View Single Post
Old 03-10-2013, 02:53 AM   #61
VanillaGorilla
All Star Starter
 
VanillaGorilla's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,371
Blog Entries: 2
Class of 2042 (1970): Lajoie, Allen, Martinez

This may be the best class, since the original 5, to be inducted. All 3 of the entrants get in on their First Ballot. They represent the 28th and 29th players inducted into this HOF and the previous one, the 23rd RL HOFer inducted into this one, and the 9th RL HOFer to be inducted into both OOTP HOF.

----------------------------

Nap Lajoie was drafted in 2015 by the Red Sox with the 18th overall pick. He played with Boston through the 2032 season. He retired in 2036 after making stops in Dallas and Jacksonville.

A 7 time All Star, Lajoie collected 3171 hits (11th) in his career. He hit 669 doubles (7th), 53 triples and 269 HRs. He scored 1478 times (t-34th, Tony Campana) and drove in 1551 (41st). His career slash line of 327/368/449 makes for a npa OPS+ of 134. At the time of his induction, Lajoie has the 9th best career BA in league history.

Of his 21 seasons, he played in 100 games, or more, 17 times. Of those 17, he hit .300 or better 12 times and 5 times he collected at least 200 hits.

In 2024 he cracked a career high 240 hits (15th). Only 10 players in league history have had more hits in a season. He became the first player in league history to collect 200 singles in a season. His 217 still stands as the record. This was accomplished after the league had shortened its regular season to 158 games. He slashed 375/404/467 for a npa OPS+ of 136 that year. He also drove in exactly 100 runs and scored exactly 100 runs.

Having hit 18 HRs in his rookie season, he hit at least 20 in each of his next 6 seasons. In 2022 he had his highest npa OPS+ number, 194, on a 376/415/693 slash line. He hit 28 HRs that year. After that he never hit more than 17 in a season.

As a rookie, the Red Sox went to the WS. Lajoie hit .343 in that post season, but fell in 6 games to Ralph Kiner, Mel Ott, and Kevin Mitchell's Phillies. Lajoie hit .313 in 56 post season games, but never returned to the Fall Classic.

Lajoie won 2 GGs at 1B and had 429 SBs (t-43) in his career.

Black Ink: 35 (76)
Gray Ink: 142 (266)
HOFm: 236 (262)
HOFs: 58 (66)

Gorilla Composite: 5.0 (7.7)

--------------------------

Dick Allen, imo, is the best pre-steroid era hitter that is not in the RL HOF who isn't on the ineligible list. Here, there was nothing borderline about his qualifications.

He was the second pick overall in 2019 by the Dallas Burn. Joining a WS winning expansion squad already stacked with HOFers, Allen immediately showed he would carry his own weight, just fine, in his rookie season.

He smacked 47 HRs and 218 hits (he collected 200+ hits in each of his first 3 seasons) drove in 138 and scored 135 while slashing 323/382/617 (npa OPS+ 172). Allen won the ROY award, but more importantly, the Burn won their second WS in their second year of existence. Allen joins teammates Lance Berkman, Steve Garvey, Charlie Keller, Harry Salisbury, and George Sisler in the HOF. None of these players in 2020 were past their prime. This was an absolutely dominant team.

In 2025, Allen missed the month of August with an oblique injury. He still managed to hit 48 HRs in 125 games and drive in 138 to win his 2nd consecutive MVP Award. It was his third in 4 years. He would pick up MVP honors one more time in his career. Only Willie McCovey, with 6, won the award more times.

He led the Burn to another WS title in 2025. He was the only remaining HOFer on the roster from the 2020 team. No other player from that squad has been inducted, yet.

Allen hit 597 career HRs (18th), drove in 1598 (31st), and scored 1488 (31st, one more than HOFer Bill Melton) on 2364 career hits (72nd). His career line of 307/387/610 makes for a simply astronomical npa OPS+ of 170. His career slg% is ranked 9th at the time of his induction. No eligible player is ahead of him that is not already in the HOF.

In 2024, in a 158 game season, he scored a league record 177 runs. That record still stands.

Allen was named to 8 AS Teams. Allen played the majority of his games as an IFer, and a majority of those games as a 3Bman, so he enters as such. Not surprisingly, Allen never won a GG.

Black Ink: 44 (27)
Gray Ink: 177 (159)
HOFm: 264 (99)
HOFs: 72 (39)

Gorilla Composite: 6.1 (3.5)

Applying the standards in place to RL, Dick Allen should be in the RL HOF.

-----------------------------

Pedro becomes the second Martinez to be inducted into this HOF, joining Edgar. They are the second namesake tandem here (Jimmy and Ed Walsh).

Pedro was the first player chosen in the 2015 draft. He went to Kansas City.

In his career he pitched a perfect game, he struck 20 players in a game, but he never won a WS.

Pedro was a 9 time All Star who twice won the Cy Young Award. These mentions severely understate his greatness.

Martinez enters the HOF with the second most career strikeouts in league history, 4769. He walked 998. He pitched 3992 2/3 (10th) career innings. Staggering rates. He won 250 games (9th, 1 behind Justin Verlander) vs 165 losses. His OOTP ERA of 2.91 (8th) gives him a phenomenal npa ERA+ of 155 (compare to RL ERA+ of 154).

He won his CYAs in consecutive seasons. Having joined the Mariners in 2022, he chose that season to win his firsts, and followed up with another in 2023. He was a combined 35-15 with 638 strikeouts in those two seasons. 8 times he led the league in strikeouts, and 8 times he struck out over 300 men in a season.

Black Ink: 70 (58)
Gray Ink: 267 (215)
HOFm: 220 (208)
HOFs: 57 (60)

Gorilla Composite: 5.5 (5.0)

Using the standards in place here and applying them to RL, Pedro Martinez should enter the RL HOF on the First Ballot.

Last edited by VanillaGorilla; 03-10-2013 at 12:13 PM.
VanillaGorilla is offline   Reply With Quote