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The New Hall of Famers

© Greg Spira

The baseball writers and the Veterans Committee have now both had the chance to vote, and the result is that there will be four new players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer. The writers chose Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett, while the Veterans Committee chose Bill Mazeroski and Hilton Smith.

Winfield was the most obvious choice of the four. Winfield may never have been a dominant performer, but he was an excellent player for over two decades. He concluded his career with 3110 hits and 465 home runs, and it is unlikely, even in this high offense era, that anyone will ever get 3000 hits and 400 home runs and not end up in the Hall of Fame.

Kirby Puckett got almost as much support as Winfield, but clearly was not as clear cut a candidate. Puckett probably would have put up Hall of Fame numbers had his career not been cut short by glaucoma, but I can't think of any player with similar career numbers to Puckett's actual career numbers who has been elected to the Hall of Fame. Al Oliver's career is actually very simlar to Puckett's (except that Oliver played several more years) and no one took his Hall candidacy seriously. Of course, Puckett was not elected because of his on-field achievements, but because of his immense popularity. And the impact that Puckett had on baseball and its fans should not be overlooked; it is indeed a valid consideration. I'm just not convinced that it should justify the large leap Puckett needs above his on-field achievements to consider him Hall of Fame material.

Meanwhile, the Veterans Committee last week finally elected Bill Mazeroski to the Hall. Mazeroski's candidacy is based on one argument - that he was the greatest defensive second baseman ever. I'm not sure if he was that, but he clearly was the best pivot man who ever played the game, and that's a big part of second base defense. Mazeroski is clearly a marginal pick, but one that gives credit to an important skill that the Hall has traditionally ignored, and sets the stage for Ozzie Smith's election as well.

Finally, the Veterans Committee elected Negro League pitcher Hilton Smith. Smith is a controversial pick because he is not nearly as well regarded by Negro League historians as other Negro Leaguers, such as Biz Mackey, who have not yet been elected. Smith was clearly a fine pitcher, but he pitched in Satchel Paige's shadow for most of his career, and may owe his election to having been Buck O'Neil's roommate.

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