One of the things I like about this class is that where some of the players may feel a little light statistically to a purist, those players have significant off-field contributions that add to their case. I know the Hall of Fame doesn't give "lifetime achievement" awards, but it's hard to look at any of these players and feel bad about their total contribution to the game being honored.
Although I've been writing a few articles on the hall of fame lately, and I can say that Kaat's induction does lower the "HOF Standard" based just on his pitching numbers. Last week, the average career WAR of a Hall of Fame starting pitcher was 73.1. Today, it's 73.0.
