Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 06, 2004
Paul and the Hall

It's my guess that Paul Molitor will be inducted into the Hall of Fame today. Molitor was a good player for a long time, and his 3000+ hits guarantee his admission. But there are of course, different levels of greatness. Molitor's career started in 1978 and ended in 1998. Here are the top accumulated win shares during that time:

Player             Win Shares
Rickey Henderson      494
Barry Bonds           418
Eddie Murray          416
Paul Molitor          414
Cal Ripken Jr.        398
Wade Boggs            388
Tim Raines            386
Tony Gwynn            373
Robin Yount           371
Lou Whitaker          351
Ryne Sandberg         346

Rickey came up in 1979, and this doesn't count 1999-2003. Barry Bonds didn't come up until 1986, and some of his best seasons were still in front of him after 1998. What I'm saying here is that Molitor isn't a first teir hall of famer. People think he is because he has the magical 3000 hits, but there should be more to it than that. He never had a season with more than 30 win shares (Henderson had three of those; Bonds has had 12 of those).

The writers used to separate the first tier hall of famers from the rest by electing them on the first ballot. It used to be a very big deal to be elected on the first ballot. But in recent years, anyone who is obviously admittable is getting in on the first try. Molitor is in the class of 2nd tier players, characterized by being good for a long time. I'd frankly rather see him get in on the 2nd ballot.


Posted by David Pinto at 01:13 PM | All-Time Greats | TrackBack (1)
Comments

I disagree with the statement that anyone who is obviously admittable is getting in on the first try, look no further than Ryno, the best second baseman of his era, failing on his second attempt. IMO, he was better than Molitor when you factor in peak years + defense. I have no problem with PaulMol getting in the Hall, in the very good players for a very long time category, but I don't like that writers ignore peak years in favor of arbitrary career milestone numbers such as 3000 hits.

Posted by: CodyC at January 6, 2004 04:55 PM

CodyC - I agree with you 100% across the board.

Posted by: Richard at January 6, 2004 07:59 PM

I've never understood the logic of not voting for someone on the first ballot. If a player is a Hall of Fame player, than he's a Hall of Famer regardless of when he's elected (assuming the writers put him in and not the Veterans Committee). I don't recall it saying on the plaques what year of their eligibility players were in when they went in, after all. Perhaps I'm overly fussy, but it seems like a meaningless distinction to me, and it also seems inappropriate to force players to wait when they merit induction.

Posted by: Andrew at January 7, 2004 12:11 AM