t necessarily an illogical leap to wonder if he used other drugs. There is a difference between reasonable suspicion and a preponderance of evidence. It is reasonable to suspect almost everyone from the era. That is the burden that today’s voter must live with. Still, the general public and BBWAA themselves must be able to separate those that have tested positive, were mentioned in the Mitchell Report, or are blatantly obvious with those that could have possibly used.

Unfortunately, that might not be possible now. Enough columnists and bloggers have put Bagwell in that first group that he may not get in. I’d be willing to bet that he does, but there is enough doubt to make that more difficult. He isn’t the only one in that boat. Therefore, these players become sympathetic figures with writers that seem to use the National Enquirer rules for journalism ethics. If you throw enough crap on the wall some it is bound to stick. When it does Pearlman will be the first to claim credit. If it doesn’t, he will be quietly whistling and backing out of the room.

I just want to send out a note that Steve Keane from The Eddie Kranepool Society and This Call To The Bullpen will be hosting the BBA Baseball Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio tonight at 11PM ET. His guest will be fellow BBA member, Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley.

Bill and I will be discussing among other topics, the Phillies off season and the BBA Hall of Fame voting and tomorrows Hall of Fame announcement.

If you can not join us live you can always listen to the podcast on our show page at your leisure.

Image via CrunchBase