Outskirts of Red Sox Nation

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

T-Shirt Hall of Fame

I grew up in Milwaukee, primarily a Brewers fan. There's something about being eight years old in 1982 and having your team in the World Series that solidifies you as a baseball fan. Of course, the Brew Crew got hosed by the Cardinals that year, and haven't returned to the Series since, but nevertheless, it made an impression.

The funny thing is, I don't ever recall having a Brewers baseball jersey growing up. The only baseball t-shirt I remember wearing in my youth was a navy-blue Jim Rice t-shirt. I wore it so often in the early 80's that one of my neighbors down the street called me "Jim" well into my 20's. My name's not Jim, by the way. Even from that distance, and even not becoming an real fan of the Boston Red Sox until the late 1990's, I've had a fondness for Jim Rice. I think that today (2 p.m. Eastern is the announcement) he ought to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and sincerely hope that he will be.

I have to say in my formative years as an adult baseball fan, I was sort of down on Jim Rice's candidacy. As I read Bill James and Rob Neyer, I was too swayed by the opinion that he was too one-dimensional and lacked the extended peak that true hall-of-famers have. It was also pretty clear that Bill James, ever the moralist, thought Jim Rice was something of a jerk, which doesn't help his argument. There are lots of websites and lots of people more devoted to this than I am, but I would just point a couple of things out. If you check Jim's page on Baseball-Reference.com and scroll down toward the bottom, there are a couple of things that stand out. Bill James invented lots of fun baseball stats stuff, but a few of them are the "Hall of Fame Monitor" scores and the "Similarity Scores." His grey and black ink for Hall of Fame worthiness all exceed the average HOFer by a comfortable margin. He falls a little short on "Hall of Fame Standards," but that has more to with his shorter career (lack of big counting stats) than his worthiness. If you look at Sandy Koufax's page, his HOF Standard number is 46. A short attenuation to your career should not minimize greatness.

Bill James also created what he calls the "Keltner List" of Hall of Fame worthiness. These are fifteen questions used to sort through candidates. Obviously, if you accept these questions, you're accepting Bill James' own assumptions about what makes someone worthy, but I'm willing to take that leap. I'm not going to answer them all for Jim Rice, but I'll post them below and be comfortable in saying that I think that objective answers to questions on the list actually treat Jim Rice pretty fairly.

The last thing I'll say is that I sincerely hope that the trend toward increasing support every year continues. It would be ludicrous to think that someone would appear on a writer's ballot one year and then drop off in future years. It is much much more sensible to believe that a player is understood to be a Hall of Famer as time gives you better context of their careers. Only slam-dunks are enshrined immediately (congratulations in advance, Cal and Tony), but other guys like Jim Rice and Bert Blyleven need to build over time as people can see, from a distance, how truly dominant they were in their time, and in their context.

THE KELTNER LIST
1. Was he ever regarded as the best player in baseball? Did anybody, while he was active, ever suggest that he was the best player in baseball?

2. Was he the best player on his team?

3. Was he the best player in baseball at his position? Was he the best player in the league at his position?

4. Did he have an impact on a number of pennant races?

5. Was he good enough that he could play regularly after passing his prime?

6. Is he the very best baseball player in history who is not in the Hall of Fame?

7. Are most players who have comparable statistics in the Hall of Fame?

8. Do the player's numbers meet Hall of Fame standards?

9. Is there any evidence to suggest that the player was significantly better or worse than is suggested by his statistics?

10. Is he the best player at his position who is eligible for the Hall of Fame?

11. How many MVP-type seasons did he have? Did he ever win an MVP award? If not, how many times was he close?

12. How many All-Star-type seasons did he have? How many All-Star games did he play in? Did most of the players who played in this many All-Star games go into the Hall of Fame?

13. If this man were the best player on his team, would it be likely that the team could win the pennant?

14. What impact did the player have on baseball history? Was he responsible for any rule changes? Did he introduce any new equipment? Did he change the game in any way?

15. Did the player uphold the standards of sportsmanship and character that the Hall of Fame, in its written guidelines, instructs us to consider?

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