Mr. X and Cooperstown
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by user DNL
Does this guy make the Hall of Fame? You be the judge. If you figure out who the player is, please do not share it. I'll provide the info later.
He played in the free agent era, mostly for a small/medium market team, at a position where defense is highly valued. He had three Gold Gloves, all after age 30, and he probably would have had more in a different era.
Even at a position where defense is a premium, he was no slouch with the bat. He had an OPS+ of over 100 for twelve consecutive years, ranging from a low of 104 to a high of 156 over that span. He was widely regarded as his league's best hitting player at that position, winning nine Silver Sluggers. He was a league MVP once.
He made the All-Star Game more than ten times over his career.
However, he never lead the league in any standard category. He never cracked the top 10 in RBI or homers, and fell shy 200 dingers for his career. He also failed to crack the 3,000 hit barrier by a large amount, finishing under 2,400. He did have nearly 400 stolen bases over his career, but never lead the league and was only top 10 five times (and only top five once). While he flirted with a career batting average of .300, he wasn't amongst the league leaders there, either, never cracking the top five and only making the top ten only four times.
He appears to have no character issues that would sway voters negatively.
Do you put him on your ballot? Why or why not?
Update: For those still unaware of Mr. X's identity, you may want to click here.
Date
Mon 05/29/06, 11:38 am EST
