The Baseball Guru - Web Tour: Cooperstown, NY and the Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, Hall of Fame

Scroll Down to See Entire Page

Inside Features
HOF Career Batting Stats HOF Career Pitching Stats

See alphbetical list of Hall of Famers (with their vital stats) list includes managers, execs and umpires

Bruce Markusen's Page (Manager of Program Presentations, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum). He is available for your questions. He writes the Oakland A's 1972 daily diary.

Jeff Mordock's Page (Hall of Fame analyst). He is available for your questions. He is writing a series of articles making cases for players to be in the HOF.

BaseballGuru.com's HOF Matchups Game
PLAY FOR FREE ONLINE: How cool is that? So, why not give it a try? Pit any HOF pitcher against any HOF batter in each of their best seasons. Requires Microsoft Excel Version 5.0 for Windows 3.1 (or newer) or a spreadsheet that reads Visual Basic macros. It has 151 players and takes less than 1 minute to open.
HOW TO PLAY Play Hall of Fame Game

Hall of Famer Analysis Top of Page
How subjective is the Hall of Fame voting anyway? Many well informed baseball writers have written compelling articles describing why certain over-looked players belong in the Hall of Fame. So the burning question is, "What characteristics are favored by Hall of Fame voters that seem to give certain players an advantage?" Secondly, do these characteristics apply to All-Star voting by the fans as well? This analysis attempts to explain why some players, like Bobby Doerr (2B, 1937-1951) are over-looked for the Hall of Fame and why players with characteristics similar to Reggie Jackson's (OF, 1967-1987) are more likely to become All-Stars and Hall of Famers.

Data Used: The data begins with the year of the first All-Star game (1933) and runs through active players pre 1994 (allowing five years of retirement). Batting and fielding records of players whose primary position was pitcher, designated hitter or pinch hitter were also removed.

The Results: As it turns out, it's all about power. Proof came by comparing key batting and fielding statistics to MLB averages. To further fish out the truth, players were grouped by position. The big surprise was that OPS (on-base average plus slugging average), which is the most compelling stat below, did not correlate as highly with a player's likelihood to become an All-Star or a Hall of Famer as triples or home runs did. Wow! To be conservative, the batting stats for 2B, 3B and HR were per plate appearance. Had they been by at bat, the ratios would have been even higher. And, while fielding percentage had no impact for any position, there was some solace in the fact that for shortstops and second-basemen, relative superiority at accumulating put-outs meant as much as their batting average in getting voted into All-Star games and the Hall of Fame.

The following two tables show the statistical characteristics of (1) Hall of Famers and (2) Non Hall of Famers during All Stars seasons.

HALL OF FAMERS - Percents above (below) MLB average

POS AVG OBP SLG OPS SB 2B 3B HR PO/g A/g E/g TCg/ DP/g PCT

C 15 13 28 21 11 19 18 83 (3) 12 (13) (2) 16 0

1B 11 14 23 19 8 13 32 53 7 1 6 7 6 0

2B 14 15 20 18 12 24 36 47 13 8 (2) 10 11 0

3B 8 10 19 15 5 9 14 66 6 11 (7) 9 8 1

SS 14 15 21 18 11 25 43 52 17 9 7 12 15 0

OF 12 13 22 18 11 12 22 59 6 9 6 6 7 (0)

TOTAL 12 13 23 18 11 16 30 59

ALL STARS SEASONS (Non Hall of Famers)- Percents above (below) MLB average

POS AVG OBP SLG OPS SB 2B 3B HR PO/g A/g E/g TC/g DP/g PCT

C 9 7 16 12 2 11 25 41 10 7 (5) 9 10 0

1B 8 6 11 9 (0) 10 1 22 6 8 (3) 6 8 0

2B 7 6 12 9 3 9 16 45 8 7 0 7 13 0

3B 9 8 15 12 7 10 19 36 10 8 2 8 7 0

SS 9 8 14 11 0 13 6 33 8 10 (8) 9 12 1

OF 9 7 13 10 3 12 15 41 8 13 5 8 10 0

TOTAL 9 7 13 10 2 11 9 33

Hall of Famers Top of Page
The Complete List Below: Alphabetically by category; Player, Manager, Executive and Umpire.Click on the HOFer's last name to see a photo and vital stats from the HOF web site.
Download an enhanced version of this table in spreadsheet form from the Guru's Data Archive.

Category LastName FirstName Pos Inducted By Ballots Votes Pct

Player AARON HANK RF 1982 BW 415 406 97.8

Player ALEXANDER PETE P 1938 BW 262 212 80.9

Player ANSON CAP 1B 1939 VC

Player APARICIO LUIS SS 1984 BW 403 341 84.6

Player APPLING LUKE SS 1964 BW 225 189 84.0

Player ASHBURN RICHIE CF 1995 VC

Player AVERILL EARL CF 1975 VC

Player BAKER FRANK 3B 1955 VC

Player BANCROFT DAVE SS 1971 VC

Player BANKS ERNIE SS 1977 BW 383 321 83.8

Player BECKLEY JAKE 1B 1971 VC

Player BELL COOL PAPA CF 1974 NL

Player BENCH JOHNNY C 1989 BW 447 431 96.4

Player BENDER CHIEF P 1953 VC

Player BERRA YOGI C 1972 BW 396 339 85.6

Player BOGGS WADE 3B 2005 BW 474 516 85.6

Player BOTTOMLEY JIM 1B 1974 VC

Player BOUDREAU LOU SS 1970 BW 300 232 77.3

Player BRESNAHAN ROGER C 1945 VC

Player BRETT GEORGE 3B 1999 BW 497 488 98.8

Player BROCK LOU LF 1985 BW 395 315 79.8

Player BROUTHERS DAN 1B 1945 VC

Player BROWN MORDECAI P 1949 VC

Player BUNNING JIM P 1996 VC

Player BURKETT JESSE LF 1946 VC

Player CAMPANELLA ROY C 1969 BW 340 270 79.4

Player CAREW ROD 2B 1991 BW 443 401 90.5

Player CAREY MAX CF 1961 VC

Player CARLTON STEVE P 1994 BW 455 436 95.8

Player CARTER GARY C 2003 BW 496 387 78.0

Player CEPEDA ORLANDO 1B 1946 VC

Player CHANCE FRANK 1B 1946 VC

Player CHARLESTON OSCAR 1B-CF 1976 NL

Player CHESBRO JACK P 1946 VC

Player CLARKE FRED LF 1945 VC

Player CLARKSON JOHN P 1963 VC

Player CLEMENTE ROBERTO RF 1973 BW 424 393 92.7

Player COBB TY CF 1936 BW 226 222 98.2

Player COCHRANE MICKEY C 1947 BW 161 128 79.5

Player COLLINS EDDIE 2B 1939 BW 274 213 77.7

Player COLLINS JIMMY 3B 1945 VC

Player COMBS EARLE CF 1970 VC

Player CONNOR ROGER 1B 1976 VC

Player COVELESKI STAN P 1969 VC

Player CRAWFORD SAM RF 1957 VC

Player CRONIN JOE SS 1956 BW 193 152 78.8

Player CUYLER KIKI RF 1968 VC

Player DANDRIDGE RAY 3B 1987 VC

Player DAVIS GEORGE SS 1998 VC

Player DAY LEON P-2B-OF 1995 VC

Player DEAN DIZZY P 1953 BW 264 209 79.2

Player DELAHANTY ED LF 1945 VC

Player DICKEY BILL C 1954 BW 252 202 80.2

Player DIHIGO MARTIN P-OF 1977 NL

Player DI MAGGIO JOE CF 1955 BW 251 223 88.8

Player DOBY LARRY OF 1998 VC

Player DOERR BOBBY 2B 1986 VC

Player DRYSDALE DON P 1984 BW 403 316 78.4

Player DUFFY HUGH CF 1945 VC

Player ECKERSLEY DENNIS P 2004 BW 421 506

Player EVERS JOHNNY 2B 1946 VC

Player EWING BUCK C 1939 VC

Player FABER RED P 1964 VC

Player FELLER BOB P 1962 BW 160 150 93.8

Player FERRELL RICK C 1984 VC

Player FINGERS ROLLIE P 1992 BW 430 349 81.2

Player FISK CARLTON C 2000 BW 499 397 79.6

Player FLICK ELMER RF 1963 VC

Player FORD WHITEY P 1974 BW 365 284 77.8

Player FOSTER BILL P 1996 VC

Player FOX NELLIE 2B 1997 VC

Player FOXX JIMMIE 1B 1951 BW 226 179 79.2

Player FRISCH FRANKIE 2B 1947 BW 161 136 84.5

Player GALVIN JIM P 1964 VC

Player GEHRIG LOU 1B 1939 BW

Player GEHRINGER CHARLIE 2B 1949 BW 187 159 85.0

Player GIBSON BOB P 1981 BW 401 337 84.0

Player GIBSON JOSH C 1972 NL

Player GOMEZ LEFTY P 1972 VC

Player GOSLIN GOOSE LF 1968 VC

Player GREENBERG HANK 1B 1956 BW 193 164 85.0

Player GRIMES BURLEIGH P 1964 VC

Player GROVE LEFTY P 1947 BW 161 123 76.4

Player GWYNN TONY OF 2007 BW 545 532 97.6

Player HAFEY CHICK LF 1971 VC

Player HAINES JESSE P 1970 VC

Player HAMILTON BILLY CF 1961 VC

Player HARTNETT GABBY C 1955 BW 251 195 77.7

Player HEILMANN HARRY RF 1952 BW 234 203 86.8

Player HERMAN BILLY 2B 1975 VC

Player HOOPER HARRY RF 1971 VC

Player HORNSBY ROGERS 2B 1942 BW 233 182 78.1

Player HOYT WAITE P 1969 VC

Player HUBBELL CARL P 1947 BW 161 140 87.0

Player HUNTER CATFISH P 1987 BW 413 315 76.3

Player IRVIN MONTE LF 1973 NL

Player JACKSON REGGIE RF 1993 BW 423 396 93.6

Player JACKSON TRAVIS SS 1982 VC

Player JENKINS FERGUSON P 1991 BW 443 334 75.4

Player JENNINGS HUGHIE SS 1945 VC

Player JOHNSON JUDY 3B 1975 NL

Player JOHNSON WALTER P 1936 BW 226 189 83.6

Player JOSS ADDIE P 1978 VC

Player KALINE AL RF 1980 BW 385 340 88.3

Player KEEFE TIM P 1964 VC

Player KEELER WILLIE RF 1939 BW 274 207 75.6

Player KELL GEORGE 3B 1983 VC

Player KELLEY JOE LF 1971 VC

Player KELLY GEORGE 1B 1973 VC

Player KELLY KING RF 1945 VC

Player KILLEBREW HARMON 1B 1984 BW 403 335 83.1

Player KINER RALPH LF 1975 BW 362