What Field Rules?

Right Field Rules!  This was a common cheer at old Hall of Fame Games.  And, in the context of baseball players, it does make sense.  Right field has seen some of the greatest offensive and defensive players of all time, in fact I dare say the greatest player is most known as a right fielder.  In RF, typically you’re a high offense player and play good defense, but not good enough for CF.  And of course, one of the most common themes of a RF is a strong and accurate arm to make some of the longest throws in a game.  It’s a tough position, but not as tough as center field or SS.

As I stated earlier, baseball history is loaded with great right fielders, including the 2 previous all time HR leaders in Ruth and Aaron.  In order to be in a class with them, you better be a legendary player in your own right.  The baseline for RF is 4.3 WAR/yr.  The average RF had a 16.9 year career and a career WAR of 75.3.

Name	WAR+	Tier
Ruth	216	S
Aaron	151	S
Ott	141	A
Robinson, F	134	A
Clemente	117	B
Flick	114	B
Heilmann	112	B
Kaline	112	B
Crawford	103	C
Keeler	98	C
Youngs	97	C
Waner, P	96	C
Jackson	94	C
Gwynn	92	C
Cuyler	86	D
Hooper	84	D
Winfield	82	D
Thompson	79	F
Klein	77	F
Dawson	76	F
Rice, S	71	F
Slaughter	70	F
Kelly	69	F
McCarthy	30	F-

Thoughts:
Tommy McCarthy got the absolute lowest score of anyone in the HoF.  Lower than Dawson, Mazeroski, and everyone else!  
Other than that little tidbit, I don’t think there’s anyone that is too hard to deal with on this list.  Except for Winfield.  He’s just another guy that hung on way past his prime to get to 3000 hits.  He had some very good seasons, but only one of those seasons were above 6 WAR, the rest of his career was very good though, so maybe he belongs?  Tough call on him.  I think he’s Jim Rice with a longer career though, just by a quick look at his numbers (355 regular OBP, 364 wOBA, 129 wRC+) so, maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t.

Upcoming Ballots:
Pre-2013:
Larry Walker is the only one worth talking about.  He was always a favorite of mine.  And he has a WAR+ of 106.  He should be in, definitely a top player of his time.  He may be hurt by the Coors effect, but he played quite a few years for Montreal at a high level.  I don’t know what’s keeping him out. Is he caught in the steroid winds?

2013:
Sammy Sosa comes up.  Yes I know he won’t get in due to steroids.  His WAR+ is 83 in any case.

2014: None worth talking about.

2015: Sheffield, an interesting case, comes eligible.  Again, steriods.  His WAR+ is 74 so he shouldn’t be in for any reason.

2016: None again.

Well, that’s it for most of the offensive players.  I do need to talk about DH’s, which I’ll save for the next post.  Soon pitchers will come up, and that will be a big BIG post.  Will have to break it up somehow.