Some very passionate arguments given both ways for some of these players. Obviously, most are on the bubble which makes it that much harder and also makes for some great arguments.
I could make arguments for all of the players but I'll stick to one for right now...Thurman Frickin' Munson. Despite what has been written about his career in decline the last two years, I would argue just the opposite. Yes his HR's and rbi's were down, but his average remained high considering the position he played...and he played a lot of games at a tough position, and played it well. He died on Aug 2, 1979 and was hitting .288 at the time (he was hitting .294 as of July 24th). He was a ROY, MVP, 3 time Gold Glove winner, and oh yeah, he actually showed up in the playoffs and world series. Can't say that about every HOF'er. Check Campanella's post season stats (and I love Campy) but if he had hit better in the 49, 52 and 56 series, Brooklyn would have had 4 championships instead of 1.
If you look at a lot of catchers that play a lot of games, they seem to have a dip after several years, but then pick up again. I attribute that to getting more time off (which most catchers need). If Munson had not died, and with the Yankees spending history, I'm pretty sure they would have found a better backup than Jerry Narron and given Munson much needed time off.
Anyway, it should be interesting to see who, if anyone, gets in this year.
If I had a vote, and could vote for 4, they would be:
1. Munson
2. Whitaker
3. Evans
4. Garvey (but I'd like to see Simmons get in too).
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