We may be a prospect ranking site, but half the fun of evaluating prospects is being able to say "I was big on that guy when he was a minor leaguer." And part of keeping the prospect scene in perspective is being in tune with who the game's all-time greats were.
With the 2009 Hall of Fame votes tallied, I thought it would be fun to look at some numbers and see if we can determine who we think should have been elected. Below are charts of this year's eligibles and some metrics that I believe can be used as a starting point for debating their MLB accomplishments (data source: fangraphs.com). Come be a part of our 2009 Hall of Fame discussion in our major league baseball forum.
| 2009's Hall of Fame eligible hitters | ||||||||
| Hitter | wOBA* | Similar wOBAs from '08 | PA** | Elected? | ||||
| Mark McGwire | .415 | Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Lance Berkman | 7,660 | No |
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| Rickey Henderson # | .386 | Grady Sizemore, Josh Hamilton, Jason Bay | 13,346 | Yes | ||||
| Mo Vaughn # | .386 | Adam Dunn, Jason Bay, Aubrey Huff | 6,410 | No | ||||
| Jim Rice | .375 | Carlos Pena, Miguel Cabrera, Jermaine Dye | 9,058 | Yes | ||||
| Tim Raines | .374 | Johnny Damon, Curtis Granderson, Alfonso Soriano | 10,359 | No | ||||
| Mark Grace # | .363 | Derrek Lee, Conor Jackson, Carlos Delgado | 9,290 | No | ||||
| Don Mattingly | .361 | Adam LaRoche, Derrek Lee, Conor Jackson | 7,721 | No | ||||
| Dale Murphy | .357 | Raul Ibanez, Adam LaRoche, Derrek Lee | 9,040 | No | ||||
| Harold Baines | .356 | Torii Hunter, Raul Ibanez, Derrekk Lee | 11,092 | No | ||||
| Andre Dawson | .352 | Melvin Mora, Edwin Encarnacion, Randy Winn | 10,769 | No | ||||
| Dave Parker | .352 | Alex Rios, Melvin Mora, Randy Winn | 10,184 | No | ||||
| Ron Gant # | .352 | Alex Rios, Randy Winn, Mike Cameron | 7,320 | No | ||||
| Greg Vaughn # | .350 | Fred Lewis, Matt Kemp, Edwin Encarnacion | 7,070 | No | ||||
| Matt Williams # | .344 | Paul Konerko, Alex Gordon, Jason Kubel | 7,595 | No | ||||
| Alan Trammell | .343 | Skip Schumaker, Luke Scott, Derek Jeter | 9,375 | No | ||||
| Jay Bell # | .336 | Hunter Pence, Adrian Beltre, Garrett Atkins | 8,525 | No | ||||
| * Career wOBA | ||||||||
| ** Career plate appearances | ||||||||
| # First time eligible | ||||||||
| 2009's Hall of Fame eligible pitchers | ||||||||
| Pitcher | FIP* | Similar FIPs from '08 | TBF** | Elected? | ||||
| Lee Smith | 2.93 | Francisco Rodriguez, Craig Breslow, Joe Nathan | 5,387 | No |
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| Bert Blyleven | 3.19 | Derek Lowe, Josh Beckett, Roy Halladay | 20,491 | No | ||||
| Tommy John | 3.38 | Ryan Dempster, Ben Sheets, Chad Billingsley | 19,692 | No | ||||
| Dan Plesac # | 3.46 | Huston Street, Tony Pena, Bobby Jenks | 5,439 | No | ||||
| David Cone # | 3.57 | Edinson Volquez, Jair Jurrjens, Zack Greinke | 12,184 | No | ||||
| Jesse Orosco # | 3.61 | Carlos Marmol, Juan Cruz, Hideki Okajima | 5,460 | No | ||||
| Jack Morris | 3.94 | Mike Pelfrey, Mark Buehrle, Matt Cain | 16,120 | No | ||||
| * Career FIP | ||||||||
| ** Career TBF | ||||||||
| # First time eligible | ||||||||
Adam Foster can be reached at adamf@projectprospect.com.