2014 Hall of Fame Candidates Index

This is the Index for the 2014 Hall of Fame Candidates that were profiled by team Phungo. This series was largely done between November of 2013 and February 2014. Three of the HoF candidates became inductees Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas.

1988 Topps #361 Greg Maddux

2014 HoF Candidate Postings  

Craig Biggio (Phungo Vote = HoF)      
Tom Glavine HoF
Todd Jones  
Greg Maddux HoF     
Mike Mussina   HoF      
Rafael Palmeiro HoF    
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)     
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)      
Mike Timlin      
Larry Walker 
 
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Phungo HoF Index
 

1991 Topps #79 Frank Thomas - 2014 Hall of Fame Inductee

Today we concluded are 2014 HoF candidates with the Big Hurt.

1991 Topps #79 Frank Thomas

Two MVP awards, 521 career Home Runs (ranks 18th all time), 1704 RBI (22nd), Career OPS .974 (14th), 79.8 Career Offensive WAR(36th) 5 time All-Star, 4 time OBP and OPS league leader.  

Even with during the offensive inflation era those are great numbers. The only hole in the Frank Thomas resume is the light postseason numbers. Not that his playoff performances were poor, in '93 Thomas batted .353 with a .593 OBP, but his teams never won. That 1993 White Sox squad lost to the Blue Jays Joe Carter team.  

1991 Topps
This is Frank Thomas' 2nd Topps Card.  I have always been a fan of the '91 Topps Set and I am glad to see the set has another Hall of Famer. This set is everywhere and it is likely I picked this card up out of a dime box. 

His first Topps card is 1990 #414 which is well known due to a scarce variation that has his name missing. To find out about Frank Thomas Rookies check out this article at Cardboard Connection


2014 HoF Candidate Postings   

I hope everyone enjoyed our 2014 HoF candidate postings. I plan on looking at the 2015 ballot more thoroughly. In these posts I try to put in a variety of cards and discuss an aspect of the player and/or card.

Craig Biggio (Phungo Vote = HoF)    
Tom Glavine HoF

Todd Jones  
Greg Maddux HoF     
Mike Mussina   HoF      
Rafael Palmeiro HoF    
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)     
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)      
Mike Timlin      
Larry Walker 

2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Sources

Cardboard Connection
Baseball Card Database
Baseball-ref.com

2003 Donruss #9 Diamond Kings Tom Glavine - 2014 Hall of Fame Inductee

I started the HoF Candidates feature a bit later than I wanted and have a couple of scans left over. Of course I didn't get to a couple of players that actually got inducted. 

2003 Donruss #9 Diamond Kings Tom Glavine

The Hall of Fame resume for Tom Glavine is a pretty easy set of check marks: multiple Cy Young check, 300 Wins check, World Championship check. For the SABR fans Glavine led all players and pitchers in WAR (1991) and his Career WAR/JAWS numbers are comparable with other Hall of Fame Pitchers.

2003 Donruss Diamond Kings
The first 20 cards of 2003 Donruss make up the DiamondKings subset.  There appears to be no Phillies in the subset although Curt Schilling is card #19 (as a Diamondback). Glavine's fellow HoF inductee and Teammate Greg Maddux is also in the set as well as recent Braves retiree Chipper Jones. 
 
The DK painting for Tom Glavine was done by Mark Turnes who remains active and appears to be working on a new project. Turnes most recent  work appears to be Football related, subjects include Barry Sanders and John Riggins.  

Philies portraits done by Mark Turnes include Jim Thome also done for Donruss.    

My HoF Vote
Everyone remembers Tom Glavine as a Brave, I put him in the Hall for a game he pitched for the Mets on September 30th 2007. Going into the game the Mets and Phillies were tied for first place in the NL East. The Mets game started a half hour before the Phillies, well by the time the Phils game started, the Mets were done. Glavine didn't get out of the first inning, he only recorded one out and gave up SEVEN runs.  I was driving back from the beach listening to the game on the FAN, it is one of my favorite sports memories.

The Phils held up their end of the bargain that day, Jimmy Rollins hit his 20th triple of the season which likely led to his MVP win in 2007. The Phils won 6-1 and got themselves into the Playoffs. Unfortunately it was the last game the Phillies won that seaosn.  

2014 HoF Candidates  
Craig Biggio HoF   
Todd Jones

Greg Maddux HoF   
Mike Mussina   HoF    
Rafael Palmeiro HoF  
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)   
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)    
Mike Timlin    
Larry Walker (phungo vote = HoF)
 
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
BaseballCardpedia
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards
Philly.com
14,000 Phillies
    

2014 Hall of Fame Candidate: Greg Maddux 1988 Topps #361

Big League Stew has run a story noting that Greg Maddux has received 100% of the first 101 HoF votes that had been made public. This is of significance as no player has previously received 100% of the vote. 

1988 Topps #361 Greg Maddux

I got to see a lot of Maddux and he was excellent. His numbers back it up 350 Wins, 4 Cy Youngs, and a World Championship. The man is first ballot. 

Everyone has an opinion on the Hall of Fame, the Process, the Sportswriters etc. This causes quite a bit of HoF voting fatigue. Not for me, I find a lot of humor in the discussions and arguments. This years funniest/most subversive story is that Deadspin has bought ballot.

If Maddux 100% vote holds up and he is left off of the Deadspin ballot - that would rock.  There would be sportsblog hysteria.   

For the current status of the voting check in at Baseball Think Factory

2014 HoF Candidates  
Craig Biggio HoF 

Todd Jones
Mike Mussina   HoF  
Rafael Palmeiro HoF
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile) 
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)  
Mike Timlin  
Larry Walker (phungo vote = HoF)
 .
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
Deadspin
Baseball Think Factory

2014 Hall of Fame Candidate: Rafael Palmeiro 1994 Fleer Flair #257

Today we take a look at one of our favorite type of HoF candidates. The convicted PED user.

1994 Fleer Flair #257 Rafael Palmeiro

Rafaiel Palmeiro put up career Hall of Fame numbers for any era, including the steroid era. The simple answer is 500 HR, 3000 Hits = HOF - The complicating factor is that on August 1 2005 Rafael Palmeiro incurred a 10 game suspension from MLB for failing a drug test.

Had Palmeiro's career ended on July 15th 2005, he would likely be in the Hall of Fame today. On that day he singled of Joel Piniro giving him 3000 hits along with 566 Home Runs. Unfortunately for Palmeiro, his career went on for another couple of weeks.

Beyond the Numbers
One of the odder things I remember about the whole Rafael Palmeiro saga is this interview of Bob Costas that took place on the Jon Stewart show.



2005 07 27 Daily Show: Jon Stewart interviews Bob Costas

For the short attention span folks skip to the 2:20 mark. Costas is just playing this for laughs because he is on Comedy Central, but he does mention that Palmeiro is a good guy, he mentions his records, he mentions the senate hearings - "denied steroid use emphatically, and I accept that" (wow) , and then he mentions Viagra as the ultimate Performance Enhancing Drug. This interview took place on July 27, 2005 - Just Five Days prior to the Palmeiro suspension.

Looking inside Palmeiro's largely accumultor type numbers he comes out right near the Average HoF firstbaseman. He was more than just a bat only firstbaseman, he earned a couple of Gold Gloves. Like Craig Biggio who we examined last week, he has no World Championships, but he was on a couple of playoff squads.


Phungo Verdict: HOF - This may be a bit of a surpise Yes Vote, but a little background. A few months ago I saw author/cultural critic Chuck Klosterman speak in Philadelphia. He mentioned that he believed that all criticism (film/music/politics whatever) was "Autobiography". And I agree - So this vote for Rafael Palmeiro is all about me. On July 30 2005 I attended a game between the O's and White Sox. In the 6th inning I was stanging in a busy area of the Right Field portch at Camden Yards. That is when Rafael Palmeiro hit is 569th career Homer. It landed may 30 feet from me. Two days later Palmeiro was suspended, a month later he was out of baseball. It was the last Home Run Palmeiro would ever hit. So yes I am voting for Rafael Palmeiro, just so I can say that I was at the game where he hit his final Home Run. After all it IS all about me.


2014 HoF Candidates  
Craig Biggio HoF 

Todd Jones
Mike Mussina   HoF  
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile) 
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)  
Mike Timlin  
Larry Walker (phungo vote = HoF)
 .
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Sources
Amazon.com
Baseball-ref.com
The Daily Show (Bob Costas/Jon Stewart)
mlb.com
The Baltimore Sun

2014 Hall of Fame Candidate: Craig Biggio 1989 Donruss #561

Earlier this year Craig Biggio had a pretty solid HoF Ballot debut. He picked up 68% of the 569 votes cast in the 2013 election. This left him 39 votes shy of the 427 necessary for Hall induction.

1989 Donruss #561 Craig Biggio

There are 28 MLB players who have 3000 or more career hits. 25 of those 28 are in the Hall of Fame, the other 3 are Derek Jeter (active), Pete Rose (ineligible) and Rafael Palmiero (in limbo).  Craig Biggio is on the low end of the club at 3060, but is good enough to rank him 21st all time.  Six of the 7 members of the 3000 hit club that are below Biggio were first ballot Hall of Famers - The exception is Palmiero.

He ranks very high in a number of offensive categories 1844 Runs (15th), 4711 TBs (33rd), 668th doubles (5th, 1st among second basemen). The seven time all-star also earned kudos in the field with four gold glove awards at second base.     


Biggio's WAR/WAR7/JAWS numbers are all just below the HoF averages for second baseman. Part of this may be due to his many ABs at other positions. I don't think we should hold Biggio's versatility against him here - his other positions were basically Catcher and Centerfield - not like he was slacking over at first or DH.  


1989 Craig Biggio
I am a fan of cards showing players outside of their typical position. The early Craig Biggio cards may be the King of the off-Postion cards. Unless you have done the pitcher/position player jump the best you can do is catcher. And here we have early cards of a potential HoF playing catcher - Love it.   

Phun Phact
The first of Craig Biggio's 3060 career hits came off of Orel Hershiser in a game where he was catching future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan.

Phungo Verdict: HOF - 3000 hit clubs, several other very good accumulator numbers at a middle infield position and respectable advanced metrics.  Honestly, I am not sure how Biggio didn't get in a year ago.


Sources & Links
Phungo Craig Biggio HoF Index

2014 HoF Candidates 
Phungo HoF Page
baseball-ref.com

2014 Hall of Fame Candidate Mike Mussina 1993 UD Inside the Numbers #463

Tonight in our HoF ballot series we take a look at my favorite borderline candidate.
 

 

1993 UD Inside the Numbers #463 Mike Mussina

There are flaws in his resume, but for me Mike Mussina is a strong Hall of Fame candidate.  Notable career numbers include his 270 wins vs 153 Ls (117 above .500) and 2813 career Ks (19th all time). 

The Vote No on Mussina argument falls into 3 areas 1) No dominant season (no Cy Young Award), 2) His stats are largely Accumulators, 3) No Championships - an omission that is further exacerbated by the fact that he spent 8 seasons with the Yankees who bookended Mussina's tenure w/ World Series Wins on each end. 

However...

-He may have never won a Cy Young Award, but he did lead the league in Pitching WAR in 2001.

-Mussina's Black Ink scores are very soft but his Gray Ink Test is quite strong. While not pointing to a dominant season, this does tell us that Mussina was in the top 10 of pitching categories often.  I think the accumulators argument falls flat largely based off of the gray ink. 

-Finally in 2001 had the "Greatest Closer Ever" not blown a save, Mussina would have a World Series  Ring.

 1993 UD Inside the Numbers Subset - Peter Gammons

1993 UD Inside the Numbers #463 Mike Mussina (b-side)

Inside the Numbers is a 21 card subset in 1993 UD (#450 - #470) with each card featuring a short writeup by HoF baseball journalist Peter Gammons. Clear back in 1993 Gammons referred to Mussina as having Game Seven Make-up. 

The Phillies are represented by Dave Hollins, other players getting the Gammons treatment include Chipper Jones, Jeff Bagwell, Dave Justice, Bernie Williams, and Pudge Rodriguez.

More Moose
2004 Upper Deck USA USA-134 Mike Mussina 

Phungo Verdict: HoF - Full Disclosure, I met Mike Mussina in 2001. An acquaintance of mine is related to Mussina's wife. We didn't talk much but he was a real decent and polite guy. I am glad I met him and I was really happy to find out that he was good guy. So yes this may influence my opinion a bit, but I am happy to say that I think the numbers look HoF worthy on there own.

2014 HoF Candidates
Todd Jones
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)
Mike Timlin
Larry Walker (phungo vote = HoF)
 .
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Sources & Links
1993 UD Peter Gammons Inside the Number subset
baseball-ref.com
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards (2006 ed) 

2014 Hall of Fame Candidate: 1991 Topps #339 Larry Walker

Since it took all of two days to get through all of the former Phillies on the ballot, team Phungo is going to take a look at some of the other candidates. Today's feature is Larry Walker.

 1991 Topps #339 Larry Walker

This isn't the Larry Walker Topps RC (It is preceded by 1990 Topps #757 plus a number of other cards by Score, Donruss, Fleer and others ) but not of those cards have the fine Topps All-Star Rookie Trophy.

Larry Walker is generally remembered for his decade with the Rockies, but he did come up with the Montreal Expos with whom he spent six seasons.  Walker is a career .313 HR with 383 Home Runs. Those numbers may have gotten a guy in the HoF a few generations ago, but that hasn't yet happened for Walker who is now on his 4th ballot.

Without checking I would not put Larry Walker in the HoF. Digging around in Baseball-Ref I found the following. Walker won the 1997 MVP award which he deserved according to WAR ratings. He had 2 Batting Titles (Coor assisted). His other LL included OBP, slugging, and OPS each twice and Homers once. His Awards mantle includes 7 Gold Gloves and a trio of Silver Sluggers.

The five time all-star was a part of 3 playoff teams including the 2004 Cardinals who took the NL Pennant before losing to the Curse-Breaking Red Sox team.

HoF related metrics on Baseball-ref
-Of his top 10 Sim Scores 3 are HoF (Snider, DiMaggio, Mize), 6 are either active or still awaiting HoF consideration. Only 1 is Out (Ellis Burks)
-His Black/Gray Ink test are both below the HoF average. Black is close - Grey not so much
-However is HoF monitor and HoF standards somewhat above the category averages

Advanced Metrics
This is the WAR numbers where I am taking it on faith that all these folks are doing their calculations correctly.
-WAR RF (72.6): The average WAR for HOF RF is 73.3, but this is at a position that includes Babe Ruth. Every WAR RF above Walker is in the HoF. Walker ranks above at least a dozen RFs already in the Hall plus Joe Jackson.
-WAR7(44.6): this tracks a players 7 best WAR seasons. The RF HoF average is 42.9. Once again every RF above Walker is HoF and Walker ranks above 12+ HoF. 
-JAWS RF (58.6):  JAWS(developed by Jay Jaffe) accounts for a players 7 year Peak along with their career WAR. Among Right Fielders Larry Walker ranks 10th in JAWS.  and as with the previous WAR related categories Walker ranks above at least a dozen RFs already in the Hall plus Joe Jackson.

Phungo Verdict: HOF - This is a pleasant surprise, Walker ranks right at the average player for his WAR. His number may be Coors inflated, but from what understand WAR should account for this issue. Beyond WAR he has decent Sim scores and has always been represented as a good dude. The one drawback on his resume beyond the Mile High Home games is his lack of playoff experience and no World Championship.


2014 HoF Candidates
Todd Jones
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)
Mike Timlin
.
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Larry Walker HOF Index
1991 Topps #339 Larry Walker (HoF Candidacy 2013)

Sources and Links
1991 Topps Rookie Cup Index
baseball-ref.com

2014 HoF Candidiate: 2002 Topps Traded #T31 Mike Timlin

I am not a fan of Mike Timlin. The reliever came to the Phillies in 2002 as part of the Scott Rolen deal.  He made it clear that he had not intention of staying with the club following the season.   

2002 Topps #T31 Mike Timlin (image swiped from Capewood's Collections)


Consequently there are not many Mike Timlin Phillies cards so I had to steal this one from a Capewood posting.

Mike Timlin had a 17 year career and has Four World Series Rings. Two with Toronto (including 1993 v the Phillies) and two with the Red Sox.  He is in the 1000 game club (141 resulted in saves) and had a career ERA+ of 125.   

2014 HoF Candidates
Todd Jones
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)
.
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Sources
baseball-ref.com
Capewood's Collections

2014 HoF candidate: 2002 Topps #552 Todd Jones

This years Hall of Fame Candidates with Phillies connections is even worse than last year.  Curt Schilling returns as does Phoenixville native Mike Piazza who never played with the Phillies but remains noteworthy in the area.  The lack of Phillies on this years ballots may partially explain their hopelessness in the 90s and early aughts.

Over the next couple days we will take a look at the Phils Alums on the ballot as well as some other notables

2002 Topps #552 Todd Jones

I am not sure if there are any cards out there of Todd Jones in a Phillies Uni.  This weeks theme appears to be 2002 Topps as this is a card of Todd Jones in the Phungo Collection.  Todd Jones is on the ballot mostly because he qualifies on the 10 year requirement and had a few good years.  He is the first to admit he is not a Hall of Famer.

The Todd Jones "I am not a Hall of Famer" is pretty refreshing in a baseball coverage world that will nitpick and name-call repeatedly between now thru July 2014 and beyond over this years ballot results.  To be honest I enjoy the debates - I don't get to invested in the arguments. There are guys I think are HoF and ones I don't - My opinion is certainly no more valid then the next bloggers and not nearly as valid as anybody in the BBWAA.

Todd Jones spent the bottom half of the 2004 season with the Phillies. In '04 Jones was a set up guy and the Phillies had Billy Wagner as the closer. Jones did earn one save for the Phils after Wagner blew a save in Florida.   

It was one of 319 Saves Jones had in his career which ranks him 16th all time. He once led the league in Saves with 42 for the 2000 Tigers for whom he spent half of his 16 year career.  The 42 saves were good enough to get Jones his only All-Star nod and his only Cy Young award votes. 

Jones was a member of 2 postseason squads including the 2006 Tigers who won the AL Pennant.  Jones earned 4 playoff saves for the '06 Tigers. The last save was the only game Detroit won in that World Series.

2014 HoF Candidates
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)

Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)
.
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Sources
baseball-ref.com
Big League Stew