Bob Caruthers And The HOF

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Why does nobody ever talk about Will White? Why has he been forgotten to time?

Must be the combination of AA and a few partial seasons in that ten year career. Regardless, those numbers...

[G1911]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

Why does nobody ever talk about Will White? Why has he been forgotten to time? What on earth am I missing to not understand why he wasn't a charter member of the HOF?

I would put White smilier to Caruthers as a pitcher. White couldn't hit though so he loses significant overall value. 3,500 innings, 121 ERA+, he's a legit candidate on paper.

He missed the milestones so he got overlooked in the past, and he's overlooked now because WAR doesn't like him; he also has the AA factor. WAR is written around the modern game with an adaptation to punish 19th century pitchers so they don't score higher than people want them to score; it's a pretty bad measure of 19th century baseball.

I would pick Jim McCormick over any other 19th century MLB era pitcher not in the hall.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Out of 7 full seasons, he had three 40 win seasons and two with over 30. 680 IP in 1879 and 75/76 of those games were CG. Fully realizing how different the game was then, it's still just staggering to me.

[Fred]

Edited to add - this is with regard to post 16.

Of the five original HOFers, only one played during the 19th century and when you consider the quality careers that the first five players had and the quality of other 19th century players, then there might be one reason he wasn't in the charter class. However, it took a LONG time (2013) for White to be inducted.

There really should be a "pioneer" section in the HOF with Ross Barnes and a few others included.

The following should probably be in the BST, but if anyone has a Caruthers OJ for sale, please let me know.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Fred

Edited to add - this is with regard to post 16.

Of the five original HOFers, only one played during the 19th century and when you consider the quality careers that the first five players had and the quality of other 19th century players, then there might be one reason he wasn't in the charter class. However, it took a LONG time (2013) for White to be inducted.

Fred,

I'm talking about Deacon's brother.

[Fred]

I was kind of wondering about that. I always think about Deacon White when I think about players with OJ cards (not that's what this thread is about).

Will's a good pick if you want to compare careers with Caruthers. Will's best years were in the AA also. That 40 loss season was in the NL.