Griffey Jr. only hit 280 HR in my league after importing at age 23 for the Inaugural Draft (along with his father, who was also 23
). Lefty Gomez was a stud for me too. Ford came in at 35 for the Inaugural Draft, so I wasn't really able to see what he was capable of.
Todd Helton was a superstar IRL, but as usual he will be overlooked for the HoF because he played in Denver. Has the HoF ever overlooked a California area pitcher? They have a similar advantage with the big ballparks and the marine layer, but nobody ever says boo about it, but if you're a hitter in Coors (*
cough Larry Walker
cough,
cough*), it's like you've got the bleepin' plague.
Frank Robinson had 2,018 runs, 2,184 RBI, 608 2B, and 643 HR in mine, and nobody has come close to any of those yet (still early...only 34 seasons in). Nice to see the Cobra doing well in yours though.
I don't know how player development treats the short career guys. We notice the Clayton Kershaws (mine) and the David Prices (yours), but yeah I've seen Wacha (HoF in mine), Corbin (on track for HoF before CEI at 33), and Gausman (won 208 games, but came up just short of the HoF in mine) all excel in mine. Have yet to see Josh Harrison.
I suspect there's a bit of confirmation bias in there that because we see some guys excelling that they all must be, but maybe we're forgetting the ones that wiped out because we haven't had to judge their careers for HoF consideration or All-Star games. When players aren't so good, they tend to be more anonymous is what I'm trying to say, so maybe we're just not noticing them as much as the guys who are starring in our leagues.