Posted By:
Dave ReyI'm going to agree that Johnny Evers is a qualified HOF member, but to say that anybody that disagrees is nuts is a stretch.
His qualifications put him near the bottom border of Hall of Famers. His offensive stats aren't going to look impressive, given the context of their compilation -- that being the dead ball era. He was above the league norm in pretty much every offensive category during his career, was an good defensive keystone sacker, was a good post-season performer for three Series winners and was the MVP in 1914.
His inclusion isn't a complete stretch like Joe Tinker's or a moderate stretch like Frank Chance's.
The poem, the MVP and his playing on the three dominant Cubs teams from 1906-08 are the factors that make him a HOFer when a nearly identically valuable contemporary player like Claude Ritchey isn't really considered -- or even remembered for that matter...
It wouldn't be unreasonable to argue that since several second basemen of equal or better overall value aren't in the Hall, Evers is trading on his fame from the poem and his good fortune of playing on those dominant Cubs teams.