CC wisley/Flickr
[Over the next few days, Josh and I will be discussing the Hall of Fame merits of the players on this year’s ballot for the purpose of creating our ballot for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance HoF voting.]
Nick: For a guy who spent more games at DH than any other position on the field, Baines would have to have been one heck of a hitter to make it onto my ballot for the Hall of Fame.
Baines carried a reputation for a guy who could hit, but consider that in 22 Major League seasons:
- He never achieved 200 hits.
- He never hit 30 home runs.
- Only knocked in 100 or more runs three times in his career.
- He never finished higher than 9th in MVP voting.
Ok, let’s leave the MVP thing aside for a second… for a guy who is paid to be a hitter and nothing else, those first three are pretty underwhelming, no?
Baines was a good hitter, but he never struck me – neither visually nor statistically – as a GREAT hitter. No Hall.
Josh: Harold Baines has probably the most boring name of any athlete ever, and honestly, that is the way he came across to me with his play. Granted he was out there every day, but never did he stand out as a DH like another one on this list did. No argument this time, No HOF for me.
—–
Not much actual discussion to be had yet, unfortunately. Josh eloquently decides against Baines ( 🙂 ) but I think we’ll have some more back and forth about the next name on the ballot…
Comments on this entry are closed.