As all devoted followers of baseball know, the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) has an election each year to determine if any of the current candidates are worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.<\/p>\n
If we are talking about major league players, it is my assumption that the writers who are responsible for voting for the players are intent on rewarding those players who have had the best careers during their playing days. \u00c2\u00a0Given this assumption, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s take a look at how successful the voters have been during the 21st<\/sup> century \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that is, since 2001.<\/p>\n So, the question becomes: How many of the major league players elected to the Hall of Fame since 2001 by the BBWAA really have HOF numbers? <\/strong><\/p>\n Bill James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Win Shares system is the most comprehensive tool available to understand how good a season<\/strong> a player had.\u00c2\u00a0 It includes offensive and defensive contributions and adjusts for all relevant factors.\u00c2\u00a0 The CAWS Career Gauge (Career Assessment\/Win Shares) uses win shares to measure how good a career<\/strong> a player has had.\u00c2\u00a0 The CAWS Gauge is based on a player\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s core value (his ten best seasons) plus additional credit for his other seasons.\u00c2\u00a0 It is an objective tool which attempts to assess career value.\u00c2\u00a0 The Gauge has established benchmarks for each position as well as for starting pitchers and relief pitchers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to determine whether a player has posted obvious HOF numbers<\/strong> during his career.<\/p>\n Since 2001, twenty (20) major leaguer players have been elected to the Hall of Fame<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Of these players, eighteen have been elected by the BBWAA and two by the Veterans Committee.<\/p>\n The CAWS Career Gauge suggests that of the eighteen players elected by the BBWAA, sixteen have HOF numbers while two do not.\u00c2\u00a0 So, the writers were accurate with 89% of their choices<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Given all the variables involved, I would have to say that represents an outstanding job.<\/p>\n I would award the BBWAA a \u00c2\u00a0voting grade of\u00c2\u00a0 B+ \u00c2\u00a0for this time frame.<\/strong><\/p>\n From 2001 to 2008 the BBWAA was really on a roll.\u00c2\u00a0 During this time, they elected thirteen (13) major league players to the Hall of Fame and they were accurate 100% of the time!!\u00c2\u00a0 Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it be great if they could do this all the time.<\/p>\n Here are those players.\u00c2\u00a0 Each of them has obvious Hall of Fame numbers according to the strict standards of the CAWS Career Gauge.<\/p>\n 2001\u00c2\u00a0 -\u00c2\u00a0 Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett<\/strong><\/p>\n 2002\u00c2\u00a0 -\u00c2\u00a0 Ozzie Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n 2003\u00c2\u00a0 -\u00c2\u00a0 Eddie Murray and Gary Carter<\/strong><\/p>\n 2004\u00c2\u00a0 -\u00c2\u00a0 Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley<\/strong><\/p>\n 2005\u00c2\u00a0 -\u00c2\u00a0 Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg<\/strong><\/p>\n 2006\u00c2\u00a0 -\u00c2\u00a0 Bruce Sutter<\/strong><\/p>\n 2007\u00c2\u00a0 -\u00c2\u00a0 Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn<\/strong><\/p>\n 2008\u00c2\u00a0 -\u00c2\u00a0 Rich Gossage<\/strong><\/p>\n Alas, in 2009, the BBWAA streak came to an end<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 They struck gold that year, of course, with Rickey Henderson but they really struck out when they inducted Jim Rice into the Hall.<\/strong> Rice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s career achievements are so far below Hall standards that it is difficult to understand what the voters were thinking.<\/p>\n Then in 2010, they blew it again when they elected Andre Dawson.<\/strong> But in this case, the selection was somewhat more understandable since Dawson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s career achievements were at least relatively close to the CAWS HOF benchmark.<\/p>\n As we will see in a later section, Andre Dawson is one of those players who could accurately be described as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153borderline Hall of Famer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that is, a player who put up impressive numbers during his career but fell somewhat short of obvious HOF numbers.<\/p>\n However, based on his numbers, Jim Rice is not even a borderline Hall of Famer<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 As we will see, there are many other major league players whose career achievements are superior to his but who have never been serious candidates for the Hall.\u00c2\u00a0 His election represents one of the poorest choices ever by the BBWAA.<\/p>\n Happily, in 2011, the writers bounced back again and resumed their winning ways. They selected Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar<\/strong> for induction \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both of whom have very strong Hall of Fame numbers according to the CAWS Gauge.<\/p>\n In subsequent articles, I will look at the career numbers of each of these eighteen (18) players and explain how the CAWS Career Gauge judges their numbers.<\/p>\n Thanks for your time.<\/p>\n