Quote:
Originally Posted by JMDurron
I still chafe at the real Jim Rice being the HOF (particularly when his superior overall teammate, Dwight Evans, never got a sniff of being close because he excelled in defense, OBP, and peaking late instead of declining early),
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I think Evans should be a HOFer. That said, I do not think he was clearly superior to Rice. The Rice/Evans comparison is a really fun one, as they were teammates for so long, and their career totals are very very similar.
Rice's peak seasons were better than Evan's, and Evans was never the most feared hitter in the Sox line-up. Jim Rice was, perhaps, the most feared hitter in the AL during his prime. That goes to "fame" and that is part of the vote.
I see the Rice vs Evans debate as one that can be validly argued from either side. Two different cats that brought to the table slightly different skill sets.
Rice put up his totals in 4 fewer seasons, but Evans had so many more PAs not be ABs because of his plate approach. How much their differing approaches can be attributed to the fact that they played together is intriguing to consider.
I think it is a disservice to players like Rice and Cepeda to compare them to the likes of Williams and Musial (you are not doing this, but the discussion often leads down this path) and tag them as "marginal" HOFers because they didn't have careers as great as either of them. If we make Williams and Musial the standard, then we would have a HOF with maybe 9 hitters.
OBP has been an under considered aspect for the HOF process. I think that will be changing.
Like my opinion means anything, but here it is: I think there is a better than a 50/50 chance that Dewey will be in Cooperstown before Barry.