Baseball's Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame (24 page)
Although Gwynn batted .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 campaign, and also batted .370 while scoring a career-high 119 runs in 1987, his most productive season was 1997. That year, Gwynn established career highs in home runs (17), runs batted in (119), hits (220), and doubles (49), while batting .372. In each of those three seasons, Gwynn was arguably the best rightfielder in the game, and among its top five players. He was also clearly among the game’s elite in 1989, 1993, and 1995, never hitting any lower than .336 in any of those years. In all, Gwynn was selected to 15 All-Star teams and finished in the top 10 in the league MVP voting a total of seven times, placing as high as third in 1984.
In addition to being a superb hitter, Gwynn was a solid outfielder and a good baserunner, winning five Gold Gloves and stealing more than 30 bases four times in the early stages of his career. His 2007 induction into Cooperstown, in his first year of eligibility, was well-deserved.
Mel Ott/Paul Waner/Chuck Klein
Ott, Waner, and Klein have been grouped together because they all starred in the National League at the same time, and were all clearly deserving of their elections to the Hall of Fame.
The New York Giants Mel Ott was the National League’s top slugger for much of the 1930s. Although not on the same level with the American League’s Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, and Joe DiMaggio, Ott was rivaled only by Chuck Klein and Joe Medwick during that decade as the N.L.’s top home run threat. Though diminutive in stature, Ott became one of the game’s top home run hitters by learning to pull the ball in order to take full advantage of the Polo Grounds’ short rightfield porch. As a result, he led the N.L. in home runs six times, and he also led the league in runs batted in once, walks six times, on-base percentage four times, and runs scored twice.
Though never considered to be one of the four or five best players in baseball, Ott was consistently ranked among the top five players in the National League for much of the 1930s. He was selected to 12 All-Star teams and finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting six times during his career. With Babe Ruth retiring in 1935, and with both Chuck Klein and Paul Waner on the decline, Ott was the best rightfielder in baseball from 1934 to 1939. Over that stretch, he averaged 32 homers, 113 runs batted in, and 109 runs scored, while batting well over .300 in all but one season. During his career, Ott hit more than 30 homers eight times, knocked in and scored more than 100 runs nine times each, and batted over .300 ten times, topping the .320 mark on six different occasions. His most productive season came in 1929, when he established career-highs in home runs (42), runs batted in (151), and runs scored (138), while batting .328. He also had particularly outstanding years in 1930 (25 HR, 119 RBIs, .349 AVG, 122 RUNS), 1932 (38 HR, 123 RBIs, .318 AVG, 119 RUNS), 1934 (35 HR, 135 RBIs, .326 AVG, 119 RUNS), and 1936 (33 HR, 135 RBIs, .328 AVG, 120 RUNS).
On the negative side, Ott’s home run totals were greatly inflated by the ballpark in which he played. The friendly rightfield porch at New York’s Polo Grounds enabled him to hit 324 of his 511 career homers at home, while hitting only 187 on the road. Therefore, Ott’s reputation as a great slugger is somewhat exaggerated. However, he was regarded as being the National League’s greatest slugger of the first half of the twentieth century, and as one of the most dominant players of his era.
During his 20-year career, Paul Waner was, in many ways, the Tony Gwynn of his era. Like Gwynn, he did not have a great deal of power, never hitting more than 15 home runs in a season, and knocking in more than 100 runs only twice. However, also like Gwynn, he was a superb line drive hitter who was perhaps the finest scientific hitter of his era.
During his career, Waner won four batting titles and also led the league in runs batted in once, and in triples, doubles, hits, and runs scored twice each. Although not a home run hitter, Waner had some power, as can be evidenced by his ten seasons with at least ten triples, and five seasons with more than 40 doubles. In fact, Waner’s career-high in triples was 22 (1926), and he once finished with as many as 62 doubles (1932). He also scored more than 100 runs nine times, collected more than 200 hits eight times, and batted well over .300 in each season, from 1926 to 1937.
Playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates during that 12-year period, Waner was considered to be one of the five best players in the National League in almost every season. He was certainly the league’s best rightfielder from 1926 to 1928, compiling averages of .336, .380, and .370, and scoring more than 100 runs in each of those years. He was voted the league’s top player in 1927, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award by leading the Pirates to the pennant. That year was Waner’s best, as he led the league with 131 runs batted in, 237 hits, and a .380 batting average, while scoring 114 runs and collecting 18 triples. He finished in the top five in the MVP voting three other times.
Waner also fared well in the All-Star voting, being selected to the team four times, even though the game was not played until 1933, his eighth year in the league. Waner finished his career with a .333 batting average, 3,152 hits, 1,309 runs batted in, 1,627 runs scored, 191 triples, and 605 doubles.
There are those who consider Chuck Klein a marginal Hall of Famer due to the fact that he was a dominant player for only five seasons. But, from 1929 to 1933, there was no better all-around player in the game. Over that stretch, he was clearly the best player in the National League, leading the senior circuit in home runs four times, runs batted in twice, batting average once, on-base percentage once, slugging percentage three times, doubles twice, hits twice, and runs scored three times. In fact, for those five years, Klein was so dominant that he rivaled Babe Ruth as the best rightfielder in baseball. Though Ruth was a slightly better player in 1929, 1930, and 1931, by 1932 Klein supplanted the Babe as the game’s top player at the position.
The National League did not present a Most Valuable Player Award at the end of either the 1929 or 1930 season, but, had a vote been taken, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Klein certainly would have received a great deal of support. In 1929, he hit 43 homers, knocked in 145 runs, batted .356, scored 126 runs, and finished with 219 hits and 45 doubles. The following year, he hit 40 homers, drove in 170 runs, batted .386, scored 158 runs, and collected 250 hits and 59 doubles, while setting a 20th century record for outfielders by accumulating 44 assists. Klein finished in the top five in the MVP voting in each of the next three seasons, winning the award in 1932. That year, he led the league with 38 home runs, 152 runs scored, and 226 base hits, while knocking in 137 runs and batting .348. Although he finished second in the balloting to Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell the following year, Klein won the National League’s triple crown by leading the league with 28 homers, 120 runs batted in, and a batting average of .368.
Over the course of his career, Klein topped the 30-homer mark four times, knocked in and scored more than 100 runs six times each, batted over .330 six times, collected more than 200 hits five times, and finished with more than 40 doubles four times. He also accomplished the outstanding feat of collecting more than 400 total bases in a season three times. Unfortunately, after 1933, Klein’s productivity was hampered by a series of hamstring pulls and a growing drinking problem that prevented him from accumulating as many as 500 at-bats in a season more than one other time, or being the dominant force he was during his peak seasons. However, while he faltered during the latter stages of his career, he remained a solid player through the 1937 season. Thus, by the time he retired at the end of the 1944 campaign, Klein accumulated 300 home runs, 1,201 runs batted in, and 1,168 runs scored, while compiling a lifetime batting average of .320. Many far less-deserving players were elected to the Hall of Fame prior to the Veterans Committee’s selection of Klein in 1980.
Sam Thompson
The greatest slugger and run-producer, and one of the very greatest players of the 19th century, was Sam Thompson. In fact, Thompson was the most prolific player ever at driving in runs, finishing his career with a ratio of .921 runs batted in per game.
With the Detroit Wolverines in 1887, Thompson established a 19
th
century record by knocking in 166 runs, while scoring another 118, collecting 203 hits, and batting .372. Two years later, with the Philadelphia Phillies, Thompson set another 19th century record by hitting 20 home runs. From 1893 to 1895, he posted batting averages of .370, .407, and .392, respectively, while scoring well over 100 runs each season. In the last of those seasons, he hit 18 home runs and knocked in 165 runs, to come within two homers and one RBI of equaling his own records.
Over the course of his career, Thompson led the league in home runs, runs batted in, doubles, and slugging percentage twice each, hits three times, and batting average and triples once each. He knocked in more than 100 runs eight times, scored more than 100 runs ten times, batted over .370 four times, finished with more than 20 triples three times, and collected more than 200 hits three times. He ended his career with 126 home runs (second among 19th century players to Roger Connor’s 138), a .331 batting average, 160 triples, 1,299 runs batted in, and 1,256 runs scored, in just over 1,400 games and slightly less than 6,000 at-bats.
With the possible exceptions of Dan Brouthers and Ed Delahanty, Thompson was the finest all-around hitter of the 19th century and, undoubtedly, one of its five or six greatest players. His selection by the Veterans Committee in 1974 was long overdue.
Willie Keeler
Nobody benefited more from the rules changes that were implemented in the early 1890s than “Wee” Willie Keeler. From his first full season in 1894 up until the 1900 campaign, Keeler never batted any lower than .362. Nor did he collect fewer than 200 hits or score less than 100 runs over that seven-year stretch. Included during that period were seasons in which he compiled batting averages of .424, .386, and .385, hit totals of 239, 219, and 216 (twice), runs scored totals of 165, 162, and 153, and stolen base totals of 67 and 64. Although he had little power, hitting only 33 home runs during his career, Keeler’s knack for getting base hits by being able to place the ball where he wanted to, seemingly at will, earned him the nickname of “Hit ‘em Where They Ain’t.”
A superb leadoff hitter, he was surpassed only by the Phillies’ Billy Hamilton as a run-scorer and table-setter during the 1890s. Keeler led the league in batting twice, hits three times, and runs scored once. During his career, he batted over .370 six times, scored more than 100 runs eight times, collected more than 200 hits eight times, and stole more than 40 bases five times.
Although the larger strike zone that was implemented at the turn of the century adversely affected “Wee Willie’s” offensive output, he remained a solid performer for the next several seasons, never batting below .300 through 1906. Playing primarily for the National League’s Baltimore Orioles and Brooklyn Dodgers, and the American League’s New York Highlanders (who eventually became the Yankees), Keeler finished his career with a .341 batting average, a .387 on-base percentage, 2,932 base hits, and 1,719 runs scored. He was selected by the BBWAA in the last set of elections that were held prior to the original opening of the Hall in 1939.
Reggie Jackson
Reggie Jackson’s inability to finish his career with a batting average any higher than .262, along with his reputation for being a below-average outfielder, kept him from being a truly great player. Both factors could have also very easily prevented him from being elected to the Hall of Fame, as he was, in his first year of eligibility. Nevertheless, Jackson was one of the best and most dynamic players of his era. As such, he clearly earned his place in Cooperstown.
Reginald Martinez Jackson’s 563 career home runs, 1,702 runs batted in, and 1,551 runs scored were probably enough to justify his selection to the Hall of Fame. However, Jackson had many other things going for him. He was one of the most colorful and controversial players of his time, and he was also a tremendous clutch performer. During his career, Jackson played on six pennant-winners and five world-championship teams, and he was one of the best players in postseason history. He is the only player to have been named MVP in two World Series, having led the Oakland A’s to the championship in 1973 and the New York Yankees to the title in 1977. In that 1977 Series against the Dodgers, Jackson set World Series records for home runs (5), slugging percentage (.755), runs scored (10), and total bases (25), and became only the second player to hit three home runs in one Series game (Babe Ruth did it twice).
Jackson was also among the five best players in the American League for a good portion of his career, and one of the very best players in the game in several seasons. Jackson’s first truly outstanding year was 1969, when, playing for Oakland, he hit 47 home runs, drove in 118 runs, batted .275, and led the league with 123 runs scored. After three less-productive seasons from 1970 to 1972, Jackson reached his apex in 1973. That year, he hit 32 homers, knocked in a league-leading 117 runs, batted .293, and led the league in runs scored and slugging percentage, en route to being named the American League’s Most Valuable Player. In virtually every season from 1973 to 1980, Jackson was one of the top five players in the A.L., and also the league’s top rightfielder. His outstanding performances in 1973, 1974, 1976, and 1980 were probably good enough to also have him ranked among the five best players in the game.
Jackson finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting seven times, making it into the top five on five separate occasions. He was selected to 14 All-Star teams and led his league in home runs four times, runs batted in once, runs scored twice, and slugging percentage three times. In addition, he was a winner who helped his teams reach their ultimate goal of winning the championship.