How many of those guys who hit 50+hrs were doping? Bonds, Sosa, Rodriguez, Ortiz, etc. You care about awards, well Beltre should have been MVP in 2004. Bonds only won because he was doping. How many of those mvp votes and as game selections went to dopers?
What you call bad years, are a clean player being overshadowed by cheaters. Then you want to further discredit his numbers because cheaters drove up overall production. Sorry, those arguements don't hold water.
If you want to compare Dawson to Beltre, how about these numbers
WAR
Dawson 64.5
Beltre 77.8
Best season WAR
Dawson 7.9
Beltre 9.5
Seasons of WAR 5+ (all star level seasons)
Dawson 4
Beltre 8
You really think the difference between Beltre and Mattingly is a bunch of mediocre seasons? Well Mattingly only had 4 all star level seasons of WAR of 5+. His best year was 7.2, his only year of 7+ WAR. Beltre has not only had twice as many AS level seasons, he's had 4 7+ WAR seasons and 2 better than Mattingly's best season.
The problem with your arguement is that it ignores Beltre's defense. If Beltre was an average defensive player, his hof credentials would be questionable. You could make the same argument about a lot of others who are no brainer hofers. Beltre 's defense added to his career offensive numbers make him an easy choice for hof.
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