Johnny Damon -HOF?

[ctownboy]

D.Bergin,

If you go to www.fangraphs.com and search Johnny Damon, you will find an article concerning Damon and the Hall of Fame. It was written on July 11, 2011.

The short and sweet of it is, based on WAR, Damon is NOT a Hall of Famer even if he gets to 3000 Hits.

Another article by a different writer points out that Damon hasn't even been the best player on his own teams even when he had a big year.

So, again, if Damon gets into the Hall of Fame it will be because he played for the Red Sox and Yankees whereas other players who had similar or better careers, based on WAR and other stats, don't get in.

David

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by ctownboy

D.Bergin,

If you go to www.fangraphs.com and search Johnny Damon, you will find an article concerning Damon and the Hall of Fame. It was written on July 11, 2011.

The short and sweet of it is, based on WAR, Damon is NOT a Hall of Famer even if he gets to 3000 Hits.

Another article by a different writer points out that Damon hasn't even been the best player on his own teams even when he had a big year.

So, again, if Damon gets into the Hall of Fame it will be because he played for the Red Sox and Yankees whereas other players who had similar or better careers, based on WAR and other stats, don't get in.

David

When have they ever put guys in the HOF based on "WAR"?

Am I wrong in saying there's probably tons of guys in there already who don't meet the criteria based on "WAR"?

I haven't read the article, but am I also right in saying he doesn't meet the statistical criteria based on "average".....which means there's a bottom half of players in the HOF, to create that average?

All I'm really saying is 3000 hits has always been a magic number for players without additional baggage (gambling/PED's), no matter which teams you played for.

Not saying I would vote for him.......but I wouldn't exactly be outraged.

Hell, I'd put guys who haven't even had a sniff at the HOF, like Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell in, before I'd put Damon in...........but I hold no ill will towards players who are lucky enough to be enshrined, "borderline" or not.

It's just a number yeah, but those type of milestones do count for something, over-rated or not.

[ctownboy]

D.Bergin,

Whether you like it or not, baseball is moving more towards stats like WAR. So, if Damon plays another three years and gets to 3000 Hits and then has the five year waiting period, WAR is mostly likely going to be even more established than it is now so milestone stats aren't going to count as much as they used to.

Also, as one of the articles pointed out, no matter what team Damon played on, his big year was always outdone by one if not two other players on his team. So his peak years weren't even good enough to make him the best player on his own team let alone a league or the entire Majors.

Finally, in one of the articles, the author was stating his case that, based on WAR, Trammell and Whitaker BOTH have a better HOF case than Damon even if Damon reaches 3000 Hits.

Don't get me wrong, I like Damon as a player but I don't think of him as a Hall of Fame player. Yet, I really feel that he will go in because he played for both the Red Sox and Yankees whereas a statistically similar player probably wouldn't get in if they didn't play for either or both of those teams.

David

[Tabe]

It honestly boggles my mind that there's even a discussion about Damon as a HOF'er. The guy is clearly NOT one. He's a noodle-armed mediocre outfielder who hit under .290 with a bit of pop who stole some bases. Big deal. He's a 2-time All-Star who has never even cracked the top 10 in MVP voting. Has he ever even been the best player on his own team? Was there ever a time where people discussed elite players and Johnny Damon's name came up? The answer to both questions is no.

IMHO, not only is Damon not a HOF'er, he's not even close.

Tabe

[Ladder7]

*YES!




*But, Only in this room;

[Jay Wolt]

Has he ever even been the best player on his own team?

The criteria for admission to the Hall should be the #'s, not the rankings within a specific team.
There are loads of teammates in the Hall and naturally someone has to be better then someone else.
Billy Williams played in the shadows of Ernie Banks, Don Drysdale to Sandy Koufax, Earle Combs to Babe Ruth (& Gehrig), Maz to Roberto Clemente and so on.

[jbbama]

3,000 hits or he has to buy a ticket like the rest of us to get into the Hall.