Chapter Three: The True Hall of Famers

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

Who belongs in the Hall of Fame? 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.” This statement clearly says that “integrity, sportsmanship, character” may be considered. It does not say that accomplishments such as managing, broadcasting, etc. may be considered. For example, should Joe Torre’s success as the manager of the New York Yankees be considered since he never played for the Yankees (“contributions to the team on which the player played”)? I think it is fair to say that the statement makes it very clear that a player’s on-field performance (as a player) should be regarded as the most important consideration for induction into baseball’s ultimate shrine.

With the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn in 2007, (by my count) there were 120 position players in the Hall of Fame who had played the majority of their careers in the major leagues during the 20^th century and had been elected by either the BBWAA (baseball writers) or the Veteran’s Committee. 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.

As a case in point, it has been said that three players who were inducted into the Hall of Fame together by the Veteran’s Committee in 1946 are there not so much because of their playing ability but rather because they were the subject of a popular poem. Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance were “immortalized” in a poem written by Franklin Pierce Adams in 1910. We will see that none of these three players seems to have the performance numbers that would justify induction into the Hall of Fame.

We will now examine which position players (not pitchers) who are currently in the Hall of Fame (and played the bulk of their career during the 20^th century) REALLY belong there on the basis of their numbers. That is, we will determine which of these players had the on-field performance numbers in the major leagues to warrant their induction into baseball’s hallowed ground.

Of course, as reflected in the voting guideline above, some fans may 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 players who definitely did have the performance numbers to qualify – and let others make the argument as to why some players who may not have the numbers should be honored.

An Illustration - Elmer Flick and Heinie Manush

There are probably many baseball fans who have never heard of Elmer Flick or Heinie Manush and yet both 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 players illustrate rather well the importance of looking adequately at a player’s core performance.

Elmer Flick was an outfielder who played in the big leagues for 13 seasons from 1898 to 1910. That means he had a relatively short career. During his career he accumulated 291 win shares - not an impressive number compared to the best players in the game. Joe DiMaggio, for example, also played for 13 seasons and had 387 career win shares.

Heinie Manush was also an outfielder who played for 17 seasons from 1923 to 1939. During that time he earned 285 win shares - only six less than Flick. But of course it took him seventeen seasons to do it. 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 ten best seasons.

During his ten best seasons, Elmer’s CV was 280 which means that he averaged 28 win shares per season for those ten seasons - a very impressive feat. Any player who earns 28 win shares in a single season has had a very good season. A player who averages 28 WS over his ten best seasons has had a great career. That CV of 280 puts him right up there with such players as Mark McGwire, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Al Kaline and ahead of such Hall of Famers as Dave Winfield and Willie Stargell.

Heinie Manush, however, is a different story. He had a CV of only 236 which would put him in the company of such players as Norm Cash and Dwight Evans - good, solid players but questionable as far as HOF credentials are concerned.

Elmer Flick has a NEWS score of 283 – putting him among the top 80 position players of all time and making him an unquestioned Hall of Famer. Heinie Manush has a NEWS score of only 248 – suggesting that he does not have HOF numbers.

I will conclude this chapter by listing the twenty position players who are in the Hall of Fame and had the best careers in the major leagues – based on their numbers alone.

The Top 20 Position Players in the Hall of Fame

Now we are ready to look at those players who are in the Hall of Fame and who the NEWS monitor indicates clearly have the numbers to merit inclusion. We will start with the twenty position players who had the best careers of all. Here they are.

There are not many surprises among these superstars of the game. I was mildly surprised to see Eddie Collins ranked as high as he is (#10) and to find Eddie Mathews on this list of the top twenty Hall of Famers. But that is the beauty of this sort of objective research – sometimes we are surprised. Notice that there is only one shortstop (Honus Wagner) and no catchers on this list.

As a rule, as mentioned above, 30 win shares in a season is considered to be an “MVP-type season.” The lowest CV (core value) score (316) among these players belongs to Frank Robinson. This means he averaged 31.6 win shares over his ten best seasons. Which means that every one of these players averaged MVP-type numbers over their ten best seasons. This gives us some idea of exactly how good they were.

Note that Joe DiMaggio is the only one on the list with less than 400 career win shares. Of course, he only played for thirteen seasons. But his core value of 325 illustrates just how great he really was.

The 20^th Century All Star Teams

Using the News score, these would be the first and second string all-century Hall of Fame teams.

I should point out that if we did not restrict these teams to Hall of Famers, then two other players would make the teams. Barry Bonds would be the first team left fielder with a NEWS score of 497 while Alex Rodriguez would be the second team shortstop with a score of 341.