Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The McGwire Problem

Yes, Mark McGwire will likely not be a Hall of Famer this year because of the steroids controversy. But who said he should be in the hall at all?

Compare these statistics:


AVG H 2B 3B HR RBI
McGwire 0.263 1626 252 6 583 1414
Player A 0.236 1575 240 25 443 1210
Player B 0.289 2866 488 49 384 1628
Player C 0.298 2452 373 79 382 1451
Player D 0.265 2111 350 39 398 1266
Player E 0.288 2333 444 32 399 1425

Is McGwire truly a legit Hall of Fame Candidate compared to this numbers? Especially considering that the players are
Player A: Dave Kingman
Player B: Harold Baines
Player C: Jim Rice
Player D: Dale Murphy
Player C: Andres Galarraga
None of those players are realistically considered Hall of Fame candidates for one reason or another (though Rice and Baines should be). McGwire compares statistically, in one way or another, with each of these players (and in the case of Baines and Rice, much less favorably).

Add on top of that the fact that McGwire was a below average fielder at first base, I really wonder why we are even considering the concept that McGwire is a Hall of Famer, regardless of the circumstances.

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