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Old 11-14-2012, 06:32 PM   #85
VanillaGorilla
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Class of 1987: Sanders, Louden

Ben Sanders gets in on the First Ballot Standard, though this is not his first year of eligibility. Most, if not all, of the pitchers who enter between now and 2012 will fit this description.

Drafted by the Dodgers with the first overall pick in 1957, Sanders played his last big league game with the Dodgers in 1979. For some reason the Dodgers allowed him to become a FA and he signed a 1 year contract with the SF Giants, of all teams, for the 1977 season for a mere $81,600. He won 20 games for that Giant team that wound up winning the division and the pennant.

The Dodger fans were outraged and the team offered him a 2 year deal worth $644,000 that off season. Sanders took the money and won one more ML game with the Dodgers.

Why did the Dodger fans love him? Well, he had the most wins of any Dodger pitcher with 372. The Dodger list of winningest pitchers includes HOFers Pud Galvin, Matt Kilroy, Clark Griffith, and Randy Johnson. Not the same as being on top of an Angels list.

For his entire career, Sanders collected the 4th most wins of any pitcher, 392. Only HOFers Charles Ferguson, Walter Johnson, and John Smiley have more. His 392-264 mark gives him a .598 win %, only 5 HOFers have a better number (James Burke, Cozy P Dolan, Ferguson, Lefty Grove, Hippo Vaughn).

His 3365 strikeouts places him 14th on the All Time list.

He won 20 games or more each season from 1968 through 1978. He won 27 in 1971, which matched his career high from his 1961 CYA winning season (27-6, 3.10, npa ERA+ 134).

A 6 time All Star, his career OOTP ERA of 3.22 is good for a npa ERA+ of 117.

He made 15 starts in 5 post seasons and collected 10 wins vs 4 losses in those games.

In 1961 he won the WS with fellow HOFers Willie Davis, King Kelly and Chuck Klein.

He also helped the Dodgers to consecutive titles in 1969-70. Willie Davis was still a bench player on those teams.

Sanders has given up the most HRs in league history, 637.

Black Ink: 56
Gray Ink: 297
HOFm: 223
HOFs: 70

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It was back to the leader boards for the hitters.

Baldy Louden was the 5th player taken in the 1910 draft. He retired in 1930. At the age of 98 he joins the HOF.

Louden collected 2066 hits in his career which saw him win 2 GGs at 2B. He appered in 2 WS, winning 1922 with a Red Sox team that also featured HOFers Benny Kauff, Tommy Harper, and Bret Saberhagen.

In an oddity Louden won the MVP his rookie season when he hit .302, stole 106 bases and scored 124 runs, but lost the ROY to HOFer Tim Keefe.

He stole 100 bases again in his sophomore season. For his career he stole 821, 11th best all time. It is for this position on the All-Time list that Louden receives his induction 57 years after his retirement.

Technically Louden is a floor breaker, but just barely.

Black: 18
Gray: 91
HOFm: 56
HOFs: 32

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Does Louden belong in the HOF? Do I need to rethink the system because of him? Upon review I think the system worked as it should in his case. When Louden retired in 1930 he was 10th on the SB list. With the coming eras of Wills and Brock and Henederson and Coleman, it would be fair to figure that being that high on the list would be history in quick time. It was not.

There is a line of thought that says a HOFer is HOFer at the moment he retires and that is when the decision should be made (or 5 years after retirement). I disagree. Louden's SB total was not nearly as significant in 1930 as it is 57 years later. Louden is an example of how the HOF process should work. Along those same lines, Hans Lobert's induction looks so much stronger now than it did at the time, as he remains the SB leader 42 years following his induction, and no one is on the horizon that threatens it. Lobert wasn't inducted immediately, but 25 yers after his retirement he was still the SB king, which made that mark more noteworthy, and thus more Hall-worthy, than it was when he retired.
And that record still stands.
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Re Blue Dogs: Check the 1956 Class posting for their introduction. References to the Selection Committee camps begin there.

Last edited by VanillaGorilla; 11-15-2012 at 03:32 AM.
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