Congrats to Jim and Vlad!

[Rene88]

I can’t believe Bruce Sutter is in the HOF and Bonds,  Clemens, Palmeiro and Mussina are not.

 

congrats to all 4!

[wildbillhiccup]

10 hours ago, backwardsk said:

Interestingly enough, they have the exact same career OPS+.

 

Well they certainly don't have the same career batting average!

I realize that it's hard to keep Thome out because of the HRs, but it's pretty ridiculous that he was a first ballot selection. And I have nothing against the guy, I just think the HOF should be reserved for the very best. Thome was a good player, but one of the best? I just don't know.

[wildbillhiccup]

8 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Chipper Jones career WAR is 85.  Vlad's career WAR is 59.3.  

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guerrvl01.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonesch06.shtml

You can't just make a blanket comparison like that without factoring in position strength / depth. I'm not a Chipper fan (he's a bit too right wing for my liking), but there's not denying that he was the best 3B in the NL for a number of years. 

[bpilktree]

4 hours ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Well they certainly don't have the same career batting average!

I realize that it's hard to keep Thome out because of the HRs, but it's pretty ridiculous that he was a first ballot selection. And I have nothing against the guy, I just think the HOF should be reserved for the very best. Thome was a good player, but one of the best? I just don't know.

Thome was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the late 90's and early 2000s.  He hit homers yeah but he had ton of RBI and he took a walk.   13  years in that span with over .390obp. 

[bpilktree]

I think people also forget how good Vlad was during his playing days.  He could have been a 500 hr guy and 1500 RBI guy with a .300 average if he held on and played into his late 30's.  He finished with 449 homers 1496 and .318 lifetime average.

[wildbillhiccup]

36 minutes ago, bpilktree said:

Thome was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the late 90's and early 2000s.  He hit homers yeah but he had ton of RBI and he took a walk.   13  years in that span with over .390obp. 

Thome barely cracked 100 RBIs most years. I stand by my comment that Edgar Martinez was a better overall offensive player. Edgar did everything better than Thome, except hit HRs. And his career batting average is almost 40 points higher. One of the purest hitters I've ever personally seen play the game. 

[backwardsk]

10 hours ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Thome barely cracked 100 RBIs most years. I stand by my comment that Edgar Martinez was a better overall offensive player. Edgar did everything better than Thome, except hit HRs. And his career batting average is almost 40 points higher. One of the purest hitters I've ever personally seen play the game. 

Not that I'm advocating comparing RBIs, but Thome produced nine 100+ RBI seasons compared to Martinez' six.  Martinez didn't have a 100 RBI season until he was 32.  Thome had 251 more extra base hits.  Thome had nine 100+ walk seasons compared to Martinez' four, with 464 more for his career.

[Beef Supreme]

14 hours ago, Rene88 said:

I can’t believe Bruce Sutter is in the HOF and Bonds,  Clemens, Palmeiro and Mussina are not.

 

congrats to all 4!

Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro and Mussina can go into the trailer behind the main building with Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.

[24fps]

22 hours ago, murph said:

That’s when I found this site.   Searching for any news on the signing.  I thought the same and was so hoping he would be an oriole.  

This site was and still is the greatest Orioles news aggregator ever.  And so much more.  

Same for me.

[theocean]

14 hours ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Well they certainly don't have the same career batting average!

I realize that it's hard to keep Thome out because of the HRs, but it's pretty ridiculous that he was a first ballot selection. And I have nothing against the guy, I just think the HOF should be reserved for the very best. Thome was a good player, but one of the best? I just don't know.

Thome hit 612 home runs - 8th all time. His OBP was .402 - 51st all time and just a little higher than Chipper Jones' career OBP of .401. 72.9 WAR over his career - which is 54th all time. He could hit bombs, he could walk, and he had a solid average. He was a monster at the plate. Definitely a Hall of Famer in my book.

[crawjo]

Mussina is going in either next year or the following. About damn time. And, just for the record, Jim Thome is a no doubt Hall of Famer. There has never been a player of Thome's accomplishment who has not ended up in the Hall of Fame, unless you are talking about guys who were banned from baseball or known steroid users. 

[crawjo]

7 hours ago, backwardsk said:

Not that I'm advocating comparing RBIs, but Thome produced six 100+ RBI seasons compared to Martinez' six.  Martinez didn't have a 100 RBI season until he was 32.  Thome had 251 more extra base hits.  Thome had nine 100+ walk seasons compared to Martinez' four, with 464 more for his career.

Thome had nine 100-RBI seasons. 

[backwardsk]

1 hour ago, crawjo said:

Thome had nine 100-RBI seasons. 

Absolutely.  I corrected my post.  I meant to also add that he had 8 seasons of 105+ RBIs compared to Martinez' 4.

[wildbillhiccup]

8 hours ago, theocean said:

Thome hit 612 home runs - 8th all time. His OBP was .402 - 51st all time and just a little higher than Chipper Jones' career OBP of .401. 72.9 WAR over his career - which is 54th all time. He could hit bombs, he could walk, and he had a solid average. He was a monster at the plate. Definitely a Hall of Famer in my book.

A career 270ish hitter is not a solid HOF batting avg IMO. Again, I understand why he was elected, but I don't think he should have been a slam dunk 1st ballot selection. 

[Larry18]

3 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

A career 270ish hitter is not a solid HOF batting avg IMO. Again, I understand why he was elected, but I don't think he should have been a slam dunk 1st ballot selection. 

Brooks was a career .267 hitter, Cal .276 sometimes batting average isn't the best tool.