Eli Cash - contributing reporter
Hall of Fame Voting Recap
Season 47 Hall of Fame voting without a new member being elected. Let's take a look at those votes and who once again are hopefuls for next year. Once nominated, a players is eligible for 5 seasons. We'll start to track the progress each player makes over those years to see if they get any closer. Unfortunately I haven't been around enough, blame Canada, to track anything past Season 46. As it currently stands, a player needs 17 of the 32 owners to vote them in; or in the math world they might say 1 more than half.
He's followed shortly by Wiki Unamuno, also in his first year and collects 6 votes. Had he extended his career by another 2-3 years he'd likely be up there with Galvez. Just 59 hits shy of the 2500 hit plateau with Galvez but also played 4 less seasons. Trails only Johnny Sherman and Andres Candelaria in Doubles and both Brutus Henry and Dennis Gulan in Stolen Bases compared to all Hall of Famers and boosts an 81% success rate at swiping bases; someone call the Po-Po! Averaged more runs per season than any current Hall of Famer. Getting on his base was his thing, leading with a .308 career batting average with a .376 career OBP which would rank him 5th among all HoFers. 6x All Star, 1x World Series Rings. If he hangs in there, we should see his plaque in the Hall one day.
The third highest position player to receive votes was Edinson Hernandez. Owns the second highest Monitor score among eligible players for the Hall. His scores ranks up there with Paul Molitor and Kirby Puckett of the MLB. Only Andres Candelaria hit more Doubles (number 2 All Time) and Dennis Gulan more Stolen Bases than all Hall of Famers. #5 All Time in Triples. Hernandez averaged more hits a season than every current player in the Hall. If he only had played another 3-4 seasons, he'd definitely be at least top 5 all time in Hits, if not #2 trailing only stud Johnny Sherman. One of the few players to walk less than he struck out. 7x All Star, 1x MVP, 1x RotY, 2x World Series Rings in RF, surpassed the 400 HR mark and 2500 hit plateau. He hit more than 35 Doubles in 14 seasons, with 3 times hitting more than 45. Only fellow HoF eligible Wiki Unamuno hit more out of all players currently in the Hall. The numbers are there and I hope he gets it. If an owner or GM wanted someone hitting at the top of their lineup, this was the guy they want for every season he played.
A few quick notes on those players picking up 4 or less votes. Ernie McEnerney drops 2 votes, down to 4. A long career served him as he reached over 2800 hits but hit a career .268 and struck out 80% more times than he walked. He just reached the 500 HR mark. He'd have Cash's vote but there are so many other names that I feel are more deserving. I'm not sure when his clock started, but his eligibility could be coming to an end soon. Dorssys Tatis holds tight at 4, likely due to strong support in Colorado Springs and the rowdy Dizzy Leonard crowd. I'll give them one thing, they are strong willed group, that's for sure. Struck out as much as he walked, though he did top 2500 Hits and was climbing towards 600 HRs (hit 565). But after 18 years, I'd hope he has those numbers. Averaged 30 HRs a season, but only 77 runs and 90 RBI. Is the proud owner of a RotY award, but that is the only piece on his trophy case. Haywood Swann saw a HUGE drop off, going from 10 down to 3 votes. He misses most every high mark for Hits, HR, XBHs, and SBs. The one big thing he had going for him was his ability to walk. Maybe if he starts now, he'll be able to walk as a visitor into the Hall of Fame. Don Sparks drops from 5 to 2 votes, while his Monitor score of 154 is pretty good, his Test scores drops down to barely debatable for the Hall. He did cross the 2500 Hit mark and 500 HRs over his 16 year career. 3x MVP, 2x All Star - must have been a hell of a second half if he didn't make the All-Star game but still brought home the season MVP award. 1x RotY, 2x Gold Glove, and 2x World Series Rings. If a player doesn't have more than 10x seasons with 100+ Runs, you'd like to see that player have 10x seasons with 100+ RBIs and Sparks has neither. Benny Franco in his first year attempts to the be the first Catcher in the Cobbfather Hall. Considering his position, he should be a sure fire HoFer by his Test Score. 2300+ Hits, 450+ HRs, 1500+ RBI, 1200+ R with a .297 career average and .388 career OBP. 7x All Star with 1x World Series Rings. Unfortunately midway through his career he was moved off Catcher to DH; that likely hurt his Monitor Score a bit as it helps weight value at the different positions. In comparison to All Time batting average champ and full time Catcher, Al Samuel; Franco misses the mark big time. Samuel had a 194 Monitor Score compared to Franco's 95, but had a Test score of 68 compared to Franco's 71. Wandy Guillen and Rubby Javier each saw a decrease down to 1 vote each. Of the two, Wandy is the better player who made a good front of the order hitter, but doesn't compare well to Hernandez and Unamuno. Ching-Lung Suzuki gains a vote on his first season on the ballot, but everything except him reaching the 2500 Hits says he falls short even for a Shortstop. He is one of the best defensive players we've seen on the ballot, but he'll need more than 4 Gold Gloves to gain entry. Finally we have Alving Palmeiro dropping a vote down to a single one. His Monitor score has been the worst of any player I've looked at it. Middle of the road hitter that is a 5x All Star and 4x Gold Glove winner playing most of his games at the hot corner. His career numbers miss average 150 Hits, 20 HR, 25 SB, 85R, and 70 RBIs a season.
Midre Tavarez picked up a couple of votes as well, nearing the double digit mark. Tavarez has Merced beat in Wins by 3 and Complete Games but lags behind ever so slightly in most other categories. He'll definitely be watching to see if Merced gets in, as it should give him hope to be in as well. Seriously, they are eerily similar; Tavarez with 5 seasons of 14+ Wins better than .700, 3x 20+ Win seasons, 1 less All Star, 1 less seasons below 3.00 ERA, lower career OBP by .001; higher career ERA by .001.
Dizzy Leonard holds tight with 3 votes, and I believe he's entering his last season on the ballot. The always high Colorado Springs voters are holding strong and determined to get him in. Braeden Abercrombie on the other hand dropped 5 votes and now appears to be a long shot, if his eligibility hasn't already passed. He owns a fantastic 3.2 K/BB, but only 1 20+ Win season, did however end up with 8 200+ Strikeout seasons and a career 3.08 ERA to go along with his 1x Cy Young, 6x All Star, 2x Gold Glove. Our new comer Lynn Mortensen has the worst Monitor score among all players eligible that we've looked at over the years. He barely made 200 Wins, has a career ERA just shy of 4.00, one of the highest SLG% among eligible pitchers, but hey he did win RotY once. Go Mortensen! I wonder if his mom gets a HoF vote? Lorenzo Gonalez is a surprise case. He's on the border in the debatable area but didn't receive a single vote, sure he surpassed 200 Wins and only took 88 Ls over nearly 2800 innings; which places him second among all HoFers in Winning Percantage behind only Barry Carew. Ryan Fisher on the other hand, while close to Dizzy in stats definitely doesn't cut the requirements on the Monitor Score. Good to point out he did best Dizzy on the Test Score.
Al Balentien drops 3 votes as Owners were likely voting elsewhere this year. In comparison, All Time Saves leader and current Boston Massacre closer, has a 180 Monitor Score and 241 Cash Score. Balentien's Monitor score has him above 12 other current Hall of Famers and is #3 All Time on the Saves list. Perhaps this writer undervalued him in his previous looks. His Cash Score took a hit in the last 2 seasons he played for Scranton and Seattle; totaling less than 30 IPs combined between the two. Ignore those two seasons and he's up at 243. Noting the first nine seasons of his career he was a middle man and not the closer. 8x All Stair, 5x Fireman of the Year, and 1x World Series Ring. I'm not sure how many seasons he has left on the ballot, but I'll be looking at his name more closely next year.
Yeico Miranda had a good increase, going from 2 votes in Season 46 to 6 votes this season, his career ratios across the board are better than Balentien, but similar to Al; he started our of his first 6 seasons as a Set-up man and not the closer role. Often times appearing in 65-70 games and throwing 125+ innings. of below 2.00 ERA ball. He surpassed 300 saves but wasn't able to reach the 400 mark, perhaps that holds him back in the voter's eye. 11x All Star, 1x RotY, 2x FotY, and 1x World Series Rings. In Season 39 he won his first Fireman of the Year (AL) the same year Al Balentien won his last FotY (NL).
Artie Stone is our new comer and while his Monitor Scores seems a bit light, he's made up for it in his Cash Score receiving 2 votes this season. 455 career saves, which likely puts him in the top 10 for that category, but rarely (4 times) did he drop a sub 3.00 ERA or a sub 1.20 WHIP. His BB/9 would be the highest mark among current Hall of Famers. It was rare for him to top 25 saves a season, but that likely has more to do with his manager and role than actual talent. 6x All Star but no trophies for his mantle at home.
Until next year!