Whitaker and Grich are both well qualified. Putting Grich in wouldn't push the line down at all. WAR isn't everything, but it's pretty good, and Grich leads Craig Biggio by 5 (basically, one all-star quality season), to take one recent and well-qualified HOF second baseman.
"If Garvey, why not Hernandez" works, except that Garvey is hilariously under qualified, whereas Hernandez has a case. (Not one that I'd support, but a case.) It helps that Hernandez was probably the best defender ever at first base. Garvey, by contrast, has a 3 WAR lead over Travis Fryman. So if you think that Travis Fryman is pretty close to being a hall of famer, then Garvey has a case. If you think that Travis Fryman isn't anywhere close to being a hall of famer, probably best to forget about Garvey.
Munson probably would have had a good argument if he had lived. But it's hard to put together a hall of fame career in 11 seasons unless you're Sandy Koufax or something.
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