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IF I HAD A VOTE IN THE 2013 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME ELECTION, PART 2: THE EVALUATIONS

Index

In Part 1 of this two-part series, we examined in detail the two salient qualities of the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot: It is a ballot overstuffed with not just candidates—37 players!—but with qualified candidates, and it is a referendum on performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) because of the presence of the two most dominant players of the last 20 years: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Part 2 concentrates solely on the merits of all 37 players on the ballot. With respect to PEDs, they are part of the sometimes-tawdry, sometimes-laudatory history of baseball, and the witch-hunt mentality surrounding them has obscured the fact that no part of baseball history has ever been pure or pristine. In short, there is no stigma here regarding PEDs. They are a part of baseball history as much as institutional racism marked the game before 1947, as much as allegations of widespread amphetamine usage marked the game during the "Golden Era" of the 1950s and 1960s, and as much as Gaylord Perry marked his baseball before he threw it.

The bottom line is this: You evaluate the baseball you have, not the baseball you wish you had.

Candidates for the 2013 Hall of Fame Ballot

The following two tables list the 37 candidates on the 2013 ballot, first the 27 position players, and then the 10 pitchers. They are ranked by their career Wins Above Replacement from Baseball Reference (bWAR) along with other representative qualitative statistics (explained below each table).

Here are the 27 position players on the 2013 Hall of Fame ballot, ranked by bWAR.

Position Players on the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot, Ranked by bWAR

Position Player

Slash Line

bWAR

fWAR

OPS+

wRC+

Bonds, Barry

.298/.444/.607

158.1

168.0

182

172

Bagwell, Jeff

.297/.408/.540

76.7

83.9

149

149

Walker, Larry

.313/.400/.565

69.7

73.2

141

141

Trammell, Alan

.285/.352/.415

67.1

69.5

110

111

Raines, Tim

.294/.385/.425

66.2

70.6

123

126

Palmeiro, Rafael

.288/.371/.515

66.1

74.2

132

130

Lofton, Kenny

.299/.372/.423

64.9

66.2

107

110

Martinez, Edgar

.312/.418/.515

64.4

69.9

147

148

Biggio, Craig

.281/.363/.433

62.1

70.5

112

115

McGwire, Mark

.263/.394/.588

58.7

70.6

163

157

Piazza, Mike

.308/.377/.545

56.1

66.8

143

141

Sosa, Sammy

.273/.344/.534

54.8

64.1

128

123

McGriff, Fred

.284/.377/.509

48.2

61.0

134

134

Williams, Bernie

.297/.381/.477

45.9

47.5

125

126

Murphy, Dale

.265/.346/.469

42.6

47.3

121

120

Finley, Steve

.271/.332/.442

40.4

44.2

104

104

Mattingly, Don

.307/.358/.471

39.8

45.8

127

124

Franco, Julio

.298/.365/.417

39.7

48.6

111

112

Sanders, Reggie

.267/.343/.487

36.7

41.8

115

115

Cirillo, Jeff

.296/.366/.430

32.0

36.4

102

104

Green, Shawn

.283/.355/.494

31.4

34.9

120

118

White, Rondell

.284/.336/.462

25.5

26.2

108

108

Klesko, Ryan

.279/.370/.500

24.6

32.7

128

127

Clayton, Royce

.258/.312/.367

16.4

21.7

78

76

Conine, Jeff

.285/.347/.443

16.2

24.4

107

107

Alomar, Jr., Sandy

.273/.309/.406

11.6

15.7

86

85

Walker, Todd

.289/.348/.435

8.3

11.5

98

98

 

Slash Line: Grouping of the player's career batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.

bWAR: Career Wins Above Replacement as calculated by Baseball Reference.

fWAR: Career Wins Above Replacement as calculated by FanGraphs.

OPS+: Career on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, league- and park-adjusted, as calculated by Baseball Reference. Positively indexed to 100, with a 100 OPS+ indicating a league-average player, and values above 100 indicating the degrees better a player is than a league-average player.

wRC+: Career weighted Runs Created, league- and park-adjusted, as calculated by FanGraphs. Positively indexed to 100, with a 100 wRC+ indicating a league-average player, and values above 100 indicating the degrees better a player is than a league-average player.

 

Here are the 10 pitchers on the 2013 Hall of Fame ballot, ranked by bWAR.

Pitchers on the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot, Ranked by bWAR

Pitcher

W-L (S), ERA

bWAR

fWAR

ERA+

ERA-

Clemens, Roger

354-184, 3.12

133.1

145.5

143

70

Schilling, Curt

216-146, 3.46

76.9

86.1

127

80

Wells, David

239-157, 4.13

49.4

61.2

108

93

Morris, Jack

254-186, 3.90

39.3

56.9

105

95

Smith, Lee

71-92 (478), 3.03

27.9

29.0

132

73

Williams, Woody

132-116, 4.19

25.0

19.8

103

97

Sele, Aaron

148-112, 4.61

17.2

33.6

100

99

Hernandez, Roberto

67-71 (326), 3.45

17.2

15.2

131

77

Stanton, Mike

68-63 (84), 3.92

12.6

13.7

112

90

Mesa, Jose

80-109 (321), 4.36

9.5

13.5

100

100

 

W-L (S), ERA: Grouping of the pitcher's career win-loss record (and career saves, if applicable) and career earned run average (ERA).

bWAR: Career Wins Above Replacement as calculated by Baseball Reference.

fWAR: Career Wins Above Replacement as calculated by FanGraphs.

ERA+: Career ERA, league- and park-adjusted, as calculated by Baseball Reference. Positively indexed to 100, with a 100 ERA+ indicating a league-average pitcher, and values above 100 indicating the degrees better a pitcher is than a league-average pitcher.

ERA-: Career ERA, league- and park-adjusted, as calculated by FanGraphs. Negatively indexed to 100, with a 100 ERA- indicating a league-average pitcher, and values below 100 indicating the degrees better a pitcher is than a league-average pitcher.

 

The table below combines both position players and pitchers into a ranking by bWAR.

All 2013 Hall of Fame Candidates, Ranked by bWAR

Rank

Player

bWAR

fWAR

1

Bonds, Barry

158.1

168.0

2

Clemens, Roger

133.1

145.5

3

Schilling, Curt

76.9

86.1

4

Bagwell, Jeff

76.7

83.9

5

Walker, Larry

69.7

73.2

6

Trammell, Alan

67.1

69.5

7

Raines, Tim

66.2

70.6

8

Palmeiro, Rafael

66.1

74.2

9

Lofton, Kenny

64.9

66.2

10

Martinez, Edgar

64.4

69.9

11

Biggio, Craig

62.1

70.5

12

McGwire, Mark

58.7

70.6

13

Piazza, Mike

56.1

66.8

14

Sosa, Sammy

54.8

64.1

15

Wells, David

49.4

61.2

16

McGriff, Fred

48.2

61.0

17

Williams, Bernie

45.9

47.5

18

Murphy, Dale

42.6

47.3

19

Finley, Steve

40.4

44.2

20

Mattingly, Don

39.8

45.8

21

Franco, Julio

39.7

48.6

22

Morris, Jack

39.3

56.9

23

Sanders, Reggie

36.7

41.8

24

Cirillo, Jeff

32.0

36.4

25

Green, Shawn

31.4

34.9

26

Smith, Lee

27.9

29.0

27

White, Rondell

25.5

26.2

28

Williams, Woody

25.0

19.8

29

Klesko, Ryan

24.6

32.7

30

Sele, Aaron

17.2

33.6

31

Hernandez, Roberto

17.2

15.2

32

Clayton, Royce

16.4

21.7

33

Conine, Jeff

16.2

24.4

34

Stanton, Mike

12.6

13.7

35

Alomar, Jr., Sandy

11.6

15.7

36

Mesa, Jose

9.5

13.5

37

Walker, Todd

8.3

11.5


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Last modified on Thursday, 22 March 2018 01:56

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