The Case For: A Baseball Hall of Fame Podcast

In this episode Russell breaks down the ENTIRE 2024 BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot and discusses the HOF cases for every player not already assigned their own individual episode. The results of the 2024 BBWAA Ballot will be announced on January  23, 2024, if you're curious what might happen or you're a BBWAA voter who is still undecided then take a listen!

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Bobby Abreu is 1 of 7 players with 900+ extra-base hits 400+ stolen bases in his career. The others are Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Tris Speaker,  Barry Bonds, Craig Biggio, and Paul Molitor. Will this be enough to get Abreu in the Hall of Fame? 

Born and raised in Venezuela, Abreu first drew the attention of MLB scouts when he was 14 and signed with the Houston Astros organization when he was 16. He would eventually play 18 years in MLB retiring with a career  .291 BA,  2,470 hits,  288 home runs, 1,363 RBI, 400 stolen bases, 1454 runs, 1476 walks, 4026 Total Bases and a career WAR of 60.2. 

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Carlos Beltran played 20 years in MLB with a reputation retiring with  very impressive career stats of a 70.1 WAR, 2725 hits, 565 doubles, 435 home runs, 1587 RBI, and 312 stolen bases. He is one of  only 4 players in MLB history along with A-Rod, Bonds, and Mays to accumulate 2,500+ hits, 400+ homers, 300+ stolen bases and 1,000+ walks.

Arguably one of the greatest post-season batters of all time, "Señor Octubre" hit .307 with 16 home runs and 42 RBI in 65 post-season games. Only Beltran and Bonds have hit 8 home runs in a single post-season, and only Beltran and Jose Altuve have scored 21 runs in a single-postseason. 

A 9 time All-Star, 3 time Gold Glove winner and 2 time Silver Slugger, Beltran won the 2013 Roberto Clemente Award for his work founding the Carlos Beltrán Baseball Academy in his native Puerto Rico. Beltran also played for team Puerto Rico 4 times in the World Baseball Classic. 

More recently Beltran has come under fire for his role in the now infamous 2017 Houston Astros sign stealing scandal. Will this impact his HOF chances? Will his career stats land him in Cooperstown? Listen while Russell makes the case!

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Over a 6 year peak 2005-2010 Chase Utley's season average was .298 BA, 27 HR, and 95 RBI. During that period he won 4 Silver Sluggers and received MVP votes in 5 seasons including 3 top-10 finishes. Utley was also in the top 3 NL leaders in WAR for 4 seasons. Utley excelled in the post-season, helping his Phillies win the 2008 World Series and in the 2009 World Series tied Reggie Jackson's World Series record with 5 home runs including 2 games with 2 home runs. He also set the postseason record for consecutive games reaching base.  Utley and Babe Ruth are the only left-handed batters to hit 2 home runs in a World Series game against a left-handed pitcher. A sharp decline after 2010 resulted in Utley's career counting stats falling short of traditional HOF benchmarks, however his respectable career WAR of 64.5 places him higher than several HOF'ers. Will his post-season accolades and advanced statistics compensate for his counting stats? Listen to find out Russell's opinion!

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Andruw Jones won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves with the Atlanta Braves and in 2005 set a franchise record (since broken) with 51 home runs in a season.  Defensively he's 2nd all time in MLB history in all players, all positions, in Total Zone Runs (Brooks Robinson is #1). Andruw is also 1 of 5 center fielders to record at least 400 putouts in a season 6 times; the other 4 are in the Hall of Fame. He’s also 1 of only 4 players to have won 10 Gold Gloves with 400 career home runs the others are Hall of Famers  Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Mike Schmidt.

A perennial post-season star with the mighty Braves teams of the late 90's/early 2000's, he is the youngest player in MLB history to hit a home run in the World Series. His tenure with the Braves left most fans thinking he was a sure bet for the Hall of Fame, but a steep decline between 2008-2012 cast some doubt on his Hall of Fame case. Will the combination of his offense, defense, and post-season success be enough to get him elected to Cooperstown? Listen and decide for yourself!

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Joe Mauer played 15 years in Major League baseball, all of them with the Minnesota Twins. A hometown hereo, he grew up in Minnesota and was a standout athlete in baseball, basketball and football at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul. 

Joe was drafted in the 1st round of the 2001 MLB draft and played his entire 15 year career with the Minnesota Twins where he won 3 batting titles, 6 All-Star selections, 5 Silver Sluggers, 3 Golden Gloves, and the 2009 AL MVP Award. Joe retired with the highest career and single season batting averages for a catcher and a career .306 batting average. Joe was also the face of the Twins franchise for two decades and a fan favorite. Does all of this add up to a Hall of Fame resume? Bill Madlock has 4 batting titles and is not in the HOF, and many other players have more All-Stars, Silver Sluggers, Golden Globes and higher career counting stats. The key to examining Mauer's Hall of Fame case is reviewing his career in its totality, to include his stats, hardware and his fame factor. 

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Gary Sheffield was a feared slugger who tallied 509 home runs,  1636 runs, 2689 hits,  1676 RBI and a career .292 career batting average over 22 MLB seasons. He is 1 of only 4 players in MLB history with 500+ home runs and 250+ stolen bases. Of the 28 members of the "500 home run club" only Mel Ott and Ted Williams have less career strikeouts. A 9 time All-Star and 5 time Silver Slugger, Gary received MVP votes in 7 different seasons including 6 top 10 finishes and 3 top 3 finishes. Gary was an instrumental part of the 1997 World Series Champion Florida Marlins batting .292 with 7 hits and 5 RBI in the 1997 World Series. Despite all this success there are many who think that Gary does not meet the HOF criteria bases on his stats, hardware, and "fame" factor. I disagree, however, PED allegations have plagued his Hall chances to the point where he has one more chance on the BBWAA ballot this year. Will Gary get elected? What are the facts behind the PED allegations? Find out more in this episode!

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Episode 5 explores the Hall of Fame Case for relief pitcher Billy Wagner. Billy pitched in 853 games over 16 seasons, all of them in relief. He retired with 422 saves which is 6th best all time. A 7 time All-Star, his advanced stats compare favorably with Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman however Wagner struggled in his post-season appearances posting a career post-season ERA of 10.03.  Will that impact his Hall of Fame chances? 

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In episode 4 we examine the voting process and the difference between the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) ballot and the Veterans Committee ballot, and breakdown the cases for all the candidates on the 2024 Contemporary Baseball Committee:

Ed Montague      (Umpire)
Joe West               (Umpire)
Hank Peters        (Executive)
Bill White              (Executive)
Cito Gaston        (Manager)
Davey Johnson  (Manager)
Jim Leyland         (Manager)
Lou Piniella          (Manager)

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Episode 3 addresses the Hall of Fame case for Todd Helton who played his entire 17 year with the Colorado Rockies, retiring in 2013 holding Rockies career records for games played, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI's, and walks. Todd batted .300 or better in 12 seasons and retired with a career .316 batting average. His 592 doubles are the 20th most ever in MLB history. Last year he received 72.2% of the BBWAA vote, is this the year he gets the 75% he needs for induction? Will Todd wear a Rockies cap on a Cooperstown plaque in 2024? 

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