[VanillaGorilla]

Larry "Chipper" Jones (or is it Chipper "Larry" Jones) is one of my all time hated favorites. I just love the guy, but he played for the Braves! As a fan of effort, talent, and baseball, one has to love this guy. That said, I do admit to taking part, on more than one occasion, in a "LAAAARRRRYYYYYY" chant. Sometimes, I was even at the ballpark when I did....


Larry becomes only the second player (Orlando Cepeda) to be a first ballot induction after the Inaugural Class. Larry simply rocked this world.

He was selected by the Indians with pick 11 in 2017, but didn't sign with them. In 2018, he was taken by the Orioles with the third overall pick, and the rest is history.

Breaking into the league in 2019, he greeted opposing pitchers rudely by swatting 40 HR in 128 games and slashing 329/428/642. That gave him a npa OPS+ of 185, Roolie of the year, and his first of four league MVPs.

He lost about half or 2020 to injury. In 2021 he roared back with 42 HRs and a .331 average as he carried the Orioles to World Series glory.

Larry was a monster in the post season. In 79 games he batted .320 and hit 23 HRs, and drove in 80.

In 2023, he again won the MVP, hitting a career high 47 HRs (leading the league), and he again brought Baltimore the WS trophy. No one does it by himmself, but in Chipper's case, he was THE guy. Usually when you find multiple WS wins, you find multiple HOFers. Larry may be the only Oriole from these teams to get into the HOF.

In 2024 he hit 45 HRs, drove in 143, and batted .343. This was his first of two batting titles, and only the second batting Triple Crown in league history (Hank Aaron). No one his scored a Triple Crown since.

For 20 years, Jones hit at least 10 HR in a season (in a very high injury environment, this is an amazing feat).

By the time he hit 40, his skills were in decline. He stuck around till age 42 as he chased 3000 hits. He didn't quite make it.

When he retired in 2041 he had 2966 career hits (4th, 1 more than George Davis, one slot behind Cepeda). He had knocked 40 HR in a season 9 times, finishing with 642 (9th). He is credited with 1917 career RBI (5th) and 1785 runs scored (3rd, between Aaron and Cepeda). He ripped 549 doubles (11th, between Aaron and Tony Perez) and drew 1423 walks (4th, one slot ahead of Al Rosen).

Jones has a career slash line of 305/392/568 (59th/33rd/38th, 1 spot ahead of Sam Crawford) which makes for a npa OPS+ of 156. He ranks 24th on the All Time OPS list, again, one slot ahead of Crawford.

Jones is 5th on the career VORP list and 6th on the WAR list, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Frank Robinson, Duke Snider, Mickey Mantle, and Orlando Cepeda.

Named to 12 All Star teams, Larry/Chipper Jones enters the HOF with the highest HOFs number of anyone, so far.

Black Ink: 35 (4)
Gray Ink: 200 (107)
HOFm: 286 (180)
HOFs: 82 (70)

Gorilla Composite: 6.2 (3.5)

At the time of this post, Chipper is #19 on the BBREF Elo rater. A lot of love for this guy from Braves fans and fans who hated him when he played against their team. Using the methods in place here and applying them to RL, Chipper Jones is a no brainer HOFer, IRL. I am predicting he will get in on his second ballot.

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Tim Wallach was a Supplemental First rd pick (34th, overall) in the 2019 draft selected by the Indians.

Wallach gets much love from Bill James and historical baseball simmers. It is nice to see him in the HOF, here.

Wallach broke in with a bang and took ROY honors. He posted career highs in hits (194), HR (38), BA (.329) and OBP (.394). A near career high slg of .603 gave him a npa OPS+ of 162, another career high. He also had a near career high 140 RBI.

It's not that Wallach peaked early, he stayed amazingly consistent.

In each of his next 7 years he hit between 33 and 37 HR, drove in between 95 and 141 runs, batted over .300 5 times, and npa OPS+ that ranged from 121 to 159 (twice).

In 2031, still with the Indians, he hit 23 HR and drove in 85 and was a solid supporting cast member in the unthinkable RL drama...Cleveland winning a WS. Wallach hit .340 with three HR in 12 post season games that October.

IRL, Wallach was Bill James' Gold Glove 3Bman of the '80s. Here, he was the GG 3Bman of the 2020s, winning the award 8 times while appearing in 6 All Star games. He has the highest Zone Rating of any 3Bman in league history.

For his career Wallach collected 2546 hits (20th), 473 of which were HR (27th) and 517 were doubles (21st). He tallied 1593 RBI (14th, one more than Mickey Mantle) and scored 1290 runs (28th). His career slash line of 289/346/516 gives him a career npa OPS+ of 129

Wallach played his entire career with Cleveland, until he was traded at the end of 2038 to Tampa as the Rays were looking to solidify themselves for the post season. They lost in the DCS. That was his final big league action.

Wallach enters the HOF at the age of 45 ranking 15th on the career WAR list. No eligible player that ranks higher is not already inducted into the HOF.

Black Ink: 8 (4)
Gray Ink: 103 (45)
HOFm: 130 (48)
HOFs: 53 (24)

Gorilla Composite: 2.9 (1.3)

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RL HOFer Tim Keefe was selected by the Nationals with the 9th pick of the 2010 draft. He pitched his entire career in Washington retiring in 2026.

His 222 career wins are the most in Washington history. The closest player has 132. His 144 losses are the most in Washington history. The closest player has 127. That right there tells you just how good he was.

A five time All Star, Keefe ranks 11th on the career win list. He also ranks 11th on the career K list with 3771.

Twice Keefe won 20 games, though his best season was probably 2019 when he went 18-5 with an OOTP ERA of 2.31 for a npa ERA+ of 190. He struck out a career high 378 men in 238 IP while walking only 68. 2019 was the third of three seasons Keefe led the league in Ks.

He also pitched a no-hitter three times in his career, one of only two pitchers to do so (the other is not yet eligible for induction).

Keefe never pitched in a WS, but in 2022 he went 4-0 in 4 post season starts and carried an ERA of 1.82. It was not his fault that the Nats lost the LCS in seven.

Keefe pitched 46 CGs in his career (18th) and threw 19 shutouts (4th, 2 more than John H Murphy).

Keefe's career OOTP ERA of 3.45 is a npa ERA+ of 128.

Keefe enters the Hall at the age of 56. He won one GG in his career.

Black Ink: 24 (58)
Gray Ink: 205 (246)
HOFm: 120.5 (271)
HOFs: 46 (70)

Gorilla Composite: 3.2 (5.7)