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2023 Hall of Fame Era Committee Ballot News Lou Whitaker among others.

kalinecountry

kalinecountry

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Career WAR:
Bonds: 162.8
Clemens: 139.2
Schilling: 79.5
Whitaker: 75.1
Dwight Evans: 67.2
McGriff: 52.6
Murphy: 46.5

Hall of Fame Era Committee news:

Lou Whitaker, Dale Murphy, and Dwight Evans are under purview of Contemporary Baseball EC (1980-), eligible for inclusion on 2023 ballot with Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, McGriff, etc. The actual ballot won't be announced until Nov.

Hall of Fame Era Committee news (cont.):
Steve Garvey, Tommy John, and Dave Parker belong to Classic Baseball EC (pre-1980), the same group as Dick Allen, Bill Dahlen, Negro Leagues/Black baseball candidates. They won't be eligible until 2025 ballot (announced Nov. 2024)

Hall of Fame Era Committee news (cont.):
There was ambiguity over which era some of those players, all of whom were on 2020 Modern Baseball ballot from which Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller were elected, would be classified, as they had contributions in both periods.

Hall of Fame Era Committee news (cont.):
This classification, which I confirmed via Hall spox Jon Shestakofsky, contradicts an offhand tweet I made yesterday about Whitaker's competition in particular. Still very stiff.

Seems like its going to be a STACKED ballot with many worthy players left off. Will Keith Hernandez be included in the post 1980 grouping? I know he hasnt even been on the recent ballots.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-hall-of-fame-shakes-up-its-era-committee-system-yet-again/
The Hall of Fame Shakes Up its Era Committee System Yet Again. April 2022.
Fangraphs
 
So the ones listed above Whitaker on here for steroid guys.
 
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...baseball-hall-of-fame-vet-ballot/69627773007/
Lou Whitaker snubbed by Hall of Fame again; Detroit Tigers great left off vet ballot.
Freep

Whitaker produced 75.1 WAR, according to Baseball Reference, tied with Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench for 82nd in MLB history.

The Hall of Fame features 340 members, including 268 former MLB players.
Of those 268, 20 were primarily second basemen, and Whitaker's WAR total sits seventh among theirs, behind only Charlie Gehringer (84.8), Rod Carew (81.2), Joe Morgan (100.4), Nap Lajoie (106.9), Eddie Collins (124.4) and Rogers Hornsby (127.3).

Whitaker will have to wait until at least December 2025 ? he'll be 68 ? when the post-1980 committee is scheduled to meet again.

POS Cheaters Bonds and Clemens with Schilling are recent additions to the veterans? ballot, as they exhausted their eligibility on the BBWAA ballot in January, passed over for the 10th straight year. Bonds received 260 of 394 votes (66%), Clemens 257 (65.2%) and Schilling 231 (58.6%). Bonds and Clemens have Hall of Fame numbers, but were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs during their later seasons.
Hate Mongerer Schilling has no PED allegations, but has seen his Hall support drop (after coming within 16 votes of induction in 2021) following hateful remarks he made in retirement toward Muslims, transgender people, reporters and others.
Cheater and Pathological Liar Palmeiro is one of just seven players with 3,000 hits and 500 homers (along with Tigers great Miguel Cabrera, who joined the club in April) but tested positive for PEDs a few months after testifying against their use in front of Congress in 2005.
 
Whitaker should have been a first-ballot selection. This is egregious on the part of the BBBBWAAAA or whomever they crap they is. No excuses. Not even a stacked ballot in his initial year of eligibility; HE was one of the reasons WHY it was stacked. Because it has failed to right this wrong proves that his exclusion was intentional and the BBBBBBSWAAAA is too "hubristic" to admit it.
 
https://www.mlb.com/news/fred-mcgriff-elected-to-hall-of-fame-2023-class
Fred McGriff elected unanimously to Hall on Contemporary Era ballot.
MLB.com

Though McGriff went 16-for-16, none of the other men on the Contemporary Baseball Era ballot -- a ballot comprised of players whose greatest contributions to the game came from 1980 to the present -- received the 12 votes (or 75%) necessary for selection. The results revealed by the Hall were as follows:

McGriff: 16 votes, 100%

Don Mattingly, 8, 50%
Curt Schilling, 7, 43.8%
Dale Murphy, 6, 37.5%

Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro: Fewer than 4 votes.
 
Adam Darowski of Baseball Twit.

I looked for primary (>50% of games @) 2B with 1500 PA between age 34 and 38. That limited my sample to just 41 players. Lou Whitaker?s 134 OPS+ ranks SECOND among those (behind only Nap Lajoie?s 156).
https://stathead.com/tiny/xCcht
 
I do not think Whitaker is a HOF'er.
'
I know baseball is about stats. I get that. It's probably why I love it so much.......but when people argue for Lou it's always about how some OTHER guy got in with these numbers and someone else got in with those......the argument rarely is about Whitakers ability on the field. Rarely about the eye test. LW had a very good all around game.

That said.....never once did I think "WOW, that guy is a HOF'er".

Lou belongs in the Hall of Very Good players. He does. It's hard for Tiger fans to accept that....but IMO, it's the truth.
 
boogerlovejoy said:
I do not think Whitaker is a HOF'er.
'
I know baseball is about stats. I get that. It's probably why I love it so much.......but when people argue for Lou it's always about how some OTHER guy got in with these numbers and someone else got in with those......the argument rarely is about Whitakers ability on the field. Rarely about the eye test. LW had a very good all around game.

That said.....never once did I think "WOW, that guy is a HOF'er".

Lou belongs in the Hall of Very Good players. He does. It's hard for Tiger fans to accept that....but IMO, it's the truth.
Click to expand...

Perhaps Whitaker made the game look too easy.

Among 2b men, CAREER, 5000 MIN PA (144 pool)

WAR 9th
wRC 19th
wOBA 28th
HR 12th
Runs 9th
BB% 16th
OBP 29th
OPS 26th
PA 9th

WPA 4th
+WPA 4th
WPA/LI 7th
RE24 7th

I think that Whitaker should have been in the HOF decades ago.
 
boogerlovejoy said:
I do not think Whitaker is a HOF'er.
'
I know baseball is about stats. I get that. It's probably why I love it so much.......but when people argue for Lou it's always about how some OTHER guy got in with these numbers and someone else got in with those......the argument rarely is about Whitakers ability on the field. Rarely about the eye test. LW had a very good all around game.

That said.....never once did I think "WOW, that guy is a HOF'er".

Lou belongs in the Hall of Very Good players. He does. It's hard for Tiger fans to accept that....but IMO, it's the truth.
Click to expand...

WTF is the eye test in baseball? Baseball is probably the one sport that the stats tell the most accurate story. On offense you really aren't depending on other people to have success...the same with defense. And comparing players that are in is kind of what you have to do...the players that have already made the HOF kind of set the bar.
 
Chatting with a friend at my go-to coffee shop on Thursday morning, the subject of Hall-of-Fame-worthiness led us to compare the careers of Norm Cash and Fred McGriff. The latter was, of course, recently elected via an era committee. The former, who has never been so honored, manned first base for the Detroit Tigers from 1960-1974 ? this after breaking into the big leagues with the Chicago White Sox, who subsequently dealt him to the then-Indians, who proceeded to flip him to Detroit in what might be worst trade in franchise history. In exchange for Cash, Cleveland received Steve Demeter.

McGriff had 2,260 more plate appearances than Cash, as well as 670 more hits and 116 more home runs. His edge in most counting stats is clear. As for rate stats, The Hit Dog had a .383 wOBA, a 134 wRC+, and 56.9 WAR. Stormin? Norman had a .382 wOBA, a 139 wRC+, and 54.6 WAR.

Was Cash a better player than McGriff? He arguably was. At the same time, McGriff is probably the more Hall-worthy of the two.

Fangraphs
 
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes-better-than-evers-lou-whitaker-belongs-in-the-hall-of-fame/
Sunday Notes: Better Than Evers, Lou Whitaker Belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Fangraphs

Along with Johnny Evers and Joe Tinker ? they of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance fame ? Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker are the most-storied double-play combination in baseball history. As well they should be. The Detroit Tigers duo played more games together (1,918) than any middle-infield duo in history. Moreover, they combined for 11 All-Star appearances, seven Gold Gloves, seven Silver Sluggers, and they won a World Series together. Both are icons for a franchise that has played in the American League since 1901.

Tinker and Evans, who played together with the Chicago Cubs from 1902-1912, are both in the Hall of Fame. So is Trammell. Meanwhile ? this for reasons best explained as inexplicable ? Whitaker is not. His exclusion stands as one of Cooperstown?s most glaring omissions.

Whitaker has more WAR and a higher JAWS score than a number of Hall of Fame second basemen, but that can be a debate for another day. For now, let?s focus on how he compares to Evers.

Whitaker: 2,369 hits, 244 home runs, 118 wRC+, 68.1 WAR.
Evers: 1,659 hits, 12 home runs, 109 wRC+, 49.0 WAR.

While Evers?s numbers are anything but great, it should be noted that he won an MVP award and played for three World Series-winning teams (the Cubs twice and the Boston Braves once). That said, it?s highly unlikely that he would be in the Hall of Fame were he not part of a legendary double-play combination (he and Tinker were Old-Timers-Committee selections in the same year). How they became legendary is, of course, a big part of the story. The poem penned in 1910 by sportswriter Franklin Pierce Adams.

Should that eight-line poem have anything to do with Lou Whitaker?s Hall-of-Fame-worthiness? No, at least not by any reasonable standard. That said, the Trammell-Whitaker double-play combination is every bit as famous as Tinker-Evers, and they were markedly-better players. Whitaker has even better numbers than Trammell.

?Sweet Lou? Whitaker isn?t in the Hall of Fame are themselves the saddest of words.
 
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