When David Ortiz passed Harold Baines as the DH with the
most career hits, a couple questions popped up. The first I addressed
earlier…is David Ortiz a great hitter? The second? Is David Ortiz headed to the
Hall of Fame?
A fine question.
The first issue that comes to mind when discussing his
candidacy is his position. Does a DH belong in the Hall of Fame? Of course,
Paul Molitor is already there. As are Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski. But, what
about a full-time career DH? Can they get in too?
Why on earth not?
The Designated Hitter has been a baseball position for 40
years now. Why wouldn’t someone who played that position better than anyone be
eligible? This isn’t people insisting that closers should be in the Hall of
Fame, when “closer” isn’t even a position.
The main argument against the DH is that since they don’t
play the field, they’re only playing half the game. Which is true. But,
wouldn’t that argument apply to pitchers too? They don’t hit. (Even in the NL,
you’d be hard pressed to say the pitcher “hits.”) Isn’t that like saying an
outfielder can’t play catcher, so they only play in part the game? Every player
only plays the parts of the game their position calls for.
Even if that’s not enough for you, and you think DHs should
be punished for not playing the field. Can you really say that a DH can’t play
first base? Do you not think David Ortiz could play a bad first base? Jason
Giambi once won an MVP award playing a terrible defensive first base. Is that
better than Ortiz letting someone else have those duties? I don’t see how. So,
DH should certainly be able to make the Hall of Fame for their position.
Now, what about this specific DH?
If you read my last Ortiz post, you probably know that I’m
going to say, “Not quite.”
He just doesn’t quite do it for me. I always say I need five
years of “elite” stats. I could give Ortiz the four years from ’03-’07. I say I
need ten “all-star” type years. I might be able to give Ortiz eight or nine.
Now it’s possible that Ortiz’s peak years were so good that
I’m discounting his other less elite years. Possibly. But, I suppose, if I need
to be reconsidering “less elite” years, I’ve already made the decision. He
doesn’t quite make it.
But, it’s not because he’s a DH.
I think the only way he'll even be considered is if he sticks around and reaches 500... while maintaing his .280ish lifetime batting average.
ReplyDeleteEither way... the guy has had a solid career and it's not his fault that the American League doesn't encourage their pitchers to step up to the plate.
'03 to '07 is FIVE years. Boom, he's in ;)
ReplyDeleteJere, I hate it when people do that and forget that there are five years in '03 to '07. In my head, I wasn't counting '03 as being quite good enough. So, I should have said something like "four of the five years from '03 to '07...or just said all four from 04 to 07.
ReplyDeleteGood point about pitchers. A HOF caliber pitcher may be involved in say 25 to 30 ABs per week, similar to the number of ABs a DH may have. I think DO is approaching HOF status but it may be a moot point since he has been linked to PEDs.
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