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john/z28jdBefore anyone uses Adams line of hall of fame being for fame to help Maris[and i dont know if he was using that to help his case and im not putting words in his mouth] why wouldnt you put Bobby Thompson in the hall of fame before Maris.He was famous 10 years before him but i dont see any push for him to go into the Hall.Lets compare the career stats tho
Maris 1463 games 260 avg 275 homers 851 rbis 345 obp 476 slg percent
Thompson 1779 270 avg 264 hrs 1026 rbis 332 obp 462 slg
Maris 4 time all-star,Thompson 3 times,Maris had 3 100 rbi seasons Thompson had 4[should be noted that Thompson also had another 3 80 rbi seasons while Maris had 1]
Very similar players,both above average outfielders known for what they did in NY but played there only half their career.Theres no way you could seperate the 2 with stats to say one is better,altho you could say Thompson had more good seasons.Picking Roger Maris over him wouldnt be based on any good evidence and could only be because somebody assumes since he hit 61 homers one year he mustve had a great career
After i said all this,I wouldnt vote Thompson in but if Maris goes in i dont know how you could keep him out and if both of them are going in why not do Thompson first since hes still alive.Put in Maris the next year.
I dont mind electing guys who were great for 5 years but should only be used in extreme cases like Koufax or Dean.Maris obviously doesnt qualify in this case either because you cant find 4 great seasons for him.The only problem with electing guys who were great for 5 years and nothing the rest of their career is it sperates them from guys who were great for 5 years but didnt play enough years to qualify for the minimum. Dave Orr was a great slugger of his day,hes 11th all-time in batting and one of the few deadball era players[Brouthers,Delehanty and Thompson are the only others] who cracks the top 100 in slugging all-time which proves how powerful he was.I dont see why you penalize him for having a career ending stroke after his best season.I could go into another pitcher who had 170 wins in a 5 year stretch and didnt play 10 seasons but i wont