Player in the baseball HOF who doesn't belong?

Question

A HOF who you thought was overrated and probably wouldn't get in again?

I say Ozzie Smith. No power. An average basestealer. .262 career average. Basically a better fielding version of Ozzie Guillen.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/smithoz01.php

I know Smith had 13 gold gloves, but how many games can you win with defense. maybe 1-2 a year. Most SS, are decent fielders anyway.

Answer 1

i feel a lot of players both past and present will or already have been selected for the Hall of Fame based on criteria us fans can not begin to understand, i agree with your opinion of Ozzie smith but also he was a fan favorite for how many years ? IE selected to how many NL All Star Games chosen by us the Fans ??
Bill Mazeroski now this is one that really blows my mind, he doesn't have any statistics that say he belongs in the Hall of Fame but yet he is ? He was the last player chosen by the veterans committee before they changed the policies ??
Phil Rizzuto ?? only played 13 years ?? but, played on those Yankee power house teams of the 40's and 50's ? 1950 AL MVP ??
Pee Wee Reese ?? Baseball's Greatest Gentleman, Pioneer, perennial All Star, and Team Mate of Jackie's??
and, to show I'm not bias about NY teams, how about Brooks Robinson ?? no stats that just shout out and grab you ?? like Ozzie Mr. Gold Glove standard at third base ?? perennial All Star, and Mr Baltimore in the 50's, 60's and 70's who else baptized Baseball in Baltimore again (1954-present) ??
this list could go on and on. but for whatever reason these men are in the Baseball Hall of Fame because the Baseball Writers thought they belonged .
As for your comment about Ozzie Guillen, sorry just cant compare the two except that there all time batting avg is similar, the only award from his playing career is a ROY award in 1985, no Gold Gloves, and 3 All Star Apperances??

Answer 2

I think Ozzie Smaith belongs in the Hall Of fame. There are a lot of players in the Hall Of fame worse a lot worse than he was like Rabbit Maranville and Ray Schalk and Bibb Falk and Ross Youngs and Jesse Haines (players from the 20s and 30s who got voted in by their friends/ex-team-mates).. I highly recommend the book Bill James wrote about the Hall Of Fame's history and who belongs there called "What Ever Happened To The Hall Of Fame?". It's very interesting.

And as far as Ozzie, he not only was amazing defensively but he had some great years as a hitter where he hit for a high average and walked a lot and drove in and scored a lot of runs and finished with almost 2500 hits..

Just because someone doesn't hit a lot of home runs or steal a lot of bases doesn't mean they aren't a good player.

Answer 3

They ALL belong otherwise they wouldn't be there in the first place. As for Smith - I'm a Met fan so I saw him play quite a bit, and though I hated him ( and every Cardinal during the 80's) I can say only that he was the most unbelievable defensive player I have ever seen.Beyond compare, the most acrobatic player on the field. He may not have won games singlehandedly, but he made at least one or two impossible plays per game that could have changed the outcome. Again, being a New York Mets fan during the 80's, I had no choice but to have to watch him hurt my team from time to time, but I still was in awe of him.

Answer 4

I totally agree with JJ. Bill Mazeroski has no business in the HOF. His offensive numbers weren't even as good as Ozzie Smith's. The only thing he did better than Smith was hit HR, and he only hit 138 of those. He's a prime example of the good ol' boy veterans committee enshrining friends instead of players that deserve to be in Cooperstown.

Answer 5

You people slamming on Ozzie Smith and Bill Mazeroski obviously do not realize that baseball is played with a glove as well as a bat. We are not looking to build a Fanstasy Baseball team.

The person asking the question seems to be hopeless in their lack of knowledge about baseball. Any baserunner that steals is 21st ALL TIME in stolen bases with 580 is a great baserunner. He was successful 80% of the time.

Both Ozzie Smith and Bill Mazeroski were the top glovemen at their positions of all time, both statistically and in longevity.

Answer 6

Many of the players elected by the Veteran's Committee in the early 70's do not deserve to be there, players a lot of reasonably knowledgeable baseball fans have never heard of - Jesse Haines, Dave Bancroft, Chick Hafey, Ross Youngs, George Kelly, Jim Bottomley, Fred Lindstrom, Travis Jackson. The reason these guys are in is simply because they were teammates of ex-players who were on the Veteran's Committee at the time. Being someone's buddy is not sufficient reason to be in the Hall of Fame.

Answer 7

My choice would be Ray Schalk of the White Sox.

In 18 seasons, he put up a career average of .253 with a .340 OBP, and 11 career homers! He played many years in the deadball era, but in the 10 years of "live ball" he managed only 7 longballs. He also never finished higher than 5th in the voting for MVP, and never hit better than .281 for a season.

There are plenty of other good candidates - Johnny Evers, Frank Chance and Joe Tinker of Cubs' double play fame, Maz, Rabbit Marranville, and many others - but I'll give my vote to Schalk.

Answer 8

I'd throw out Charles Comiskey, who did play long ago, though his plaque is mostly for his contributions (hah!) as a team owner.

Strictly as a player, Rizzuto's plaque goes into the smelter. I could pick other names and I could rank them, but to cut to a simple answer, let's just toss Scooter.

Answer 9

Ozzie is there for outstanding defence. It's can't all be about offence all the time.

Answer 10

Bill Mazeroski....he got in because of one famous home run