Baseball's Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame (25 page)

Al Kaline/Dave Winfield

Neither Kaline nor Winfield was a truly dominant player. However, both excelled in many different aspects of the game, were exceptional all-around players, and would have to be viewed as being among the very best players of their respective eras.

Al Kaline never hit 30 home runs in a season, knocked in 100 runs only three times, and scored 100 runs only twice. But he was one of the best and most complete players of his time. He could hit for both average and power, and he was an outstanding baserunner. The winner of 10 Gold Gloves, he was also a superb outfielder with a powerful throwing arm.

Playing for the Detroit Tigers, from 1955 to 1963 Kaline was the second best player in the American League, behind only Mickey Mantle. While others such as Ted Williams, who was in the twilight of his career by then, Roger Maris, Rocky Colavito, and Harmon Killebrew had two or three outstanding seasons during that period, Kaline was consistently excellent over that nine-year stretch, being surpassed only by Mantle. With the exception of Maris’ two MVP seasons of 1960 and 1961, Kaline was also the league’s top rightfielder. Although he faced stiff competition from the National League’s Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and Roberto Clemente, only Aaron was consistently ranked ahead of Kaline among major league players at the position during that period.

Kaline was the best rightfielder, and one of the five best players in baseball, in both 1955 and 1956. In 1955, he hit 27 home runs, knocked in 102 runs, scored 121 others, and led the league with a .340 batting average and 200 base hits. Although he finished second behind Yogi Berra in the MVP voting that year, he was named the A.L. Player of the Year by
The Sporting News
. The following year, he finished in the top five in the MVP voting once more by hitting 27 homers, knocking in a career-high 128 runs, and batting .314. Over the course of his career, Kaline finished in the top five in the MVP voting two other times, and placed in the top ten of the balloting a total of nine times. He also batted over .300 and hit more than 20 homers nine times each, and he was selected to 15 All-Star teams. Kaline finished his career with 399 home runs, 1,583 runs batted in, 1,622 runs scored, 3,007 hits, and a .297 batting average.

Although he had a little more power than Kaline, hitting 465 home runs during his career and topping the 30-homer mark three times, Dave Winfield was similar to the Tiger outfielder in many ways. He never dominated his league, but he did everything extremely well and put up outstanding numbers year-after-year. He was an outstanding run-producer, an excellent baserunner, and a great outfielder.

After spending eight seasons with the National League’s San Diego Padres, Winfield joined the Yankees in 1981 where he subsequently became the American League’s best rightfielder, and one of its best players, for the next eight seasons. Before leaving San Diego, however, Winfield had perhaps his finest season in 1979. That year, playing in a pitcher’s park, he hit 34 home runs, led the league with 118 RBIs, batted .308, and was the best rightfielder in baseball, and arguably the finest all-around player in the game. With the Yankees, Winfield hit more than 30 homers twice, knocked in over 100 runs six times, batted over .300 twice, and established himself as one of the league’s top players. His most outstanding seasons in New York were 1982 (37 HR, 106 RBIs, .280 AVG), 1983 (32 HR, 116 RBIs, .283 AVG), 1984 (19 HR, 100 RBIs, .340 AVG), and 1988 (25 HR, 107 RBIs, .322 AVG). In each of those years, Winfield was one of the five or six best players in baseball, and the best rightfielder in the game.

Although Winfield was a league-leader only one time during his career, he put up some very impressive numbers. In addition to his 465 home runs, he finished with 1,833 runs batted in, 1,669 runs scored, and 3,110 base hits. He hit more than 20 homers 15 times, knocked in more than 100 runs eight times, scored more than 100 runs three times, batted over .300 four times, and stole more than 20 bases four times. Winfield was selected to the All-Star team 12 times and finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting seven times, making it into the top five on three occasions.

Sam Crawford

Though overshadowed by his Detroit Tigers’ teammate Ty Cobb for much of his career, Sam Crawford was one of the finest players of the Deadball Era. In virtually every season from 1901 to 1915, he was among the five best players in baseball.

For most of the first decade of the 20th century, only Honus Wagner and Napoleon Lajoie were better, and Crawford was clearly the American League’s best rightfielder. With both Wagner and Lajoie in the twilight of their careers by the start of the century’s second decade, players such as Cobb, Tris Speaker, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and Eddie Collins established themselves as the best players in the game. However, right behind them, still ranked among the game’s elite players, was Crawford. Only Jackson was rated above him as a rightfielder, and Crawford was still considered to be perhaps the top slugger and run-producer in baseball.

During the Deadball Era, the measure of a player’s slugging ability was not so much in the number of home runs he hit, but, rather, in the number of triples he compiled. During his career, Crawford slugged more triples (309) than any other player in history. From 1900 to 1916, he never failed to hit at least 10 three-baggers in a season, and he finished with at least 20 on five separate occasions. Crawford led the league in that department six times, and he also finished first in runs batted in three times, home runs twice, and runs scored once. He is one of just a handful of players to lead both major leagues in home runs (he hit 16 for the Cincinnati Reds in 1901). Crawford knocked in over 100 runs six times, scored more than 100 runs three times, and batted over .300 eleven times. He finished runner-up to Eddie Collins in the 1914 MVP voting and ended his career with 1,525 runs batted in, 1,391 runs scored, 2,961 base hits, 366 stolen bases, and a .309 batting average. His 1957 election by the Veterans Committee was well-deserved.

Mike “King” Kelly

It is difficult to gauge just how good a player Mike “King” Kelly truly was because of the era in which he played. As we saw earlier, in the very early days of major league ball, games were scheduled far more sporadically than they were in later years and, as a result, players’ statistics from those days need to be interpreted differently. Although Kelly spent 16 seasons in the big leagues, he appeared in more than 100 games, and had as many as 400 at-bats, only seven times. In only one season did he come to the plate more than 500 times. As a result, even though he had a rather lengthy career, Kelly finished with slightly less than 6,000 at-bats.

Needless to say, it would have been difficult for him to have many seasons in which he accumulated huge totals of runs batted in and runs scored. In fact, if you look at his career numbers, they are rather modest, even when compared to those of some of the other 19th century players who were elected to the Hall of Fame: only 950 RBIs and a .308 batting average. However, Kelly did manage to score more than 100 runs and steal more than 50 bases five times each, hit over .300 eight times, and lead his league in batting average twice, runs scored three times, on-base percentage twice, and doubles three times. In fact, although his productivity was curtailed even further by a bout with alcoholism and a general disinclination to take care of himself, for a few years some considered Kelly to be the finest player in the game. From 1884 to 1888, playing first for the Chicago Cubs and then for the Boston Braves, he averaged 121 runs scored and batted well over .300 four times. His three best seasons were 1884, 1886, and 1887. In the first of those years, he hit 13 home runs, knocked in 95 runs, batted .354, and scored 120 runs. In 1886, he established career-highs by hitting .388 and scoring 155 runs. The following year, he batted .322, scored 120 runs, and stole 84 bases.

Kelly was one of the most versatile players in the game, at one time or another playing every position on the field. He was also somewhat of an innovator, and he has a certain amount of historical significance. In addition to playing the outfield, he frequently caught, and he has been credited with being the first catcher to use signals to alert his infielders as to the type of pitch being thrown.

All things considered, it would seem that Kelly’s 1945 election by the Veterans Committee was not a bad choice.

Sam Rice/Kiki Cuyler

Both Rice and Cuyler benefited greatly from having their prime seasons during the hitting-dominated 1920s. As a result, their statistics were somewhat inflated. However, both men were outstanding all-around players who could hit, run, and field, and whose claim to Hall of Fame legitimacy is a valid one.

The career of Sam Rice spanned 20 years and was spent almost entirely with the Washington Senators. In his first several seasons with the team, the Senators were an also-ran, finishing in the second division in the standings virtually every year. However, with the development of Rice into an outstanding player, the emergence of a young Goose Goslin, and the presence of an aging, but still effective Walter Johnson, Washington spent a good portion of Rice’s career contending for the American League pennant.

While it could not legitimately be said that Rice was the best rightfielder in the American League at any point during his career, or even among the circuit’s five or six best players, he starred throughout the entire decade of the 1920s. Over that ten-year period, he was among the top 15 players in the game. From 1919 to 1932, Rice failed to hit over .300 only twice, and he batted .295 and .297 in the other two seasons. He batted over .320 ten times, topping the .340 mark twice. Rice’s two finest seasons came in 1925 and 1930. In the first of those years, he helped Washington to the pennant by establishing career-highs in batting (.350), hits (227), and runs batted in (87), while scoring 111 runs. In 1930, he batted .349, scored 121 runs, and collected 207 hits.

Although Rice hit only 34 home runs during his career, he had good extra-base power. He finished his career with 184 triples and 498 doubles, finishing in double-digits in triples and with more than 30 doubles ten times each. He also scored more than 100 runs five times, collected more than 200 hits six times, and stole more than 20 bases nine times, swiping a career-high 63 bags in 1920. Rice led the American League in hits twice, and in triples and stolen bases once each. He also finished in the top five in the league MVP voting twice.

The fact that his offensive numbers were somewhat inflated by the era in which he played should make Rice something less than an obvious choice for the Hall of Fame. However, his .322 career batting average, 1,514 runs scored, and 2,987 base hits are probably enough to validate his 1963 selection by the Veterans Committee.

The 18-year career of Kiki Cuyler included stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Brooklyn Dodgers. Cuyler’s prime years were spent with the Pirates and Cubs, between 1924 and 1934. Over that 11-year stretch, he failed to hit over .300 only twice, topping the .350-mark four times. He batted .354 for the Pirates in 1924, then followed that up the next season by batting .357, hitting 18 home runs, knocking in 102 runs, scoring 144 others, and collecting 220 hits, 26 triples, 43 doubles, and 41 stolen bases. For those two seasons, Cuyler was the National League’s best rightfielder, and one of its top five players. However, at no other point during his career could either of those statements legitimately be made.

Over the next several years, Cuyler was supplanted as the league’s best player at that position by the likes of Paul Waner, Chuck Klein, and Mel Ott. Nevertheless, he continued to perform at a very high level, having superb seasons for the Cubs in both 1929 and 1930. In the first of those years, he hit 15 home runs, knocked in 102 runs, batted .360, and scored 111 runs. The following year, he knocked in a career-best 134 runs, while batting .355, scoring 155 runs, and collecting 228 hits, 50 doubles, and 17 triples.

Over the course of his career, Cuyler led the National League in runs scored, triples, and doubles once each, and in stolen bases four times. He knocked in over 100 runs three times, scored more than 100 runs five times, collected more than 200 hits three times, batted over .300 ten times, and finished in double-digits in triples six times. In addition, although he played during an era in which the stolen base became almost obsolete, Cuyler stole more than 30 bases six times. He placed in the top 10 in the MVP voting twice and finished his career with a .321 batting average, 1,065 runs batted in, 1,305 runs scored, and 2,299 hits. Considering that his peak seasons were from 1924 to 1934, during a great hitter’s era, Cuyler’s numbers were not particularly overwhelming. However, when one also factors into the equation his integral role on five pennant-winning teams (two in Pittsburgh, and three in Chicago), his selection by the Veterans Committee in 1968 was not a bad one.

Martin Dihigo

Cuban-born Martin Dihigo may very well have been the most versatile man to ever play the game. It is one thing to play all nine positions on the field, but it is something else to
excel
at all of them. That is something Dihigo did during his 23-year Negro League career.

While he was quite capable of playing every position on the diamond, Dihigo’s greatest success came as a rightfielder, and, later in his career, as a pitcher. Renowned for his powerful throwing arm, which was compared favorably to that of Roberto Clemente by those who saw both men play, Dihigo was also an excellent hitter. Although statistics from the Negro Leagues are not totally reliable, he is reported to have batted over .300 in at least eleven seasons, and surpassed the .400-mark in at least three others. With the Cuban Stars of the Eastern Colored League, he led the league in home runs in 1926, while hitting .421. The following year, he tied for the league lead in home runs and batted .370. With the Hilldale Daisies of the American Negro League in 1936, Dihigo hit .358 to win the batting title, while simultaneously occupying a regular spot in the pitching rotation. In fact, during his career, Dihigo often lead his team in most hitting and pitching categories.