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BASEBALL'S 2015 GOLDEN ERA COMMITTEE BALLOT: ARE THERE ANY HALL OF FAME PLAYERS LEFT?

BASEBALL'S 2015 GOLDEN ERA COMMITTEE BALLOT: ARE THERE ANY HALL OF FAME PLAYERS LEFT?
30 Nov
2014
Not in Hall of Fame

Index



Golden Era Hall of Fame Left Fielders

Turning to the left fielder on the Golden Era ballot, Minnie Miñoso, we find that he is among some of the most auspicious names in the Hall of Fame.

Here are the seven Hall of Fame left fielders associated with the Golden Era and 2015 Golden Era left-field candidate Miñoso, ranked by bWAR, with other qualitative statistics, including fWAR, listed alongside it.

Golden Era Hall of Fame Left Fielders and 2015 Left Field Candidate on the 2015 Golden Era Ballot, Ranked by bWAR

Position Player

Slash Line

wOBA

bWAR

fWAR

OPS+

wRC+

Williams, Ted

.344/.482/.634

.493

123.1

130.4

190

188

Yastrzemski, Carl

.285/.379/.462

.375

96.1

94.8

130

130

Williams, Billy

.290/.361/.492

.376

63.5

60.4

133

132

Stargell, Willie

.282/.360/.529

.387

57.5

62.9

147

145

Miñoso, Minnie

.298/.389/.459

.382

50.1

50.8

130

133

Kiner, Ralph

.279/.398/.548

.427

49.3

47.6

149

147

Brock, Lou

.293/.343/.410

.336

45.2

43.2

109

109

* Irvin, Monte

.293/.383/.475

.389

21.4

20.8

125

127

* Monte Irvin was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Negro Leagues Committee; his eight years as an MLB player is insufficient service to qualify for the Hall of Fame ballot under the current rules that stipulate a minimum of ten years' service.

The table above has two significant outliers: At the top, Ted Williams is ridiculously overqualified for the Hall, as befits one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, and although Williams was in his decline phase in the 1950s as Miñoso was in his prime (a decline relative to Williams, that is—he still led the American League in batting in 1957, his age-38 season, with a .388 average while crushing 38 home runs, tied for the second-highest single-season total of his career), it was still Miñoso's misfortune to be a left fielder in the same league as Williams. At the other end of the scale, Monte Irvin played just eight seasons in the major leagues, but he was elected to the Hall of Fame by a special Negro Leagues Committee, having not entered the majors until 1949, his age-30 season—and we will address Minnie Miñoso and baseball's integration below.

So, if we toss out the two outliers in this sample of Golden Era left fielders in the Hall of Fame, we see Miñoso essentially identical to the other five players in terms of slash line, wOBA, OPS+, and wRC+. In WAR, he falls behind Carl Yastrzemski, who is another outlier in this category because of his longevity, Billy Williams, and Willie Stargell, but Miñoso is ahead of Ralph Kiner, whose career was cut short by injury by his age-30 year, and Lou Brock.

The table below lists the seven Hall of Fame left fielders associated with the Golden Era and Miñoso, ranked by bWAR, along with their JAWS statistics and ratings for the Hall of Fame Monitor and the Hall of Fame Standards. Also included are the JAWS statistics for all left fielders in the Hall of Fame.

2015 Golden Era Left Field Candidate, Qualitative Comparisons to Hall of Fame Left Fielders (Ranked by bWAR)

Player

No. of Years

From

To

bWAR

WAR7

JAWS

JAWS Rank

HoF Mon.

(≈100)

HoF Std.

(≈50)

Williams, Ted

19

1939

1960

123.1

69.2

96.2

2

354

72

Yastrzemski, Carl

23

1961

1983

96.1

55.5

75.8

4

215

60

Ave of 19 HoFers

NA

NA

NA

65.1

41.5

53.3

NA

NA

NA

Williams, Billy

18

1959

1976

63.5

41.3

52.4

11

122

48

Stargell, Willie

21

1962

1982

57.5

38.0

47.7

15

106

44

* Miñoso, Minnie

15

1949

1964

50.1

39.8

45.0

22

87

35

Kiner, Ralph

10

1946

1955

49.3

43.7

46.5

19

136

34

Brock, Lou

19

1961

1979

45.2

32.0

38.6

35

152

43

Irvin, Monte

8

1949

1956

21.4

21.3

21.3

102

18

18

* Minnie Miñoso played in three games (eight plate appearances) in 1976 and in two games (two plate appearances) in 1980.

In terms of WAR and JAWS statistics, Miñoso falls below the average marks for all left fielders in the Hall of Fame, but so does everyone in this sample except for Ted Williams and Yastrzemski. And apart from Irvin, who played just eight major-league seasons, Miñoso falls short in both Hall of Fame Monitor and Hall of Fame Standards ratings.

Furthermore, Miñoso's 15 seasons (not counting his guest appearances in 1976 and 1980) are the fewest in this sample except for Kiner, whose career was cut short by injury by age 30, and Irvin, who did not enter the majors until age 30. Miñoso himself did not play in his first Major League game until 1949, during his age-23 year, and that amounted to nine games and 20 plate appearances with the Cleveland Indians. Prior to that, he had spent three seasons in the Negro Leagues. This prompts the central question of Miñoso's candidacy, which is whether, as a black Latino, he would have compiled a more impressive playing record—and thus have boosted his chances for the Hall of Fame—had he come into the majors earlier in his career. Let's explore that possibility now.

Is Minnie Miñoso the Latino Jackie Robinson?

After three seasons in the Negro Leagues from 1946 to 1948, Minnie Miñoso was signed as a free agent by the Cleveland Indians in 1948. That season, he played a few games for the Indians' Single A affiliate the Dayton (Ohio) Indians before jumping to the parent club's Triple A affiliate the San Diego Padres the following year, for whom he played two full seasons, with a brief call-up to Cleveland in 1949 before making the majors for good in 1951.

Miñoso began that season with the Indians before being traded to the Chicago White Sox as part of a three-team trade (the Philadelphia Athletics being the third team) on April 30. The next day, in his first at-bat with the White Sox, Miñoso hit a 415-foot home run off the very first pitch he saw from the New York Yankees' Vic Raschi, and he was in business with the Sox. That year, Miñoso was the AL Rookie of the Year runner-up to the Yankees' Gil McDougald, and although the voting was fairly close (of the two candidates, McDougald polled 54 percent to Miñoso's 46 percent), in hindsight Miñoso looked to be the stronger candidate—he posted a .326/.422/.500 slash line while leading the AL in triples (14), stolen bases (31), and being hit by a pitch (16), the first of ten times he would lead the league in that category. Miñoso also finished fourth in MVP voting in 1951, and he would go on to finish fourth in MVP voting in three more seasons, with a career top-ten finish in MVP voting totaling five altogether.

Throughout the 1950s, Miñoso continued to be a star player both offensively and defensively, leading the AL in hits once, doubles once, triples three times, and stolen bases three times—as well as caught trying to steal a base six times—in a ten-year period from 1951 to 1960. Miñoso also won a Gold Glove for his defensive play during the first three of the four years the award had been in existence, and like Gil Hodges's win in 1957, Miñoso's win in that year is even more auspicious because there was only one Gold Glove awarded to a specific position for both leagues. Following a good if not noteworthy 1961 campaign in his age-35 year, Miñoso became a part-time player for three years before retiring following the 1964 season.

As we saw previously, Miñoso was a one-and-done in his first time on a Hall of Fame ballot in 1969, netting less than two percent of the vote. However, the White Sox engineered a pair of publicity stunts in 1976 and in 1980 in which Miñoso returned, at age 50 in 1976 and age 54 in 1980, to take a handful of at-bats and thus become the only player in Major League history besides Nick Altrock to play in five different decades. However, the ploy restarted Miñoso's clock with respect to the Hall of Fame—starting in 1986, Miñoso remained on 14 straight ballots, averaging about 15.2 percent of the vote with a high of 21.1 percent in 1988.

Now Minnie Miñoso's chances for the Hall of Fame rest with the Golden Era Committee, and the argument for Miñoso's inclusion is that he is a pioneer—the first star player from a Latin American country, predating Roberto Clemente, and thus is the "Latin Jackie Robinson"—one who also faced discrimination: As a black Cuban, Miñoso spent three years playing in the Negro Leagues at the cusp of baseball's integration before signing with the Cleveland Indians. The Indians were the first American League team to integrate when center fielder Larry Doby played his first major league game less than two months after Robinson did.

Doby saw limited action in 1947 but became a full-time player the following year; he remained the Indians' center fielder through the 1955 season, when he was traded to the White Sox and, fittingly enough, became Miñoso's teammate once again. Larry Doby was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997 by the Veterans Committee; Doby had an excellent career although on numbers alone he does not look like a Hall of Famer, and his induction is recognition—belated recognition, to be sure—that Doby faced the same daunting challenges as did Jackie Robinson but received nowhere near the attention that Robinson did. Now a similar argument has been put forth for Minnie Miñoso.

The following table lists qualitative statistics for Minnie Miñoso and selected Golden Era Hall of Fame players who played in the Negro Leagues before becoming Major Leaguers, ranked by bWAR.

Golden Era Hall of Fame Negro Leagues Players and Minnie Miñoso, Ranked by bWAR

 
Player

Age at MLB Debut*

Slash Line

wOBA

bWAR

fWAR

OPS+

wRC+

Robinson, Jackie

28

.311/.409/.474

.406

61.5

57.2

132

135

Miñoso, Minnie

23

.298/.389/.459

.382

50.1

50.8

130

133

Doby, Larry

23

.283/.386/.490

.396

49.5

51.1

136

137

Campanella, Roy

26

.276/.360/.500

.385

34.2

38.2

123

123

Irvin, Monte

30

.293/.383/.475

.389

21.4

20.8

125

127

                 
* Denotes first appearance in a major league game, not necessarily when the player became a full-time player.

The table below lists Minnie Miñoso and selected Golden Era Hall of Fame players who played in the Negro Leagues before becoming Major Leaguers, ranked by bWAR, along with their JAWS statistics and ratings for the Hall of Fame Monitor and the Hall of Fame Standards.

Minnie Miñoso Qualitative Comparisons to Golden Era Hall of Fame Negro Leagues Players, Ranked by bWAR

Player

No. of Years

From

To

bWAR

WAR7

JAWS

JAWS Rank

HoF Mon.

(≈100)

HoF Std.

(≈50)

Robinson, Jackie

10

1947

1956

61.5

52.1

56.8

10

98

38

Miñoso, Minnie

15

1949

1964

50.1

39.8

45.0

22

87

35

Doby, Larry

13

1947

1959

49.5

39.6

44.6

20

72

30

Campanella, Roy

10

1948

1957

34.2

32.8

33.5

25

108

39

Irvin, Monte

8

1949

1956

21.4

21.3

21.3

102

18

18

Both tables show Miñoso and Larry Doby to be very similar. Both debuted in the majors during their age-23 season, and both have very similar qualitative statistics and Hall of Fame comparison statistics. Miñoso rates more highly than Doby in Hall of Fame Monitor and Hall of Fame Standards, but Miñoso also played roughly 300 more games with about 1400 more plate appearances than did Doby.

Would Miñoso have compiled a more Hall of Fame-worthy record had he entered the Majors as a full-time player before his age-25 season in 1951? Did he experience additional prejudice because he was both black and Latino? Is Miñoso indeed the Latino Jackie Robinson, a trailblazer for Latin players who deserves to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame because of it?

Strictly as a player, Miñoso has always been on the borderline as a Hall of Famer. Add that playing record to his status as the first Latino star, and it would not be surprising if the Golden Era Committee voted Miñoso into the Hall. It would be similar to previous acknowledgements of Monte Irvin, a star in both the Negro Leagues and in the Major Leagues, and particularly of Larry Doby, overshadowed by Jackie Robinson but no less a pioneer. Moreover, and despite the huge influx of Latin players into the majors in the last three decades, a Miñoso election would be a reminder that Latinos struggled with prejudice and discrimination as well, and it is not an issue that has been resolved.

When Arizona passed a state senate bill, SB 1070, in 2010 that targeted illegal immigrants and initially featured draconian measures regarding racial profiling, not only civil rights groups but even Major League Baseball itself protested its extremity, with high-profile Latino players such as Adrian Gonzalez and Albert Pujols stating publicly that they opposed the bill. Why? Arizona borders Mexico, and SB 1070 cannot help but target Latinos. There was talk about players boycotting the 2011 All-Star Game to be held in Phoenix; however, that talk—and any action—fizzled by the time the game was actually played, although by that time the more extreme elements of SB 1070 had already been struck down. (I wrote about the reaction to SB 1070, including a possible boycott, just prior to the 2011 All-Star Game.) And in 2012, Torii Hunter, who will get some Hall of Fame consideration when he retires, generated some controversy with his remarks about Latino players—and, apropos of Miñoso, black Latino players in particular—when he labeled them "imposters" and "not black." Hunter himself is African-American.

Although Hunter's remarks were tactless and impolitic, they do raise a point with respect to how situations are different between African-American players and Latino players. Both groups did—and do—face prejudice and discrimination. But the circumstances between the two groups are much different, and they should give pause to those simply equating Minnie Miñoso with Jackie Robinson.

The African-American experience in American history and society is unique. No other group was forcibly taken from their native lands in Africa and brought to North America to work as slaves. No other group was counted as three-fifths of a human being for representation and taxation purposes as described in the Three-Fifths Compromise portion of the United States Constitution. (Technically, black slaves were not explicitly named in the Constitution as counting as three-fifths of a human being—the language in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 states it as "three fifths of all other Persons"—but the historical context and intent make clear what group is being referred to.) Following emancipation from slavery, which precipitated the American Civil War, blacks were still subject to segregation in the American South (and tacit discrimination in many areas outside the South). This practice was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in its 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson, which immortalized the expression "separate but equal" as doctrinal law, and it was not struck down legally until another landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1954, Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, seven years after Jackie Robinson, and then Larry Doby, had led the drive to integrate Major League Baseball.

By contrast, Minnie Miñoso came from Cuba to the United States voluntarily: He had been offered a deal to play for the New York Cubans in the Negro National League in 1946. (And unlike Cuban players who even today are said to have fled Cuba's political repression, Miñoso had left Cuba 13 years before Fidel Castro and the communists took power in Cuba in 1959.) Two years later, and one year after baseball's color line had been broken, Miñoso had been signed by the Cleveland Indians at age 22. True, he didn't earn a full-time job in the majors until 1951, his age-25 season.

Did baseball's color line rob Miñoso of seasons in which he could have compiled an even stronger career playing record? Did the Cleveland Indians fail to fully recognize Miñoso's potential, or did they deliberately ignore it? Or did the Indians simply not have a place for him at the time they signed him? Or did Miñoso, in his first, limited action with the club in 1949, in which he batted .188 with one home run in nine games and 20 plate appearances, simply not impress the club, which thought he needed minor-league seasoning before he would be ready for the majors? And did any of these situations barring the first have anything to do with prejudice or discrimination based on Miñoso's being a Latino, or even a black Latino?

We may never know the answers to these questions, but one point is clear: As an immigrant, even a black immigrant from a Spanish-speaking country, Miñoso's experience was not the same as Jackie Robinson's, or Larry Doby's, or any other African-American player. Miñoso may have faced prejudice and discrimination, as have countless immigrants throughout American history, but those immigrants chose to leave their native countries and come to the United States. For African-Americans, though, the United States is their native country, albeit one they did not originally choose willingly, and it is within their native country that they have struggled for status equal to all other Americans—to be regarded as more than three-fifths of a human being for accounting purposes. That is why the African-American experience is unique, and that is why Miñoso's experience ultimately cannot be compared to Jackie Robinson's or Larry Doby's or any other pioneering African-American player. This may be what Torii Hunter was struggling to convey in his maladroit remarks about Latino players, particularly black Latino players—the sense of resentment that the immigrants' experience is equivalent to the African-Americans'.

And if baseball collectively is in such a self-congratulatory mood concerning its record of social pioneering, it may want to remember that the next time Marvin Miller and even Curt Flood are considered for the Hall of Fame. After all, their efforts led to the dismantling of the Reserve Clause, which historically had made players in essence chattel, or property, of the teams for which they played, to be used and discarded as the teams saw fit without any regard for the players' wishes—and without regard to a player's race, creed, or color.. The efforts of Flood and Miller led to the current economic environment of free agency, which has been as powerful and as revolutionary to baseball as had been integration, affecting all players be they African-American (such as Torii Hunter) or black Latino.

So, does Minnie Miñoso belong in the Hall of Fame, based on his playing record, his pioneering status, or both? His case is not as clear-cut as his proponents would argue, but neither is it unfounded. Previous veterans committees have elected players with substantially weaker cases; Miñoso would not be the worst inductee by a fair margin. Although I am, in the last analysis, not opposed to his induction, I cannot consider his playing record strong enough by itself for the Hall of Fame, and I have little more than lukewarm enthusiasm for his status as a pioneering Latino player being a non-playing factor in his Hall of Fame case.

Golden Era Hall of Fame Right Fielders

Moving to the other corner outfield spot, we find another Cuban whose playing record is on the bubble. And although Tony Oliva entered major league baseball in 1962, at a time when Latino players were becoming commonplace, the bigger hurdle he faces in a Hall of Fame assessment is his competition among right fielders already in the Hall—as we will see below, Oliva's contemporaries in right field are among the best whoever played the position.

Here are those five Hall of Fame right fielders associated with the Golden Era along with Oliva, ranked by bWAR, with other qualitative statistics, including fWAR, listed alongside it.

Golden Era Hall of Fame Right Fielders and 2015 Right Field Candidate on the 2015 Golden Era Ballot, Ranked by bWAR

Position Player

Slash Line

wOBA

bWAR

fWAR

OPS+

wRC+

Aaron, Hank

.305/.374/.555

.403

142.6

136.3

155

153

Musial, Stan

.331/.417/.559

.435

128.1

126.8

159

158

Robinson, Frank

.294/.389/.537

.404

107.2

104.0

154

153

Clemente, Roberto

.317/.359/.475

.365

94.4

80.6

130

129

Kaline, Al

.297/.376/.480

.378

92.5

88.9

134

134

Oliva, Tony

.304/.353/.476

.365

43.0

40.7

131

129

The table below lists the five Hall of Fame right fielders associated with the Golden Era and Oliva, ranked by bWAR, along with their JAWS statistics and ratings for the Hall of Fame Monitor and the Hall of Fame Standards. Also included are the JAWS statistics for all right fielders in the Hall of Fame.

2015 Golden Era Right Field Candidate, Qualitative Comparisons to Hall of Fame Right Field (Ranked by bWAR)

Player

No. of Years

From

To

bWAR

WAR7

JAWS

JAWS Rank

HoF Mon.

(≈100)

HoF Std.

(≈50)

Aaron, Hank

23

1954

1976

142.6

60.1

101.3

2

421

74

Musial, Stan

22

1941

1963

128.1

64.1

96.1

3

452

76

Robinson, Frank

21

1956

1976

107.2

52.9

80.0

5

222

66

Clemente, Roberto

18

1955

1972

94.4

54.2

74.3

6

231

51

Kaline, Al

22

1953

1974

92.5

48.7

70.7

7

160

58

Ave of 24 HoFers

NA

NA

NA

73.2

42.9

58.1

NA

NA

NA

Oliva, Tony

15

1962

1976

43.0

38.5

40.8

32

114

29

Poor Tony Oliva—ranked against his Golden Era contemporaries already in the Hall of Fame, he falls short of their accomplishments, let alone those of all right fielders in the Hall. And it is admittedly piling on by including Stan Musial in the mix—Musial played more games in left field and at first base than he did in right field; however, Jay Jaffe's JAWS rates Musial as having the most value as a right fielder. And of the two right fielders who played in the American League during Oliva's peak in the 1960s, Al Kaline and Frank Robinson, they were both beginning their decline phase—although Robinson, (in)famously traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 1966 as the club that traded him, the Cincinnati Reds, thought he was past his prime, only won the Triple Crown in his first year in the AL. (Hank Aaron finished his last two seasons, 1975 and 1976, in the AL, but by then neither he nor Oliva were much of a factor.)

And Oliva deserves consideration. In his first full year with the Minnesota Twins in 1964, Oliva roared out of the gate as he led the AL in batting (.323), hits (217; his career high), doubles (43; another career mark), runs scored (109—yep, a career best), and total bases (374; need I say it?). Oliva walked away with the Rookie of the Year award, and he placed fourth in Most Valuable Player voting. Oliva went on to lead the AL in batting two more times, in hits four more times, and in doubles three more times while leading the league in slugging percentage with .546 in 1971, the same year he won his last batting title with a career-best .337. He was runner-up in MVP voting twice, in 1965, when he lost to teammate Zoilo Versalles, although the shortstop did have a career year, and in 1970, when Oliva did have a better season, value-wise, than winner Boog Powell—although fourth-place finisher Carl Yastrzemski topped them both with a monster year; Oliva finished in the top ten for MVP voting five times in his career.

But following his excellent 1971 campaign, Oliva became beset with injuries, particularly to his knees; he played just 10 games in 1972, when knee surgery ended his season, and when he returned in 1973, it was as the Twins' designated hitter, and had the position not have been created that season in the American League, Oliva may not have continued his career for another four years, although he was, at age 34 in 1973, already in his decline phase.

Tony Oliva was an excellent high-average hitter with some power, hitting 30 or more doubles in a season seven times and 20 or more home runs five times, and if he didn't walk as much as current fashion dictates (448 bases on balls in 6880 plate appearances, or once every 15.4 plate appearances), neither did he strike out that much—645 whiffs in 6880 plate appearances, or once every 10.7 plate appearances). Could Oliva have posted better counting numbers had injuries not slowed him down? Should the Twins have made him a full-time player sooner? That's the guessing game again, and to add to that from the other end, had the DH rule not been instituted in 1973, he may not have had his last four seasons to begin with. You evaluate the baseball you have, not the baseball you wish the player had had, and Tony Oliva does not measure up to his Golden Era fellow right fielders already in the Hall of Fame.

Last modified on Saturday, 13 June 2015 13:33

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