Do They Belong In The Hall: Martinez, Mattingly, McGriff & McGwire

Now back to our continuing series on seeing who belongs in the Hall of Fame and who doesn't

Edgar Martinez:

Martinez is now on his fifth year on the ballot and has gotten mild at best (36% of the vote support). The dialog regarding his candidacy is that the fact that he spent much of his career as a DH somehow makes him less of a candidate. He may have only had one job, but he did that job very well, peaking in 1995 when he led the league with a 185 OPS+ (though finishing third in MVP voting).

On a numbers standpoint, I was expecting him to have more of a case (I came into this thinking his Hall of Fame case was stronger). None of his similar players are in the hall of fame (Moises Alou who has already been listed as no is the third most similar hitter). Out of the five Hall of Fame Statistic measurements used in Baseball-Reference, he's slightly above average on two of them, below average on two of them and right in the middle for Hall of Fame Standards. I don't think he comes close to getting in this year and will likely make it through the 15 year cycle without getting elected, though he may get in through the veterans committee somewhere down the line.

Verdict: No

Don Mattingly:

The current Dodgers manager is on the ballot for the 14th time and coming off a 13% showing. My impression is that he had a stretch where he was really good (peaking in 1986 when he led the AL with a 161 OPS+) but said peak was too short and he was merely a slightly above average hitter for the second half of his career.

There is some minor precedence for someone of his caliber to get in (Kirby Puckett and Jim Bottomley are amongst his most similar hitters). His list is populated with a lot of good but not great hitters and even a couple of ex-managers (Cecil Cooper, Hal McRae).

Verdict: No

Fred McGriff:

The spokesperson for those ultra-retro Tom Emanski instructional videos enters year five on the ballot and coming off a 20% vote performance. He was very good player but not one that was considered the best to play the game (though he did lead the AL in OPS in 1989). There is a lot to like, he hit for power, a decent average and had a good eye leading to 1,305 career walks.

While there are a few similar players in the Hall of Fame (Willie McCovey, Willie Stargell & Billy Williams) all of these players put up their numbers in earlier eras where putting up 450+ homers in a career happened much less often. McGriff was a very good player but just doesn't have that it factor to get inducted.

Verdict: No

Mark McGwire:

The current Dodgers hitting coach comes up for candidacy here. Whether he gets in or not, there will always be some controversy surrounding this as for better or worse he was the face of late 90s power hitters. He has yet to get much momentum or support as he stands in year 8 with 16.9% percent of the vote.

In a power packed era, his numbers stood out as he led his league in OPS+ on four separate occasions (1992, 1996, 1998 & 1999). While a couple of similar hitters (Harmon Killebrew & Willie McCovey) are in the hall of fame, on a numbers standpoint he has the same problem as McGriff in that these players played in an earlier era where similar power numbers did not occur as often. Honestly, I don't see McGwire having a strong enough profile to get elected.

Verdict: No