Baseball's Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame (42 page)

Jim Thome

Todd Helton

Carlos Delgado

Omar Vizquel

Curt Schilling

John Smoltz

Trevor Hoffman

Jim Thome

While Fred McGriff fell seven home runs short of testing the theory that 500 home runs are no longer an automatic ticket to Cooperstown, Jim Thome may well be the first man to actually challenge whether or not that historical benchmark still applies. Heading into the 2009 campaign, Thome, one of baseball’s purest sluggers over the past decade, has 541 home runs. Yet, when the greatest players of his generation are mentioned, Thome’s name rarely comes up during the conversation.

Since Thome became a regular for the Cleveland Indians in his fifth year with the team in 1995, he has been one of baseball’s top home run hitters and run-producers. Possessing tremendous power to all fields, as well as a keen batting eye that has enabled him to accumulate more than 100 walks nine different times, Thome has averaged 37 home runs and 102 RBIs in his 13 years as a full-time player. He has surpassed 30 homers 12 times, topping the 40-mark on six separate occasions. Thome has also driven in more than 100 runs nine times, and scored at least 100 runs eight times.

As a member of the Indians from 1996 to 2002, Thome surpassed 30 homers each year, knocked in and scored 100 runs six times each, collected more than 100 walks six times, and batted over .300 twice. His two best years were in 2001 and 2002. In the first of those campaigns, Thome hit 49 home runs, knocked in 124 runs, scored 101 others, batted .291, and drew 111 bases on balls. The following season, he hit a career-high 52 homers, drove in 118 runs, scored another 101, batted .304, and walked 122 times. Thome finished second in the league in home runs both seasons.

At the end of 2002, Thome signed a big free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. His first season with his new team was an extremely productive one in which he led the National League with 47 home runs, placed third in the circuit with a career-best 131 runs batted in, scored 111 runs, and finished fourth in the league MVP voting. Thome had another good year in 2004, hitting 42 homers and driving in 105 runs. However, he missed most of the 2005 season with a bad back, hitting only 7 home runs, driving in just 30 runs, and batting only .207 in just 193 at-bats. At the end of the year, Thome was traded to the Chicago White Sox, with whom he spent the last three seasons. Serving primarily as a designated hitter after spending the majority of his career as a first baseman, Thome combined for 111 home runs and 295 RBIs over the past three years in Chicago. Those 111 home runs are particularly significant because they moved Thome past the 500-home run mark. Here are his career statistics heading into the 2009 campaign:

Those are good numbers. In fact, most people would probably consider them good enough to get Thome elected to Cooperstown sometime during his eligibility period. However, I remain somewhat uncertain as to whether or not I share that opinion, since Thome’s overall accomplishments, to this point, have not distinguished him enough from the other players of his era. In spite of the fact that he has surpassed the 40-homer mark five times during his career, Thome has led his league in that category only once, and has finished in the top three only two other times. He also has led the league in slugging percentage once, and in bases on balls three times, but has never finished first in any other major statistical category. Thome has never placed any higher than fourth in the league MVP balloting, and has made it into the top ten only four times. He has also been selected to the All-Star Team a total of five times, a relatively modest number for a potential Hall of Famer.

Taking everything into consideration, the feeling here is that Thome must improve significantly upon his current numbers before he can be considered a legitimate Hall of Famer. He must put together another two or three solid seasons, thereby increasing his home run total to a figure approximating 600. He must also add significantly to his RBI-total. Since Thome will turn 39 during the 2009 season, it remains somewhat questionable as to whether or not he will be able to accomplish these things. If he does not, he probably doesn’t deserve to be inducted into Cooperstown.

Todd Helton

Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton has been a full-time player in the major leagues since 1998. Helton was a truly exceptional player from 1999 to 2004, ranking among baseball’s elite in each of those six seasons. In his first full season, he hit 25 home runs, knocked in 97 runs, and batted .315—all very respectable numbers. However, in each of the next six seasons, Helton was arguably among the ten best players in the game, hitting more than 30 homers, batting over .320, and scoring more than 100 runs each year, and knocking in over 100 runs in all but one of those seasons. He was perhaps among the top five players in baseball in both 2000 and 2001, and then again in 2003. In the first of those years, Helton hit 42 home runs and led the National League with 147 runs batted in, a .372 batting average, 59 doubles, 216 hits, and 405 total bases, while scoring 138 runs. He followed that up in 2001 by hitting 49 homers, driving in 146 runs, scoring 132 others, and batting .336. In 2003, Helton hit 33 home runs, drove in 117 runs, scored another 135, and batted .358.

In addition to his six seasons with at least 30 home runs and 100 runs scored, and his five seasons with more than 100 runs batted in, Helton has batted over .300 in all but one of his 11 full major league seasons, drawn more than 100 bases on balls five times, collected more than 200 hits twice, and compiled more than 50 doubles twice, accumulating as many as 49 on two other occasions. He has been a league leader in a major statistical category a total of seven times, and his career batting average of .328 places him third among active players. Helton has also been selected to five All-Star teams and has been awarded three Gold Gloves for his fine fielding at first base. Heading into 2009, these are his career statistics:

Those are not quite Hall of Fame numbers, but, since Helton will not turn 36 until late in the 2009 campaign, one would think he should be able to add to them significantly before his career is over. Yet, Helton’s offensive productivity has dropped off dramatically the last four seasons. He has failed to hit more than 20 home runs, drive in more than 91 runs, score more than 94 times, or top the .320-mark in batting since 2004.

Furthermore, injuries limited Helton to only 83 games in 2008, a year in which he hit just 7 home runs, knocked in only 29 runs, and batted a career-low .264. Thus, it would seem that Helton’s career is clearly on the decline. Another thing to consider is that, even though Helton compiled outstanding numbers between 1999 and 2004, he never finished any higher than fifth in the league MVP voting, placing in the top ten a total of only three times. There is little doubt that much of the blame for that last fact can be placed on the poor showings of Helton’s Rockies team in most of those years. However, another contributing factor was undoubtedly the extent to which Helton’s offensive numbers were aided by playing in Coors Field. In the end, that is something that is likely to work against Helton when he becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame, much as it will against his former teammate, Larry Walker. Therefore, Helton probably needs to put together four or five more exceptional seasons to have a legitimate chance of being elected to Cooperstown when his career is over—something it appears he is not likely to do.

Carlos Delgado

For much of his 16-year career, power-hitting first baseman Carlos Delgado has been among the most productive hitters in baseball. Since first becoming a full-time player with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1996, Delgado has failed to hit at least 25 home runs and drive in at least 90 runs just once. Indeed, over the past 13 seasons he has surpassed 30 homers 11 times, accumulating as many as 40 on three separate occasions. Delgado has also knocked in more than 100 runs nine times, topping 130 RBIs three different times. In addition, he has scored more than 100 runs five times and batted over .300 three times.

Delgado had his two best years in 2000 and 2003. In the first of those seasons, he hit 41 home runs, knocked in 137 runs, scored another 115, batted a career-high .344, and led the American League with 57 doubles. He finished fourth in the league MVP voting that year. In 2003, Delgado hit 42 homers, led the A.L. with 145 runs batted in, scored 117 runs, batted .302, and finished second in the MVP balloting.

However, other than leading the league in RBIs and doubles once each, Delgado has never topped his league in any other major offensive category. He also has finished in the top ten in the MVP balloting only two other times, aside from those 2000 and 2003 seasons, placing sixth in the N.L. voting in 2005 as a member of the Florida Marlins, and coming in ninth in 2008 after having a strong second half for the New York Mets. Furthermore, he has been selected to only two All-Star teams during his career, an extremely low number for a potential Hall of Famer. Delgado was among the 10 best players in the game in only those 2000 and 2003 seasons, and has never been thought of as being the best player at his position (Jason Giambi was the game’s top first baseman in 2000; Albert Pujols was number one in 2003). Thus, while he is certainly a fine player, the degree to which Delgado has distinguished himself from the other players of his era is very much open to debate.

Another thing to consider is that Delgado has developed a reputation through the years as being a somewhat dispassionate player. The general perception held towards him is that he is not much of a leader, and that his offensive numbers hold more significance to him than does the success of his team. Whether or not that is entirely true is certainly debatable. However, one thing that is certain is that Delgado contributed greatly to the firing of New York Mets Manager Willie Randolph in 2008. Playing under Randolph during the season’s first half, Delgado slumped terribly, often appearing lost at the plate, and not seeming to care much of the time. Yet, Delgado’s performance improved dramatically during the final three months of the season, after Randolph was replaced at the helm by Jerry Manuel, someone with whom the first baseman had a much better relationship. In fact, Delgado’s play improved so greatly that many onlookers believed his first-half performance clearly demonstrated his desire to play for another manager. Delgado finished the year with 38 home runs and 115 runs batted in. Therefore, it would seem that there may be a certain amount of truth to the allegations made against the slugging first baseman.

Nevertheless, Delgado’s stat-line heading into 2009 is rather impressive:

Those are very good numbers, but Delgado probably needs to reach the 500-home run plateau to be considered a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate. He is likely to do so, since he will not turn 37 until midway through the 2009 campaign. Still, the feeling here is that, even if Delgado eventually surpasses 500 career home runs, he will probably fall just a bit short of being Hall of Fame worthy. He doesn’t possess any intangible qualities that might further enhance his cause—he is a below-average fielder and baserunner, and, as was mentioned earlier, he has never been much of a team leader. More importantly, Delgado has not separated himself enough from the other players of his time to gain admittance to Cooperstown when his career is over.