2023 Baseball Hall of Fame Class

Yeah, when Mauer retired, I did not consider him a HOFer. But he's the poster boy for the five-year waiting period...allows us to remember more how much of a unicorn he was at catcher during his peak and not the barely adequate first baseman he was during his decline years. It's also a reminder he went to 1B because he got the shit beaten out of him behind the plate. It's not like he went there because he stunk behind the plate and they needed to hide him at first. He threw out 43% of base stealers in his last season as a catcher! He's close to a no-doubter for me now.

 

As for Mauer, an interesting “comparison.” Yes, he has the lowest WAR, but it’s not far from Stargell who was a first ballot guy.

 

Every other one of those players is in the HOF.

 

If you want to believe d-war, then Stargell is a terrible defender.

Mauer is 55 overall WAR with 53 o-WAR and 3 d-WAR

Stargell is 57.5 overall WAR with a 64.1 0-WAR and a -19.4 d-WAR

And I know this a "comparison" for comparison sake but Stargell's OPS-plus is 147, Mauer's is 124, while they both won an MVP, Stargell also had a stretch where he finished 2-3-2 in consecutive years, and a swap of a first-place vote probably would have given him a second trophy. He was also top 15 in home runs

 

Stargell played outfield until late in his career. I don't remember him as being especially fleet of foot, but without the DH and with Bob Robertson in the lineup they had to try to hide him someplace.

Luzinski had to play a lot of LF for the Phillies in that era, and he was a slug too.

 

I know I read somewhere how many homers Stargell would have hit in a friendlier home park, but does anyone know the rough number off the top of their heads?

 

THREE-FIFFY!

 

I also saw him all the time because he lived at the end of a street near me in Corona. He was at our Pickup Stix frequently!

 

Richie Zisk also fit into that category for the Pirates

 

Fuck you and the WAR you rode in on. If Hernandez, Murphy or Madlock aren't in the Hall, Rolen shouldn't be. It ain't the Hall of Pretty Good.

 

When you look at what Mauer and Posey each did at catcher (I realize you can't just completely ignore Mauer's 1B phase), it's hard to take one and not the other. Not much difference in the hitting stats, and Posey only played 170 more games at catcher.

 

Bill Madlock's career OBP was .001 higher than Rolen's, and Rolen had much more power and was a far, far better defender. Rolen was the better player and it's not particularly close.