Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #98- Kid Nichols, SP1

Class of: 1949 (Veterans Committee) 

Team: Braves 

Key Stats: 361 Wins, 80.0 WAR, 2.95 ERA 

And now, we reach the Don Sutton of the earliest generation of starters.  Kid Nichols was one of the first pitchers to win 300 games, accomplishing the feat after 11 seasons in the majors.  And yet, for years, he quietly faded into the backdrop of history as Cy Young, Walter Johnson and others kept rewriting the record books.  It took the Hall of Fame 13 years of voting to decide that Nichols deserved to join the ranks when players like Joe McGinnity, Jack Chesbro, Tommy McCarthy, Frank Chance and others were able to make it in sooner.  What happened to make Nichols not stand out as much as the others?  Well, for one, Nichols had a very obvious break in his career which hurt his perception slightly.  After pitching incredibly well from 1890-1901, Nichols began to coach in the minor leagues before returning to the Majors in 1904 and, while he was decent, he wasn’t nearly as dominant as his earlier years.  For another, newspapers didn’t give much attention to sports until the middle of the first decade of the 1900’s, right as Nichols’ career was wrapping up, so his best years didn’t receive much national attention.  And, just like his peers that seemed to fade away, Nichols’ personality was not the typical ballplayer’s personality of the time.  Nichols was not an alcoholic ruffian like some players like King Kelly, but much more of the quiet, reserved type in the mold of Deacon White.  The fading of Nichols’ career is unfortunate because that took glory away from one of the best arms of the early years. 

Nichols burst onto the scene in 1890 with 27 wins, a 2.23 ERA and 8.4 WAR in over 400 innings in one of the greatest debut seasons for a pitcher ever.  Over the remainder of the 1890’s, Nichols became possibly the best pitcher in the game as he won 30 or more games a record seven times, threw at least 300 innings every season and even was able to strike out a decent number of hitters for the time with eight seasons of 100 or more punchouts.  Even at his lowpoint of the decade, a 4.74 ERA in 1894, he was still a very good pitcher with an ERA- of 86 which shows how much of a year for offense that season was.  Other than in 1894, Nichols’ ERA- was below 80 in all but one season of the 1890’s and his raw ERA was below 3.00 in all but three seasons for the decade.  With Nichols leading the charge, the Braves won the league pennant five times in the decade and beat the Cleveland Spiders for the 1892 Championship Series (Nichols won two games that series with an ERA of 1.00).  The 1890’s were absolutely Nichols’ decade as he was worth at least 5.1 WAR each year, even when his ERA was nearly 5.00 and his FIP was over 5.00 in 1894. 

While Nichols was clearly at his best for the 1890’s, time moves in one direction and the decade couldn’t last forever.  In 1900, Nichols began to slow down a bit with a WAR of only 2.1 while tossing only 231 innings.  Nichols hurt himself in April of the 1900 season and pitched most of the year in pain.  He bounced back somewhat in 1901 with 3.9 WAR in 321 innings, but his best years were clearly behind him.  In the offseason following 1901, Nichols became player-manager for a team in the Western League, where he would pitch and manage for the next two seasons before the team folded.  Nichols returned to Major League Baseball in 1904 with the Cardinals and was excellent once again with 5.4 WAR in 317 innings.  Unfortunately, Nichols would resume his decline period in the following two seasons before retiring in 1906 after throwing 11 rough innings for the Phillies. 

During his career, Nichols was the second most valuable pitcher with 80 WAR, behind only Cy Young.  Young also outranked him in wins, RA9-WAR, innings and strikeouts.  Overall, after his career, Nichols’ win total ranked third behind Young and Pud Galvin, while his WAR and RA9-total ranked ahead of everyone besides Young as well.  There’s no shame in finishing second to the best pitcher of the generation, and Nichols easily has a case to be made for his induction as well as the best pitcher of his time not named Cy Young.  Nichols’ high peak and decade-long dominance make him a fine selection for the Hall of Fame, as well as one of the best pitchers ever.  He wasn’t Cy Young, but then again there weren’t many that were Kid Nichols either. 

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #99- Robin Roberts, SP3

Class of: 1976 (BBWAA, 86.9%)

Team: Phillies

Key Stats: 286 Wins, 74.7 WAR, 3.41 ERA

Looking through the pitchers in the Hall of Fame a second time has led me to one inescapable conclusion: each generation of starting pitchers has its own version of Don Sutton.  Sutton took the ball every day and performed at a high level without a lot of attention or accolades while the league or writers didn’t consider him a top pitcher.  Mike Mussina was like that in the most recent generation, and Sutton was of course the Sutton of his time.  Before Sutton’s time on the mound, Robin Roberts had the title of the most underappreciated arm in baseball.

Roberts signed with the Phillies in 1947 for $25000, a sum of which he used to buy his mother a new house.  In his 1948 debut with the Phils, Roberts showed a small preview of what was to come for Philadelphia in the ensuing 14 seasons.  In 146 innings covering 20 starts, Roberts had an ERA of 3.19 for a team that was 22 games under .500.  That record would be something that Roberts would be accustomed to as the Phillies were constantly below even money over the course of his career, which cost Roberts a chance at 300 wins.  Following a bit of a sophomore slump in 1949, Roberts asserted himself as one of the top pitchers in the National League during the 1950’s.  During the decade, Roberts won 20 or more games seven times, struck out 140 or more six times and had an ERA south of 3.00 three times.  Each year, Roberts had a WAR of at least 2.2 and topped 5.0 six times.  While never much of a strikeout pitcher, Roberts did what he could to limit baserunners by not issuing walks.  His highest walk rate in the decade was 2.28 per 9 innings, and he had no other season in the 1950’s above 2.00.  The low number of walks issued by Roberts allowed him to maintain a low number of baserunners as he had a WHIP above 1.2 only once in the decade.

During the 1960’s, however, Roberts began to slow slightly.  In 1961, his final in Philadelphia, Roberts threw a career low 117 innings with a career worst ERA of 5.85.  Roberts had some struggles adjusting to the loss of his fastball and having to become more of a finesse pitcher rather than a power pitcher.  Tensions between the Phillies’ manager and their long-term ace led to Roberts being sold to the Yankees in the offseason.  Before even pitching for the Yanks, the team cut Roberts in April and he was eventually picked up by the Orioles, where he put up 3.5 WAR in only 191 innings for them.  Roberts kept pitching decently for another few seasons, but the wheels eventually fell off for him in 1966.  In Roberts’ final season, he put up an ERA of 4.82 over 112 innings split between the Astros and Cubs.  Roberts pitched for the Phillies’ minor league club near his home in Pennsylvania in 1967, but with no team willing to sign him by June, Roberts called it a career.

During his career, there weren’t many pitchers that were more valuable than Roberts.  He ranked first in WAR and innings, second in wins, complete games and shutouts, third in strikeouts and had the best walk rate among starters with 2000 or more innings.  Roberts was obviously a great pitcher but had one knock against him that he couldn’t shake.  Roberts did not like throwing inside to batters, opting instead to attack hitters in the zone and try to hit the corners.  His philosophy prevented him from walking batters, but also led to him being somewhat hittable, especially once he lost his fastball.  His average against of .252 is mediocre but his main problem was allowing homeruns.  Roberts’ homerun rate of 0.97 per 9 innings is bad, and his 505 homers allowed were the highest total for any pitcher until Jamie Moyer broke that record a few years ago.  The homeruns Roberts allowed, which were more than all but five players had hit in their careers to that point, could have tainted his image in the minds of the BBWAA.  His lack of 300 wins probably also hurt him somewhat as even Early Wynn had been inducted with worse numbers than Roberts because of the magical milestone.  It took the writers four ballots to recognize Roberts’ greatness when it probably should have been much sooner.

Pitchers have one job—prevent the other team from scoring runs.  They have many avenues to do that.  Some, like Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, did so by striking out a lot of batters.  Some, like Jim Palmer, relied on their tremendous defense.  And others, like Roberts and Greg Maddux, did it by not allowing free baserunners.  Roberts threw a lot of innings but limited scoring as much as he could by limiting walks and striking out a decent number of batters (especially in his early years).  He did give up a lot of homeruns, but he didn’t allow many other runs from scoring.  Roberts was clearly the best (or second best if you’d rather Spahn) in the game for about a decade, and that more than makes him worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #100- Trevor Hoffman, CP

Class of: 2018 (BBWAA, 79.9%) 

Team: Padres 

Key Stats: 601 Saves, 2.87 ERA, 25.9 WAR 

You may have noticed that I labeled Trevor Hoffman as a “closer” rather than a “reliever”.  When Dennis Eckersley (under the direction of Dave Duncan and Tony LaRussa) made his transition to the bullpen, he began a new era of how relief pitchers would be deployed to limit their number of innings, but maximize the amount of impact that pitcher could have (affecting more games) in a given season.  Gone were the years of Goose Gossage throwing 2-3 innings per save, now pitchers would specialize in shutting down the ninth inning, and ninth inning alone.  With Eckersley becoming such a dominant force out of the backend of a bullpen, the closer role was born and caught on across the game, for good and for ill.  The American League had Eckersley and Mariano Rivera to dominate the closer role, but the National League belonged to Hoffman. 

From the moment Hoffman debuted in 1993 until his penultimate season in 2009 he was one of the top closers in the game.  He threw 60 or more innings ten times in that span, saved 40 or more games nine times, had an ERA below 2.50 seven times and struck out more than one batter every inning ten times as well.  Hoffman first came up with the Marlins in 1993 during the team’s inaugural season.  After 28 games with the Fish, Hoffman was dealt as part of a package to the Padres for Gary Sheffield, and while with the Padres he became the team’s second most beloved player of all-time, despite a rocky beginning to their relationship (the Padres were having a fire sale, and traded most of their great players).  Hoffman dazzled opponents with one of the best changeups of all-time, and while his fastball was very good, he lost zip on it quickly due to a variety of shoulder injuries.  He initially hurt his shoulder during the strike of 1994 and had it repaired in the 1995 offseason.  After several more brilliant campaigns (Hoffy only had one mediocre year and one bad year that we’ll touch on in a moment), Hoffman required more work done on his shoulder in 2003 (having two surgeries on it this time), and returned in September to throw nine innings in non-save situations.  Hoffman briefly returned to dominance for the Padres in 2004 but with a diminished strikeout rate and fewer innings to throw each year (he dropped from 60-80 innings a season to 40-60 innings a year after 2003). 

In 2008, for the first time in his entire career, Hoffman had a mediocre campaign.  In only 45 innings, Hoffman had an ERA of 3.77 and as the Padres began cutting costs, Hoffman’s tenure in San Diego came to an unfortunately bitter end.  Soon after the Padres made an offer to Hoffman and then rescinded it, he signed with the Brewers for the 2009 season and had a phenomenal comeback campaign with an ERA of 1.83 over the course of 54 innings leading the Brewers to extend him for 2010.  Unfortunately for Hoffman, 2010 was truly the end of the road.  His ERA ballooned to 5.89, his strikeout rate dropped from 8.00 K/9 to 5.70 K/9 and his homerun rate skyrocketed up to 1.52 every 9 innings.  Realizing that his time was at an end, Hoffman retired following the 2010 season as one of the greatest closers to ever pitch. 

Hoffman faced the same problem that Tim Raines faced during his career.  While Raines was always overshadowed by Rickey Henderson, Hoffman could not escape the shadow of Mariano Rivera.  Even in Hoffman’s one and only World Series performance, he blew a save to Rivera’s Yankees while Mo saved three games as the Padres were swept by the Yanks.  Thus, it isn’t fair to look at Hoffman’s rankings without acknowledging that yes, Rivera pitched at the same time as he did and was better.  In the non-Mariano division of closers, though, Hoffman truly was the cream of the crop.  Hoffman threw more innings than any reliever not named Rivera during his career, saved more games than any pitcher (including Mo) and had the second most WAR to Rivera.  It isn’t hyperbole to say that the gap between Rivera and Hoffman and the rest of the pack was astronomical, but the gap between Mo and Hoffman is substantial as well.  Thus, it’s not a huge surprise that Hoffman didn’t gain induction on his first ballot, entering the Hall on his third ballot. 

Trevor Hoffman was somewhat shafted by not being a first ballot inductee.  It fascinated me how some members of the BBWAA (people who I have a high amount of respect for) argue against Hoffman because he either wasn’t Rivera or wasn’t good enough.  Hoffman had a profound impact on the games he pitched.  Beyond his save total (which, I grant, isn’t a great statistic), Hoffman had more shutdown appearances than any pitcher not named Rivera and produced them at a high clip (around 80%).  No, he wasn’t Rivera, but he was one of the most dominant arms to ever be deployed from the backend of the bullpen.  For 18 years, Trevor Time was game over for the opposition, and Hoffman’s dominance displayed in the role he was given was more than enough justification to induct him into the Hall of Fame. 

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #101- Barry Larkin, SS

Class of: 2012 (BBWAA, 86.4%)

Team: Reds

Key Stats: 67.0 WAR, 118 wRC+, 1329 Runs

If Alan Trammell had difficulty standing out in the time and league of Cal Ripken and Robin Yount, Barry Larkin may have had a more difficult time standing out in the league of Ozzie Smith.  Smith won the Gold Glove award every season from 1980 until 1992 and was an All-Star in all but one of those seasons, meaning that Larkin had an incredibly difficult time standing out.  However, to his credit, Larkin played at a high level for many years and became a cultural luminary for his hometown Cincinnati Reds.

Larkin was drafted by the Reds in two separate drafts.  In 1982, out of high school, Larkin was drafted in the second round and decided to go to college instead.  In 1985, Larkin was drafted by the Reds yet again, this time as the number four pick overall, and he would make his debut the following season.  Larkin put up a solid rookie campaign with a 4^th place finish in the Rookie of the Year balloting while being worth 1.1 WAR and hitting for a 94 wRC+ in 41 games.  In his first full season, Larkin had a bit of a sophomore slump (1.0 WAR in 125 games), but then came alive in 1988.  From 1988 until 1999, Larkin became the top shortstop in the National League.  He was worth more than 3.0 WAR each season, with all but four seasons being above 5.0 WAR.  Larkin’s wRC+ dipped below 120 only three times in that span while he put up excellent numbers on all fronts of the game.  Larkin was worth at least 9 runs or more defensively most seasons in that span, stole double-digit bases each year (including 8 years of 24 or more bases) and had seven seasons of double-digit homers.  Larkin’s excellence on all aspects of the game helped him become one of the most valuable players in the NL most years.  He received MVP votes in six seasons, including his 1995 NL MVP winning campaign.  In his MVP season, Larkin was worth 5.3 WAR with a 136 wRC+ while leading the Reds to the postseason (something he also did in the 1990 campaign, where the Reds won the World Series).  The next year, Larkin was at his absolute best.  He clobbered 33 homers, had a 157 wRC+ and scored 117 runs.  Unfortunately, because the Reds missed the postseason, Larkin failed to win the NL MVP (Ken Caminiti won it that season, and he was awesome that year, so I can’t really complain about it).

When the new millennium rolled around, injuries began to mount for the usually steady Larkin.  While he still had some decent years in the early 2000’s, he had only one season out of his final five campaigns with a wRC+ above league average.  After a solid 2004 campaign with the Reds, Larkin retired as one of the true faces of the Cincinnati franchise.

With nine Silver Slugger awards, three Gold Gloves, a World Series title, an NL MVP award and 12 All-Star selections, Larkin should have been a lock for first-ballot induction.  In addition to the various pieces of hardware he gathered, he ranked first among all shortstops in runs scored and steals, second in WAR, third in RBI (as someone who was primarily a leadoff hitter for a lot of his career), fourth in wRC+ and ninth in defensive runs.  At worst, during his career, Larkin should have been viewed as the third-best shortstop (behind Ripken and maybe A-Rod, since Trammell, Smith and Yount were on the backend of their careers during Larkin’s peak).  Unfortunately, during the latter half of Larkin’s career, another renaissance of shortstops emerged in the game with Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra quickly emerging as some of the best shortstops ever, which probably pushed the older ones back a little bit in the popular consciousness.  When Larkin first came on the ballot in 2010, Jeter and A-Rod (despite his shift to third base to accommodate Captain Intangibles’ ego) were still performing at high levels, so it may have been easier for the BBWAA to overlook Larkin.  Finally, a weak 2012 ballot helped Larkin gain induction, despite being worthy of first ballot induction.  Barry Larkin was a tremendous shortstop who excelled at all areas of the game and is a great ambassador for the game.  His better offense makes him slightly better than Trammell, but the heights to which the other three shortstops during his era (Smith, Ripken and Yount) reached put them beyond his ranking.  That shouldn’t take away from the fact that Larkin was great in his own right and was worthy of induction.

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #102- Bob Feller, SP3

Class of: 1962 (BBWAA, 93.8%)

Team: Indians

Key Stats: 266 Wins, 62.6 WAR, 2581 K’s

Bob Feller was a commensurate patriot.  Deeply devoted to his country, Feller immediately enlisted in the Navy the day following the Pearl Harbor attack and served overseas for four seasons before returning for nine starts in the 1945 season for the Indians.  Nothing he could ever do on a ballfield could compare with the sacrifice he made as the first MLB player to enlist in the War, and that certainly must have played a part in his Hall of Fame induction.  By no means do I mean that Feller was unworthy, but it was Feller and Jackie Robinson who the BBWAA inducted on a player’s first year on the ballot since the original voting in 1936.  Feller was absolutely a great pitcher, but his service helped boost his image, which it should.  The voting for the Hall of Fame includes a character clause and, if voters believed that Feller’s service during the War was a true mark in favor of his character, then they should vote that way.  But, we shouldn’t let his service overshadow his career, which was pretty darn good as well.

Feller was probably the most prized player to ever come out of the state of Iowa (at least in the 1900’s—if you ever get the chance, look up the list of players from Iowa, it’s actually pretty amazing).  The Heater from Van Meeter (credit where credit’s due, that’s an awesome nickname) was signed by the Indians in 1935 at sixteen years old.  He signed for one dollar and an autographed baseball by the Indians team.  That single dollar was the most valuable dollar the Indians ever spent, as Feller would produce results immediately in 1936.  In his debut season, Feller started eight games and went 5-3 over 62 innings with 1.5 WAR and a strikeout rate above 11.  The next year, after injuring his elbow in his first start, Feller threw 148 innings with 3.1 WAR and a 3.39 ERA as an eighteen-year-old.  Control issues plagued Feller throughout his career, but that didn’t stop him from beginning to break out following an OK 1938 season (4.4 WAR but an ERA north of 4).  In 1939, Feller became what we mostly know him as, with 6.7 WAR and 246 strikeouts in 296 innings of work and an ERA of 2.86 (a season that likely would have won him a Cy Young Award, had it existed).  From 1939 until 1951 (excluding the War years), Feller was incredible.  He threw 200 or more innings each season, was worth at least 2.2 WAR each year and struck out 250 or more batters each season.  Feller’s greatest season, one of the greatest seasons ever had by a pitcher in the 1900’s, came in 1946.  Rapid Robert set the modern-day strikeout record with an astounding 348 whiffs while being worth 10.0 WAR and having a 2.18 ERA over 371 innings.  As players adjusted to life after the War, Feller seemed to pick up where he left off, which leads one to wonder how much value Feller lost to the War.  He was above 5.7 WAR each year prior to serving, and was at 10.0, 4.6 and 4.1 the three years following the WAR.  It’s probably fair to estimate about 6.0 WAR each year from 1942-1944 along with about 4 extra WAR in 1945 (he had 1.7 in a brief return), which would be an additional 22 WAR ,which puts him around 80 career WAR, which feels right for how we view Bob Feller’s career.

However, not everything with Feller’s career was phenomenal.  Beginning in 1947, Feller fought through injuries to his arm and back until the end of his career.  While Feller still had some very effective, if not great, seasons after 1947, his strikeout ability began to diminish and the fastball that brought him glory began to slow.  Still, Feller managed to help the Indians reach two World Series appearances in 1948 and 1954 but lost his only two World Series starts in 1948 (the Indians still won, though) and didn’t even take the mound in 1954.  Following two more ineffective seasons, Feller retired after 1956 as one of the best pitchers to toe the rubber.

For a guy who missed more than three prime seasons because of the War, Feller’s rankings during his career are incredible.  He ranked first in WAR, wins, innings, strikeout rate, and strikeouts.  However, the control issues that plagued Feller’s early years never fully abated and he had a walk-rate above 4.00 for his career and his WHIP was a mediocre 1.32, both of which pale in comparison to some of his Hall of Fame peers from the same time like Warren Spahn.  Still, Feller’s dominance during his career was obvious and aptly got him inducted on his first ballot.

One of my favorite memories as a kid was listening to my father and my grandfather talk about their heroes from their childhood.  My grandfather grew up in the 1930’s and 1940’s, right at the heart of Feller’s career and, despite idolizing the Cardinals and Tigers, he always admired Feller’s competitiveness and story (a kid from a farm in Iowa growing up to be one of the greatest pitchers ever).  Bob Feller gave me memories I’ll never forget.  I got the chance to watch Feller, at the age of 90, pitch in the first Hall of Fame Classic, and all I could think about were the stories my grandfather told me.  No one should ever doubt Bob Feller’s candidacy for the Hall of Fame, and I don’t think any player symbolized his country better, nor did anyone ever symbolize what it means to be a Hall of Famer better, than Robert Feller.

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #103- Roger Connor, 1B

Class of: 1976 (Veterans Committee)

Team: Giants

Key Stats: 138 HR, 86.2 WAR, 143 wRC+

Ah, the original Home Run King.  In the early years of baseball, no one had more home runs than any player in history than Roger Connor.  Then, about 20 years after retiring, Connor saw his record fall by Babe Ruth, who hit more home runs in a three-year period (1919-1921) than anyone else hit in their entire careers.  After that point, no one remembered Connor as anything other than a footnote in history.  Connor passed away in 1931 and in the days before the internet, faded into obscurity and didn’t return to the front of people’s minds until the 1970’s when Hank Aaron chased Ruth’s career record as people wondered “Whose record did Babe break?”.  Hence why, despite being one of the best hitters of the early years, it took 45 years after Connor died to induct him into the Hall of Fame which obviously should have happened much sooner, and it’s difficult to say that it couldn’t be helped because Commissioner Landis and other high-ranking executives in baseball met several times to induct players from the early years of the game and for some reason overlooked one of the best hitters of the time.

Connor was an incredible hitter from his first season with the Troy Trojans in 1880.  In his first season he hit for a 152 wRC+ and was worth 3.1 WAR in only 83 games.  Extrapolated for a 162-game season (the Trojans played 83 games that season), Connor would be worth over 6.0 WAR with a slash line similar to Alex Bregman’s 2018 season (.286/.394/.532 with a 157 wRC+).  After a sophomore slump in 1881, Connor was back with a vengeance in 1882 with 4.2 WAR in 81 games.  From 1882 until the penultimate season of his career (1896) Connor had at least 2.0 WAR a year with a 140 wRC+ or higher.  He slipped below 140 only five times in that stretch, and only below 120 once.  Not to be confused as someone who could only hit, Connor had multiple seasons of 10 or more fielding runs and, when steals became an official stat in 1886, he stole at least 15 bases a season as well (though he was rated as a negative on the basepaths by Fangraphs).  If there was one criticism that someone could make about Connor’s play from that period, it would be that he wasn’t a consistently high average hitter.  Cap Anson hit over .300 almost every year of his career, as did Dan Brouthers.  Connor, on the other hand, had a much more inconsistent batting average, spending nearly as many seasons above .300 (11) as below it (7), and since batting average was a big deal to a lot of older generations, that could be one of the reasons that Connor faded into obscurity.

The most likely reason that Connor faded into oblivion was due to the fact that, unlike a lot of his brethren at the time, Connor didn’t have the personality that a lot of the other stars of the day did.  Connor was seen as a quiet guy who did his job well, but didn’t attract attention the way that Anson or Deacon White did.  After Connor retired following the 1897 campaign, Connor quickly became an afterthought because his personality lacked the flair that a lot of fans and sportswriters loved for the time.  That’s unfortunate because people too quickly forgot about one of the greatest hitters who ever lived.

To be remembered as the original Home Run King would be doing a small disservice to Connor’s legacy.  He retired with the most triples and walks ever, and among the top five in RBI, runs, doubles, hits and WAR.  Unfortunately for Connor, Anson and Brouthers were usually nipping at his heels or surpassing him in most stats that he didn’t lead, which is what pushes him down a bit in these rankings (and probably in the popular consciousness of the time).  He wasn’t Cap Anson, but he didn’t need to be Anson to be great.  Roger Connor was absolutely a great hitter and displayed plenty of aptitude on the field and bases while putting up one of the greatest resumes of all-time.  There should be no doubt about his candidacy, despite the fact that when the Hall of Fame voting began, Ruth had more than quintupled his home run record.  Whether it was a combination of Ruth’s demolition and his peers’ more memorable personalities, Connor was forgotten for far too long before the Hall of Fame made him an immortal.

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #104- Mike Mussina, SP5

Class of: 2019 (BBWAA, 76.7%)

Team: Orioles (and Yankees)

Key Stats: 270 Wins, 81.2 WAR, 3.68 ERA

The 2019 Hall of Fame election cycle will always be one of interest to me.  I remember going from the most disappointed I’d ever been with the Hall of Fame with the induction of Harold Baines in December, to the most enthused I’d ever been in January with the BBWAA election announcement, with four players that I loved watching as a kid getting the call.  Mike Mussina, who was tracking in the low 80% for most of the pre-ballot announcement, was probably the one I was happiest about.  I thought he would be marginalized due to not having the milestone stats that the writers love to vote for, but this time the BBWAA came through on many accounts and recognized one of the best pitchers of the 1990’s and early 2000’s.

Moose was a brilliant pitcher almost from his first season.  He came up with Baltimore in 1991, the year after he was drafted 20^th overall, and was worth 1.7 WAR in roughly one third of a season.  Following that rookie campaign, Moose was dominant for almost the remainder of his 18-year career.  From 1992 until 2008, Moose saw his WAR drop below 3.0 only three times and was north of 5.0 ten times as he did everything in his power to limit scoring during the best offensive environment of all-time.  Mussina struck out 150 or more batters 11 times in that stretch, cresting over 200 batters four times.  Like Greg Maddux and Curt Schilling, Mussina limited walks exceptionally well, with 14 seasons of 50 or fewer walks.  While with the Orioles, Mussina quickly became the team’s ace and led the O’s to the post season in 1996 and 1997 but never made it past the ALCS.  Mussina also developed a reputation as being a strong defender on the mound with four Gold Gloves during his time with the Orioles.

Following a 10-year run as the best pitcher the Orioles ever had (or second best to Jim Palmer), Mussina moved on to the New York Yankees in 2001 and continued to pitch at a high level for most of the next eight seasons.  While with the Yankees, he was rarely looked at as needing to be the ace as the Yanks still had Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte when he first joined them with other pitchers added afterwards (Kevin Brown, Chien-Ming Wang, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, etc.), unlike how he was the uncontested ace with Baltimore.  Mussina kept putting up great numbers and made another seven trips to the postseason.  His biggest moment came in the now infamous “Grady Little Game”.  In Game 7 of the ALCS in 2003, Clemens stumbled out of the gate with four runs allowed in the first three innings.  Mussina, for the first time in his career, was summoned in relief and threw three shutout innings that gave the Yankees offense time to wake up and make a comeback off of an insanely dominant Pedro Martinez, eventually ending in a walk-off win for the Pinstripes.

Mussina had a very brief, if any, decline period at the end of his career.  His worst year, 2006, was his penultimate season when his ERA ballooned over 5 for the first time ever.  While he didn’t strike batters out as frequently that season as he had in the past, he still had a low walk rate and even had a decent homerun rate, so maybe it was just some bad luck that year.  His final season was one of the best finales ever.  Moose won 20 games for the first time in his career, had a 3.37 ERA and was worth 3.6 WAR.  Moose knew that he probably could have hung around another couple of seasons for the Yanks and reached 300 wins, but he also knew that it wouldn’t change anything because he already compared well to his contemporaries and other already elected to the Hall of Fame.

To look at Mussina’s rankings during his career would be doing the pitcher a disservice.  Mussina never had the peaks of pitchers like Johnson, Clemens or Martinez, but he also avoided their declines as well.  Mussina is very much in the mold of a pitcher like Don Sutton, a guy who went out to pitch whenever he was called on and performed at a high level for a long period of time.  Mussina’s career is also one where context is needed to appreciate how excellent he was.  Pitching for 18 years in Baltimore and New York meant that most of Mussina’s starts came in three of the best hitters’ parks in baseball that are not stuck in the mountains.  Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park accounted for nearly 60% of his starts, hence why despite a mediocre-looking 3.68 ERA, his career ERA- is an excellent 82 (and his FIP- is 79).  Because of the parks where Mussina pitched, he always was going to have a higher-than-typical home run rate, and averaged a homer allowed nearly every 9 innings.  However, because he was excellent at limiting contact (7.11 K/9), and preventing baserunners (1.98 BB/9, 1.19 WHIP), he kept that damage to a minimum and gave his team a great chance to win each game he pitched.

I think part of the reason why it took several times for Mussina to gain election (beyond not having 300 wins and/or 3000 K’s) was because there was no story to him.  Johnson, Maddux, Martinez, even Tom Glavine and John Smoltz had a good story to their careers, but Moose was just a guy.  When he got the call about being inducted, he was finishing a practice as head coach for his high school basketball team.  He’s a crossword enthusiast and works with student athletes in his hometown in Pennsylvania.  He was, to borrow a phrase, more everyman than superman.  However, Mike Mussina was always a great pitcher, he was just quieter about it than his peers.

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #105- Ron Santo, 3B

Class of: 2012 (Veterans Committee)

Team: Cubs

Key Stats: 342 HR, 70.9 WAR, 126 wRC+

On Tommy Lasorda’s Hall of Fame plaque, it mentions how he bled Dodger blue.  If anyone bled Cubbie blue, it would almost have to be Ron Santo.  Santo was one of the most beloved Cubs of all-time, playing a great third base and then becoming an announcer for the Cubs following his playing days.  Unlike other players-turned-broadcasters like Phil Rizzuto and George Kell, Santo had a great case for the Hall of Fame as a player.  The fact that he was overlooked by many voters for so long underscores how difficult it was for third basemen to gain induction until more recent years (and even still is difficult if you asked Scott Rolen).

Santo took a few years to get going at the Major League level, with a little more than 3 WAR covering his first three seasons with most of it coming in his second season (which was pretty good, 23 homers and over 2 WAR).  Once 1963 came around, Santo started making a case as the top third baseman in the National League.  From 1963 until 1973, Santo put up incredible numbers from the hot corner.  He hit 20 or more homers ten times during that stretch, drove in 75 or more RBI ten times and was worth at least 5 WAR eight times.  Santo put up decent numbers across the board with several seasons of being a well-above average fielder to go along with several seasons of being a well-above average hitter during his peak years.  Santo also put up incredibly good on-base percentages during that span, a skill that was highly undervalued in the 1960’s, with six seasons above .370.  Unfortunately for Santo, because the Cubs were “cursed”, that string of high-level play didn’t correlate to much postseason success as the Cubs never made it to the playoffs with Santo (or Banks, for that matter).  He did make 9 All-Star games and won 5 Gold Gloves, so he got some love from the fans and BBWAA.

Santo’s decline was very quick, which prevented his rate stats from falling too far but also prevented him from putting up a lot of the counting stats that the BBWAA tends to look for when it comes to induction.  Santo’s final season, now with the Pale Hose instead of the Small Bears was, to put it mildly, awful.  In 117 games Santo managed only 5 homers and put up less than replacement level value at -1.0 WAR.  With complications from Diabetes setting in, Santo made the tough decision to retire following the 1974 season and concluded what really was a great career as a player.

During his career, Santo was easily one of the top third basemen in the game, and probably the most well-rounded one.  He didn’t have the same defensive capabilities as Brooks Robinson (who was first among all third basemen in WAR in Santo’s career), but he was a much better hitter while still being a fine defender at third base.  Santo led all third basemen in homers, runs, RBI and triples while finishing runner-up to Robinson in doubles and WAR.  Unfortunately, the BBWAA and Veterans Committee wasn’t used to yet looking at the Hall of Fame with such a fine eye, more looking for robust career totals and not caring as much about context.  So, despite being the best or second-best third baseman of his era, he was overshadowed by some others that put up such lofty career values (Robinson, Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews, respectfully) that Santo had no chance of making it into the Hall of Fame for a long time.

Sometimes, when you hear that a player that should make it into the Hall of Fame finally gets the call, your heart leaps with excitement.  While everyone was happy for Santo’s induction, there was also a certain disappointment that percolated through the news.  Santo passed away two years before his induction, and it’s unfortunate that he never got the chance to introduce himself as “Hall of Famer Ron Santo” at least once.  Ron Santo was a top performer, unfairly marginalized by an electorate that wasn’t ready to value his overall great performance.  He was always a Hall of Famer to me, and I’m glad he is now officially recognized as such.

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #106- Alan Trammell, SS

Class of: 2018 (Veterans Committee)

Team: Tigers

Key Stats: 63.7 WAR, 111 wRC+, 184.4 DEF Runs

If it’s difficult to live in the shadows of giants, it’s even tougher to live in those giants’ presence.  The 1980’s saw the rise of two of the greatest shortstops of all-time who would both redefine the position in unique ways.  Ozzie Smith’s acrobatic fielding and three NL Pennants changed how people defined great defensive shortstops, while Cal Ripken demonstrated that tall guys that hit for power can play the position well, too.  Both truly legendary players towered over the position and made it difficult for other players to stand out some.  Barry Larkin in the NL never got the love that Ozzie got, and over in the AL, Alan Trammell never got the respect he deserved thanks to Ripken and Robin Yount who both took the spotlight away from one of the finest shortstops in history.

Trammell was one of those players that didn’t typically excel in any one area, but wasn’t deficient in any area either.  There have been players that you could say similarly about (i.e., George Kell), but what puts Trammell apart from them is that he was usually great in all aspects rather than just being solid.  He began his career (following 19 games as a callup in 1977) with an excellent rookie performance with 2.7 WAR and finishing 4th in Rookie of the Year balloting.  A down year in 1979 was then followed by more than a decade of high-level play.  Beginning in the 1980 season until the 1993 campaign, Trammell failed to top 3 WAR twice (two injury shortened seasons in the early 1990’s).  He carried a wRC+ above 100 nine times during that stretch, and only dipped as low as 86 once (with three seasons in the 90’s).  He combined that fine hitting with a very valuable glove that saw him put up nine seasons of double-digit fielding runs in that stretch.  And he wasn’t just a typical light-hitting shortstop, Trammel had eight campaigns in that stretch where he put up more than 10 homers playing most of his games in a rather spacious Tigers’ Stadium.  Combine all of that with double digit steals nearly every season and it adds up to one of the most valuable players of the 1980’s and early 1990’s.  Trammell helped guide the Tigers to their first World Series title in 1984 with 6.9 WAR and a 139 wRC+ in the regular season and carrying a 1.300 OPS in the World Series en route to a well-earned World Series MVP award, and probably deserving of the regular season MVP as well (real quick, this is why I don’t add in MVP’s or other awards to these rankings because I don’t think the BBWAA always made the right call.).  Trammell was even better in the 1987 campaign when he put up his first 100 RBI and 100 runs scored totals with over 7 WAR and somehow finished second to George Bell in MVP voting (1987 was not a good year for shortstops and the MVP as Ozzie lost out in the NL, too).  Even at his best, the BBWAA constantly overlooked Trammell and it’s a shame because he deserved more hardware than he received.

Following a great comeback season in 1993, Trammell began a quick and very rapid decline period.  He failed to have a wRC+ above 90 in any of the next three seasons, put up below replacement level production in two of those seasons and couldn’t even play very often in the field due to age and injuries catching up to him.  Trammell’s 1996 campaign saw him put up a wRC+ of 33 and a WAR of -1.3 and he decided to retire at the end of the year rather than chase a few milestones, which was a good call.

With a plethora of great shortstops during his career, it’d be difficult to call Trammell the best at his position because that would be Cal Ripken’s title.  In the non-Ripken division, Trammell would be competing with Smith and Yount for the next-best shortstop and, again, it’s hard to say Trammell would be outright the better of that group.  Smith was miles ahead of Trammell on the bases and in the field but Yount and Larkin had very similar careers to Trammell in terms of value (all had 63-67 WAR), but Yount had more durability (and a switch to center field shot his defensive numbers down considerably) and Larkin was slightly better offensively while not losing much defensively (all three are fantastic, however).  Yount’s counting stats got him inducted on his first ballot (rightfully so, mind you), while Larkin had to wait a few years to gain induction.  Trammell, however, waited the full 15 years on the ballot, never got the call, and then had to wait another year to be on the new Veterans Committee ballot before gaining induction (I think someone else may have gained induction with him, but that can’t be right).  Unfortunately, what made Trammell so great was one of the two things that held him back.  Trammell didn’t dazzle crowds and writers the way that Ripken, Yount and Smith did, and got overlooked because of it.  What else held him back was the fact that Lou Whitaker, who debuted with Trammell and played his entire career as Trammell’s double play partner, was one-and-done off the ballot before Trammell got put on it.  The two were so synonymous with each other for so long, many voters may have felt that if Whitaker (absolutely wrongly) wasn’t inducted, then Trammell shouldn’t be either.  The fact that Trammell was a shortstop probably helped him remain on the ballot (Whitaker was a second baseman), but certainly didn’t give him the push to get inducted.  Alan Trammell was an excellent all-around player, someone that every kid in the 1980’s should have tried to emulate and can now rightfully be called a Hall of Famer.

Re-Ranking the Hall of Famers: #107- Goose Gossage, RP

Class of: 2008 (BBWAA, 85.8%) 

Team: Yankees 

Key Stats: 310 Saves, 124 Wins (115 as a reliever), 31.1 WAR 

Relief pitchers are a strange beast.  They play such a vital role in a team’s success, yet they are either overvalued (K-Rod got MVP votes the year he had 62 saves but a 3.22 FIP in fewer than 70 innings) or underrated (Billy Wagner is languishing on the ballot with little chance for induction right now despite being nearly as dominant as Mariano Rivera).  However, the fact remains that relievers are a big part of the game and, when it comes to the Hall of Fame, the true greats should make it in.  There was no better reliever (before the dawn of the closers) than Goose Gossage. 

Gossage had everything a manager would want in a reliever.  He had filthy strikeout pitches, an aura of dominance and the look of intimidation.  He first came up with the White Sox in 1972 and produced decent results over 80 games.  After a rough 1973 and mediocre 1974 seasons, Gossage began to surge in 1975 and from then until 1987 was the best reliever in the game.  He put up more than 1.0 WAR each season during that stretch, including 2.0 WAR as a starter in 1976.  Gossage had an ERA above 3.00 three times in that period, threw 75 or more innings nine times and struck out at least 50 batters ten times.  The best part is that he went to a lot of postseasons and had a sterling 2.87 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 31 innings and won the 1978 World Series with the Yanks (may have been the MVP of that series had it not been for Reggie).  Gossage did have a big moment go against him, however.  While pitching for the Padres in the 1984 World Series against the Tigers, Gossage gave up a homer to Kirk Gibson to put the Tigers up by 4 in the eighth inning, and essentially seal the title.   

After the 1987 season, Gossage began a long decline period.  He still had some years of effectiveness, but didn’t put up more than 1 WAR in any season from 1988 until his retirement.  Gossage lost the zip on his fastball and tried to keep pitching with his offspeed deliveries, but just wasn’t the same.  He crossed double digits in saves only once in the last six years of his career, and threw 50 or more innings only once in that time frame.  Originally out of baseball following the 1989 campaign, Gossage eventually pitched with a Japanese league team before signing back with the Rangers in 1991 and throwing 4 more seasons before completely retiring after 1994’s strike. 

Gossage’s rankings at the end of his career are incredible.  For relievers during his career, there were few that could match him.  He had the most WAR, wins, innings and the fourth best ERA- behind two other Hall of Famers (Bruce Sutter and Lee Smith) and Dan Quisenbery (who some people think should be inducted).  There was absolutely no reason why Gossage shouldn’t have been the first reliever inducted on his first ballot.  But a few ideas conspired against him.  One was that only few relievers should be inducted period.  By the time that Gossage was on the ballot, only two relievers were in the Hall of Fame (Rollie Fingers and Hoyt Wilhelm), both of whom held the all-time saves record for a long time which helped them gain induction.  Until 2013, the BBWAA seemed disinclined to vote for many candidates, hence why the 1999 class of Nolan Ryan, Dave Winfield and Robin Yount was so impressive.  Save numbers were also skyrocketing after 1987 with the new closer role (began by Eckersley and perfected by Rivera), so 310 saves were not seen as extraordinary anymore.  Until Sutter’s induction in 2006, relievers just weren’t much of a thought to the BBWAA for the Hall of Fame.  Once Sutter was inducted, someone who several people critical of the Hall of Fame believed to be a weak choice, Gossage was someone who the populace cried out for to gain induction, and it isn’t hard to see why. Fingers, Sutter, Wilhelm and Smith can all be debated about where they fall, but they all come after Goose Gossage, the best fireman ever.