Chase Utley: HOF?

The MVPs probably set Larkin and Sandberg apart in people’s eyes.

 

Trammell fans will say he was the true 1987 AL MVP, although the trophy went to George Bell.

 

It's more like, baseball fans will say that, because it is the truth

 

Was close but Bell was better. Tigers were better than the Blue Jays, but Bell was a little better than Trammell. Guess you can say the numbers are close
enough that Trammell gets it for playing a more important position.

 

And in 1984, he was a distant 9th, behind 2 less deserving teammates. He would have been a fine choice.

 

Tigers finished two games in front of Toronto. Both hit cleanup

Trammell 151 games, 597 at bats, 109 runs, 205 hits, 34 doubles, 3 triples, 28 homers, 105 RBI, 21 steals, 60 walks, 47 strikeouts .343 /.402 /.551 /.953 at short
Bell 156 games, 610 at bats, 111 runs, 188 hits, 32 doubles, 4 triples, 47 homers, 134 RBI, 5 steals, 39 walks, 75 strikeouts .308 / 352 / .605 / .957 in left

I left out WAR (8.2-5.0 for Trammell) because obviously it wasn't a factor in the voting at the time.

 

I had Bell and Trammell on my fantasy team in 1987. Also had Mike Schmidt, Eric Davis, Jack Clark, Juan Samuel and Dwight Evans. Each of them had an incredible season at the plate, and my fantasy team absolutely smoked the rest of the league. Day after day of piling up numbers that had everyone else cursing. The memories of that summer still resonate today, and I never played a baseball league again. Nothing could ever match that season.

And, yes, you don't care about my fantasy team. But it was beautiful. So beautiful. People were talking ...

 

My gut feeling and a quick look at the stats says No. Looking at his numbers, it looked like Don Mattingly with about five Hall of Fame seasons but not a career. However, one HOF voter used to say wait five years. If nobody does what Utley does during the next five years, it might look better.

 

I’ll be damned...

Second Base JAWS Leaders | Baseball-Reference.com

If you go with modern metrics, he’s in, easily.

 

Is Chase Utley a Hall of Famer?

BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Is Chase Utley a Hall of Famer?

 

You have to think he eventually gets in.