[VanillaGorilla]

Jim Gentile becomes the 6th player to enter on the First Ballot since the Inaugural Class. At the age of 39, he is the youngest hitter to enter the HOF.

Gentile was selected by the Marlins with the 8th overall pick in the 2028 draft. He played through the 2045 season and posted 640 HR (10th, between Chipper Jones and Mickey Mantle), 1556 RBI (17th), 2143 hits (54th), and scored 1464 runs (17th, 2 behind Duke Snider). He drew 1169 walks (12th) to give him a James pleasing 284/390/587 (*/41st/27th) career slash line which works out to a 161 npa OPS+.

That tells just part of the story. In each of his first 6 seasons, Gentile had an OPS over 1.000. He ranks 17th on the career OPS list, 0.0001 behind Dan Brouthers.

From 2030-2037 he drove in 100 runs each season. From 2031 to 2037, he scored at least 100 runs each season.

In 2031, 2032, and 2033 he won the MVP hitting 48, 56, and 58 HR, respectively. In 2034 he hit 60 HRs, but did not get a four-peat in claiming another Barry Bonds/Balko Best Batter Award.

In his 2033 season he and fellow HOFer Willie Stargell brought a WS trophy to South Florida. Stargell hit 54 HR to go with Gentile's 58. Wow. Two guys hitting 50 HRs on the same team. Amazing. I wonder if a team ever had three 50 HR players on a WC team???? Will have to look that up............

In a fit of insanity, the Marlins traded him in the off-season prior to 2041. The fan revolt was ugly. The Marlins signed him as a free agent prior to the 2044 season. Getting their hero back, the Marlins again won the WS. Gentile is the only HOFer from that team to be inducted, at this time.

From his rookie season (where he only played 93 games) through 2041, Gentile hit at least 30 HRs every year. He batted over .300 4 consecutive seasons, which included his MVP seasons.

He appeared in 8 All-Star games. Gentile enters his second OOTP HOF.

Black Ink: 29 (4)
Gray Ink: 180 (36)
HOFm: 249 (34)
HOFs: 49 (16)

Gorilla Composite: 4.9 (0.9)