1,800 career hits and a lifetime .266 Batting Average sounds like a good career, but not necessarily a Hall of Fame one.  A closer look at Bobby Grich's overall body of work indicates he is much closer than you might think.

Prior to Grich, the prototypical second baseman was a smaller athlete who was a wizard with the glove, and any offense you got from him was a bonus.  There were occasional exceptions, but that was generally the rule for the position.  Grich was oversized for a Second Baseman, but had exceptional range and won four Gold Gloves.  Grich had decent power and co-led the league in homers during the strike-shortened season of 1981.  Grich may not have been dazzling with his traditional batting numbers, but he was with his On Base Percentage, which was often well over a hundred points over his Batting average.

Bobby Grich had the misfortune of making the ALCS five times, but his teams could not get to the World Series.  Grich may not have been any serious threat for a postseason award, but time is showing a new light on his contributions and his ushering in of a new wave of offensively capable second basemen.  We are still not sure if he should be in the Hall, but we do believe he deserved better than being a “one and done” for the Baseball Writers in terms of his eligibility.

One of two things could happen when you play with a collection of superstars.  Either you get lost in the shuffle, or you become incorrectly elevated among them.  Neither was the case for Dave Concepcion, who became nationally known playing alongside Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, and Tony Perez, but deserved the attention that came with it.

Dave Concepcion played with some of the all-time greats with the Big Red Machine, but he, too, was a huge contributor to the success of that organization.  He was the anchor of the defense, and in an era where shortstops were expected to be “good field, no hit”, Dave Concepcion contributed to the Reds’ offense as well.  He was not dominating the league with his offensive numbers, but he hit when it counted, and his best efforts were showcased when his team needed him most, as shown by his .300+ Batting Average in all three World Series.

There is little doubt that Dave Concepcion was easily among the top three shortstops of his era.  The issue is that his era did not produce many players in that position who could even remotely be considered for the Hall.  Concepcion would struggle today to put offensive numbers that would put him in the top ten at shortstop.  This isn’t Dave’s fault, but this may be a huge reason that he didn’t make the Hall during his fifteen years of initial eligibility.  With that said, an informal poll of his peers would have likely deemed Dave Concepcion a Hall of Fame inductee.  Let’s see if the Veterans Committee will one day agree.

Al Oliver came to the league in 1969 as a line-drive hitter and, for eighteen years, consistently smacked the ball for hits.  He had over 2,700 hits in his career, and despite not being a genuine power hitter, he had a plethora of RBI’s.

Oliver’s main gift was hitting for average.  In addition to his 1982 Batting Title, he had ten other seasons where he hit the .300 plateau.  Oliver wasn’t known for hitting home runs (though he did over 200 in his career), but he found the gap often and was perennially among the league leaders in doubles.  As he was a decent clutch hitter and was always in the hunt for Batting Titles, it would have been thought that Al Oliver would have had more support for the Hall of Fame.

That support might have come had Oliver won an MVP (he came close in 1982) or been a better fielder.  He also had a relatively low On Base Percentage, which has been the vogue baseball stat in the past fifteen years.  Regardless, a decade and a half of consistent contact hitting should have been worth more than 4.3 percent in his first year of eligibility.

What more would Thurman Munson have accomplished had he not been killed in a plane crash on August 2, 1979?  We will never know, but prior to his untimely death, Munson’s accomplishments on the diamond were already sizable.

Thurman Munson was a leader on the field, in the clubhouse, and everywhere else in life.  He broke through in the Majors in 1970 and won the coveted Rookie of the Year, cementing himself as a force to be reckoned with in the catcher’s position for the decade.  For a catcher, he hit the ball well and consistently provided a solid Batting Average, and showed moderate power numbers.  Munson was a perennial All-Star and even won the MVP in 1976.  He was known early in his career for his quick release, and he was very difficult to steal from.  In each of his six postseason series, he never batted below .300, thus showing his ability to come through when his team needed him the most.

Had Munson not perished, would he have racked up career milestones that would have made it hard for the Hall to ignore?  It is possible, but Munson did not have a high On Base Percentage, nor was he really more than a singles hitter.  His main asset, though, was his leadership and his ability to make those around him better.  This should trump a few walks and doubles on most days.