The Hall of Very Good (Part 2)

I'll pick up the nominations with our cajun friend Louisiana Lightning Ron Guidry.  Guidry won 170 games for the Yankees with a .651 WL%.  A 3-time 20-game winner, he of course threw down one of the greatest seasons in MLB history in 1978 going 25-3 with a 1.74.  Guidry was a late bloomer clocking in at 26 years old when he became a full-time player so only had about 9 prime years, but he registered a Cy Young award along with a 2nd and 3rd.

A feared slugger from the pitching rich late 60's and early 70's was Dick Allen.  Allen won an MVP award, had six 30+ homer seasons, and finished with 351.  He hit .292 lifetime and most impressively had a .534 career slugging % and .912 career OPS.  This was very close to a HOF career with his surly attitude likely hurting him with the voters.

Here's a great example of a very good player who falls just short of HOF; Al Oliver.  A guy who hit over .300 11 times with a career avg. of .303.  Had over 2,700 hits and over 500 doubles.  Won a batting title in 1982.  A total professional hitter who suffers a bit from mediocre power numbers, just 219 homers.  A guy who just went under the radar for 18 seasons banging out hits.

A real favorite of mine was Matt Williams of the Giants.  Williams was a classic slugging third baseman who smashed 378 homers and had some of the softest hands I ever saw at third.  He scored 4 Gold Gloves while hitting over 30 homers 6 times with a high of 43.  One of the few players that I actually looked forward to see play the field.

Can you bang out over 2,800 hits, 480 doubles, 380 homers, and 1,600 RBI and not land in the HOF?  Apparently yes, as Harold Baines can attest.  Baines hit .289 over 22 seasons with an .820 OPS but as quality as he was, he had a grand total of 1 item of black ink in his career, leading the league in slugging in 1984.  A high quality player for a long time who never had any magical seasons or was dominant in any way.  A perfect entry for the Hall of Very Good.

More to follow...............

S