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January 15, 2013 Western FrontZeroes and Ones
Hall of Fame. Made you look! One of the many things that makes baseball great is that it isn't politics. Well, usually. But voting always brings out the best in people. It's when they're at their most logical, exercising reason while avoiding rhetoric and personal attacks. The color of the sky in my world? Why do you ask? Bickering is all well and good, but today we'll do something more constructive, albeit imbued with less Great Meaning™. Today we'll consider players who were on only one Hall of Fame ballot and received either zero votes or one vote. We'll focus on elections dating no earlier than 1978, the first time there's a clear record of players on the ballot that received zero votes in a given year. This date is somewhat arbitrary, but it's easier than using a cutoff based on the Hall of Fame's “dynamic” voting rules. Zeroes against ones. It's like shirts against blouses, but different. Also, Team Zero is filled with the best (as measured by WAR and JAWS for purposes of this exercise) players to appear on a ballot and receive zero votes, while Team One is filled with the worst players to appear on a ballot and receive one vote. Fair? Hardly, but you already know that about the Hall of Fame. Jesus Alou received a vote in 1985, Roy White didn't. Fairness is irrelevant. I know, I know. We must strive to overcome our meritocratic bias. While we're trying to do that, and before we get to the teams, here's some big-picture data:
*Baseball-Reference's version of WAR since that's what Jay Jaffe's JAWS uses Bullet points:
Very well, let's have the names: Team Zero
Pitcher: Frank Tanana Honorable mentions: Mark Langston (2005, 47.1 WAR, 42.6 JAWS), Steve Rogers (1991, 42.1 WAR, 38.7 JAWS) Catcher: Darrell Porter Porter led the American League with 121 walks in 1979, made four All-Star teams, and started for three World Series teams. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract ranks him as the 18th-best catcher in history. Honorable mentions: Mickey Tettleton (2003, 26.6 WAR, 24.7 JAWS); Charles Johnson (2011, 21.0 WAR, 19.6 JAWS) if you want a full-time catcher First Base: Cecil Cooper Honorable mentions: Wally Joyner (2007, 32.2 WAR, 27.1 JAWS), George Scott (1985, 32.0 WAR, 29.9 JAWS), Ron Fairly (1984, 31.7 WAR, 26.9 JAWS) Second Base: Dick McAuliffe Honorable mentions: Robby Thompson (2002, 31.7 WAR, 30.3 JAWS), Ron Hunt (1980, 30.6 WAR, 27.5 JAWS Third Base: Jeff Cirillo His offense disappeared at age 32. From that point to the end of his career, Cirillo hit .256/.320/.350 in more than 1,600 plate appearances. Honorable mentions: Ken McMullen (1983, 30.8 WAR, 29.1 JAWS) Shortstop: Denis Menke Menke is kind of like Mark Ellis, on the other side of the bag. Name rhymes with Henke, if you ever find yourself stuck for one. In '66, when Fergie Jenkins faced the Braves, He did serve up a two-run blast to Denis Menke, Who later played with one Ed Sprague, Whose son once played with one Tom Henke. You probably won't need it, but it's best to err on the side of caution. Honorable mentions: Gene Alley (1979, 22.7 WAR, 22.8 JAWS) Left Field: Roy White
White hit .268/.352/.394 in nearly 3,900 plate appearances from age 29 to his final season at age 35. TNBJHBA has him at No. 25 among left fielders and spends 2 ½ columns explaining why he was better than Jim Rice. Honorable mentions: Ron Gant (2009, 31.2 WAR, 28.1 JAWS) Center Field: Jimmy Wynn Honorable mentions: Devon White (2007, 44.2 WAR, 39.0 JAWS), Amos Otis (1990, 39.2 WAR, 34.9 JAWS), Andy Van Slyke (2001, 38.6 WAR, 34.9 JAWS) Right Field: Ken Singleton
Singleton led the NL in OBP and assists by a right fielder in 1973, was named to three All-Star teams, and won a World Series ring with Baltimore in 1983. He ranks 47th in history with 1,263 walks. Honorable mentions: Reggie Sanders (2013, 36.7 WAR, 30.9 JAWS), Brian Jordan (2012, 30.8 WAR, 29.8 JAWS) Team One
Pitcher: Jack Billingham Best at position: Chuck Finley (2008, 53.7 WAR, 45.6 JAWS) or Kevin Appier (2010, 51.5 WAR, 46.4 JAWS) Catcher: Terry Kennedy Best at position: Gene Tenace (1989, 44.3 WAR, 38.7 JAWS); Jim Sundberg (1995, 37.3 WAR, 32.2 JAWS), if you want a full-time catcher First Base: David Segul Like Kennedy, Seguí is a second-generation big-leaguer. Diego Seguí pitched from 1962 to 1977, leading the AL in ERA in 1970. Dad received zero votes in his only year on the ballot, 1983. Best at position: Mike Hargrove (1991, 27.4 WAR, 25.2 JAWS) Second Base: Tommy Helms Best at position: Tony Phillips (2005, 48.2 WAR, 40.6 JAWS); Chuck Knoblauch (2008, 42.0 WAR, 39.5 JAWS) if you want a (mostly) full-time second baseman Third Base: Ray Knight Knight twice led his league in an offensive category. In 1980 and 1981, he paced the NL with 24 and 18 double plays, respectively. Best at position: Toby Harrah (1992, 47.6 WAR, 40.5 JAWS); Tim Wallach (2002, 34.8 WAR, 31.7 JAWS), if you want a full-time third baseman Shortstop: Hal Lanier Best at position: Chris Speier (1995, 27.9 WAR, 24.5 JAWS) Left Field: John Lowenstein Best at position: Lonnie Smith (2000, 36.3 WAR, 32.3 JAWS) Center Field: Jose Cardenal Best at position: Chet Lemon (1996, 52.0 WAR, 43.8 JAWS) Right Field: Jesus Alou Best at position: Johnny Callison (1979, 35.4 WAR, 34.1 JAWS) or David Justice (2008, 37.6 WAR, 31.8 JAWS) And a quick tale of the tape, showing averages for each team:
What can we learn from this? Well, for one thing, it's time to let go of the outrage we might feel at the fact that Jim Deshaies received a vote in 2001. Save that for the folks who wasted a vote on Hal Lanier or Jesus Alou (not the players themselves; it isn't their fault). Perhaps more importantly, we can appreciate some very good players who were in no way ever deemed worthy of Hall of Fame consideration by voters:
*2013 totals only This might not be the exact lesson, but you get the idea. 13 comments have been left for this article.
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*Ken McMullen
Fixed, thanks.