How about ‘none of the above’?
This is partially reposted from a 2008 blog post on that year's MLB Veterans Committee trotting out "the same old names" as putatively worthy of the Hall of Fame.
Ron Santo? One of the two biggest myths on the list Not. A. Hall. Of. Famer. Sorry, Cubbies, but other than a brief flare-up in his BA in 1972, his career was over by the time he was 30.
Or, to put it another way?
You want Ken Boyer in the HOF? Because they’re the same player, down to Gold Gloves (five each) BA, slugging, etc. If you don’t believe me, go to Baseball-Reference.com and see for yourself.
And, Cubbies fans, if you want to honor Santo as a great man, then JUST eulogize him for that for the next day or two. Truly let him, and the debate, rest in peace. If you will, I will.
Second biggest myth on the 2008 list?
Gil Hodges? Gimme a break. A first baseman with a career slugging average of under .500 AND less than 2,000 hits. Why the hell was his name even on the list?
The one reasonably deserving candidate from that 2008 list?
Luis Tiant? You know, I’d never even thought of him before, but…
Decent ERA for spending much of his career in Fenway. Solid WHIP. Four 20-win seasons. Nearly 2,500 strikeouts back in the day when Gibby was the only 3K-Ker besides The Big Train.
Two ERA titles. Five times in the top 10 in K/9 ratio. His 49 shutouts are 21st-best ever.
You could call him “the poor man’s Catfish Hunter” and not be wrong.
He’s got the best case here. Better than Ron Santo. Better than Gil Hodges. Better than not-on-the-list Ken Boyer, too.
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