by Brian on January 2, 2008 at 6:31PM
pointingknob.jpgWhen I first stumbled across this piece on the official Yankees site, I have to admit, I laughed out loud. This year is the first year Chuck Knoblauch is eligible for Hall of Fame voting, and the article seems to be arguing his case.

My gut reaction was obviously tainted by what Knoblauch became in New York. You know, the sniveling mess who couldn't make a throw from second to first. The 5'9" (with lifts) "lead off" hitter who suddenly decided to swing for the fences. The guy who went from swiping 50+ bags/year in Minnesota to about half of that in NYC. The guy who stood at first base and pointed at a ball in a playoff game while the runners circled the bases.

After the initial reaction wore off, I thought I'd put my bias aside and take a look at Knoblauch's career as a whole. Maybe the good work he did in Minnesota could overshadow the inauspicious end to his career.

Well, I took a look and there is no way in hell Chuck Knoblauch belongs in the Hall of Fame. He doesn't belong in the Hall of Anything. He broke .300 only three times in his career, his obp was over .400 only twice, his slugging percentage over .500 only once. He stole some bases and scored some runs, and he did it fairly effectively for about 6 years out of his 12-year career.

I think you could probably make a better case for David Justice, but even he isn't anywhere near the Hall. I'm wondering if guys who shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence of the Hall are going to be entering into the conversation purely because they haven't been linked to PEDs. The HOF is such a sham.



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[January 2, 2008 11:16 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Mike said

What a Blauch-Head.

[January 3, 2008 10:01 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Tom said

baseball-reference has a couple of cool little tools to see who likely a player is to make the HOF. Most of them involve assigning point values for reaching certain statistical milestones. For example, their "Hall of Fame Standards Test" assigns one point for every 150 hits above 1500 for a player's career (maximum of 10 points), one point for every 200 home runs, one point for each 100 stolen bases, etc.

Using this test, the average hall of famer has a score of about 50. Knoblauch is well short of that, at 33.8. Knoblauch is even farther away using their other Hall of Fame tests, which you can read up on here, if you're not familiar with them: http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/leader_glossary.shtml#black_ink

They also have a cool little feature where they tell you the 10 players that are most similar, statistically-speaking, to the player in question. Knoblauch's top 10 similar players is:

Eric Young
Jason Kendall
Edgar Renteria
Mark Grudzielanek
Larry Doyle
Lou Boudreau
Alvin Dark
Davy Lopes
Pete Runnels
Delino DeShields

A nice collection of talent, but certainly not a HOF list (only Boudreau is in Cooperstown)

After looking up Knoblauch, I thought it would be interesting to look up A-Rod...all I can say is "Wow"

He's already crushed all of baseball-reference's Hall of Fame tests. And his top 10 similar players through age 31 are:

Ken Griffey Jr
Mel Ott
Hank Aaron
Frank Robinson
Jimmie Foxx
Mickey Mantle
Eddie Matthews
Vlad Guerrero
Rogers Hornsby
Johnny Bench

All except Griffey and Vlad are in the HOF, and Griffey will most certainly get there, Vlad might too.

[January 4, 2008 12:04 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Wolf In Pinstripes said

I remember being psyched about getting Knoblauch when we did, even though I hated giving up Milton at the time (like that mattered down the road, huh?). But geez, if anybody was a cautionary tale about the inability to adapt to NY, Knobby was one of them. How freakin' hard is it to throw a ball to first base consistently? That meltdown still boggles me.

It's a shame the guy actually has a couple of WS rings to show for his time in NY, because he sure as hell didn't earn them.

[January 4, 2008 2:40 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Brian said

Tom,

Good to see Mattingly ahead of Knoblauch in those stats on b-r.com. I can't see Knobs staying on the ballot for long.

Wolf,

I'm with ya. I thought Knoblauch was exactly what the Yanks needed at the time. High OBP, great speed out of the leadoff spot. He just completely lost his nerve, and it happened overnight. If he had stayed in Minny he probably would be going into the hall, he might even still be playing.