Hall of Fame Preview, Part 2

In Part 1, we looked at the players new to this year's Hall of Fame ballot who really have no chance of ever getting elected. Today, we'll take a look at three entries who will probably get some support, but who really fall short of the standards for immortality. They may or may not get to the 5% level needed to remain on the ballot for next year. In the post the follows, we'll take a look at the new entries who are either borderline candidates, or who are clearly worthy of the Hall.

The Hall of Very Good:

Ellis Burks – OF (1987-2004, prominently with Boston and Colorado): 291/363/510-352-1,206, 181 SB, 126 OPS+. Oft-injured throughout his career, Burks had a couple of great seasons which resulted in two all star selections. He also won a Gold Glove early in his career and finished third in the MVP vote in 1996. Fine rate stats were enhanced by 4+ seasons in Colorado when Coors Field was COORS FIELD! Top career comp is Moises Alou, though his top 10 list includes Hall of Famer Duke Snider, and a few guys who deserved (or deserve) more serious consideration than they received, including Dick Allen, Reggie Smith, Fred Lynn and (prospectively) Jim Edmonds.

Andres Galarraga – 1B (1985-2004, prominently with Montreal and Colorado): 288/347/499-399-1,425, 128 SB, 118 OPS+. A powerful first baseman, Galarraga had a monster year with the Expos in 1988, then faded for several years under injuries and an inability to make contact before storming back with the Rockies. Even more so than Burks, however, Galarraga’s numbers carry the taint of Coors field. Still, there are some impressive results, one batting title (.370 in 1993), one home run title, and two RBI titles. Galarraga gathered five All Star appearances and six times in the top 10 of the MVP vote during his career. He also collected two Gold Gloves along the way. His career comps are impressive: three of the top four are in the Hall of Fame (Orlando Cepeda, Jim Rice, Willie Stargell), while another, Jeff Bagwell, will be inducted in a few years. We’ll discuss the worthiness of still another, Fred McGriff, in a later post.

Robin Ventura – 3B (1989-2004, primarily with the White Sox): 267/362/444-294-1,182, 114 OPS+. Good hit/good field third baseman. Ventura had the classic corner infielder’s combination of power and patience at the plate, with two 30 HR/100 RBI seasons. He was respected enough that he finished in the top 10 in intentional walks seven times. Ventura was also a smooth fielder, winning six gold gloves at third base during his career. On the flip side, he didn’t garner a lot of hardware outside of the defensive accolades. He was named to just two All Star teams, and received MVP votes just twice, finishing 6^th in 1999 and 20^th in 1991. Top career comp is Ron Cey.