POLL: Gary Sheffield and the Hall of Fame

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Gary Sheffield is an interesting case for the Hall of Fame. As with so many guys of his era, steroids come up a a big issue. Sheffield admitted to a grand jury that he unknowingly used a steroid cream during 2002. Many folks theorize that he had used other substances as well but there have been no formal accusations or admissions. There’s not a lot more we can say on the subject of steroids, though–exactly how it will affect his candidacy remains to be seen.

What we do know about Sheffield for sure are the facts: he topped 500 career homers with a 140 OPS+, was a 9-time all star (at two different positions), received MVP votes in 7 different seasons including 4 top-6 finishes, and he homered in every post-season series in 1997 as his Marlins won it all.

Still, he’s not a slam dunk candidate by any means. Click through for the debate and poll.Sheffield was one of the most feared hitters of his time–and it was usually the 3rd-base coach who was most afraid. Sheffield had incredibly quick wrists and was the master of hitting smash line drives down the left-field line. He racked up a lot of doubles and homers this way.

He was also gruff and seemed to wear our his welcome on many teams. Just look at his list of career stops: Milwaukee, San Diego, Florida, LA Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Tigers, Mets. The Marlins were the only team with which he played more than 4 seasons. After his time with the Marlins, Sheffield was on 5 different playoff teams but batted only .216 in 111 at bats in those years. While it’s certainly not entirely his fault, his team lost 5 out of 6 playoff series during that stretch.

Anyway, here’s a look at the pros and cons of his case.

For Gary Sheffield in the Hall of Fame

He’s one of just 22 players in history with 450 doubles and 450 homers. It’s true that this mark has been significantly easier to achieve in Sheffield’s era, with half the entrants having played as recently as 1995, but that’s still only 11 guys that he is among.
Sheffield is 30th all-time in the Batting Runs component of rWAR. That is damned impressive. He’s ahead of a lot of all-time greats, including Joe DiMaggio, Eddie Mathews, Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson, and Carl Yastrzemski. (Keep in mind that this stat is era-corrected, so he doesn’t get the same benefit as the raw counting numbers in the bullet point above.)
From 1995 to 2004, Sheffield had a 157 OPS+ over 5916 plate appearances. As a peak, it’s not as high as some, but at 10 years it’s very long. (As further proof of his distributed peak, his best seasons were a 189 OPS+ in 1996 and a 176 OPS+ in 2000.) Only two players had at least 5000 PAs over that same period and a better OPS+: Barry Bonds (206) and Manny Ramirez (159). Jim Thome was tied with Sheff at 157.

Against Gary Sheffield in the Hall of Fame

Sheffield did not play good defense. Consider this: he’s 29th in career oWAR, but in overall WAR among batters he’s just 89th. He had a staggering 11 different seasons where he was worth at least -1 win above replacement on defense and overall he finished at -18.4 dWAR for his career. Wow, that’s bad.

Sheffield is, in fact, worst all time in the Fielding Runs component of WAR:

Rk	Player	Rfield	From	To
1	Gary Sheffield	-178	1988	2009
2	Derek Jeter	-143	1995	2011
3	Bobby Bonilla	-121	1986	2001
4	Danny Tartabull	-120	1984	1997
5	Bernie Williams	-118	1991	2006
6	Eddie Yost	-114	1944	1962
7	Juan Samuel	-113	1983	1998
8	Rick Monday	-112	1966	1984
9	Chris Gomez	-111	1993	2008
10	Manny Ramirez	-110	1993	2011
11	Ty Wigginton	-110	2002	2011
12	Ricky Gutierrez	-110	1993	2004
13	Bill Madlock	-110	1973	1987

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/19/2012.

Most of these guys accumulated such negative totals because they were good with the bat, and the same is true in Sheffield’s case. But that doesn’t change the fact that we must discount his overall value based on the fact that he hurt his teams with defense.

Sheffield had remarkably little black ink–just 4, and those come from winning the NL batting title in 1992. He never led the league in any other of the ink-related categories, and that pretty well sums up his career–he was never the best overall player in baseball, but he was in the top 10 for just about all of his career. In other words, he was never a top-tier superstar–“merely” fantastic for many years.

Now please vote in our poll:

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12 years ago

Was just comparing him to Carlos Delgado since they’ll both be on the ballot for the first time in 2015. Will be interesting to see which of them does better in the balloting. Sheffield has a pretty large lead in WAR (63.3 vs 44.2). But Delgado has some of the same “markers” as Sheffield – e.g., over 450 doubles and homeruns, 7 times on the MVP ballot with 3 top 6 finishes – without the negatives of a steroid taint or personality issues.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

Delgado has no steroid taint? Really? Just playing in that era and hitting home runs gives you a taint. What about Jeff Bagwell? There’s zero evidence he ever did steroids other than the fact that he looked like he lifted weights. Didn’t Delgado have a similar body type? Didn’t his power numbers skyrocket in the steroid era?

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to bstar

bstar,

Delgado’s HR totals did NOT “skyrocket” at any point in his career. The extreme range for his HR totals from age 25 to 34 is only 14 – a low of 30 and a high of 44, median of 38. No spikes or skyrockets there.

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Well, I mentioned this on another thread. I grew up in Milwaukee in the 90s (okay, I’ve actually mentioned that in a LOT of other threads), and we really, really didn’t like Gary Sheffield. He committed the cardinal sin in Midwestern culture: he trashed the city he was supposed to be calling “home.” I’ll admit that has a bearing on how I think of him historically. Another thing does, too, and it’s what Andy mentioned. I don’t really remember thinking of him as being among the best players in baseball. And the thing about it is, I think, that he… Read more »

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

I still can’t make up my mind. One interesting angle is how his teams did before acquiring him and after sending him on. I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, since his overall playing record is much more important, and there are always many factors in a team’s success or failure, but it’s a little surprising: Brewers: — 1991 (with Sheff), 83-79 — 1992 (without), 92-70 Padres: — 1991 (before Sheff), 84-78. — 1992 (with Sheff), 82-80. — 1993 (with Sheff thru June 24), 28-44, .389 — 1993 (without after June 24), 33-57, .367 — 1994… Read more »

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

John- great stuff. You’ve made me rethink how I think about Sheffield. I’m a big hall guy and just on his numbers alone I think he’s clearly qualified. Before I read what you wrote my only issue was the steroids. There I fall in the “if he would have been good enough without them” camp, meaning I would vote for Bonds & Clemens (after a year or 2 penance) but not Palmeiro. Sheffield doesn’t have a lot of black ink but he was consistently among the league leaders for more than a decade. But it’s also true that the game… Read more »

Fireworks

12 years ago

For me, the case for Sheff mostly relies upon whom amongst his outfield peers we put in before him. The same thing will be true in a decade or so when it comes time to start putting this generation’s first basemen into the Hall. Howard’s late start was already going to hurt his ability to put together a good Hall case and his inability to stop giving outs to the defense because of the shift, amongst other declines in his performance, make it look like his case is disappearing. But there is still Teixeira, Pujols (lock), Fielder, Cabrera, Gonzalez, Votto,… Read more »

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Fireworks

I like your approach, so let’s hear it–which outfielders do you put in ahead of him?

Fireworks

12 years ago

Speaking of the Hall, I am saying this now and I will probably say it a half-dozen times before all is said and done but I’m not a huge fan of this first ballot/not first ballot stuff. That said, if Frank Thomas doesn’t go in first ballot I’m going to be upset.

That’s my one big bone to pick with the next few years’ candidates–Frank better get in right away.

I won’t further derail the topic by saying that The Rock should get in or any other that.

Fireworks

12 years ago

I miss being able to edit my posts.

MikeD

12 years ago

Yes.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

One of the hardest aspects of this decision for me is how much weight to give to Sheffield’s awful defense. Two aspects of this dilemma: (1) He had the bat (and the glove) to be a DH, 1B or LF. Yet he played the majority of his games in RF, even though there’s no evidence of a strong arm. He played just 9 games at 1B, and had only 71 games as a DH before spending 2 years there with Detroit late in his career. Even the 2004-06 Yanks, who could have DH’d him, chose not to. But would he… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Two things: Isn’t defense compared to “average” rather than “replacement” because it’s assumed that average defense IS replacement level defense? In other words, there are a whole lot of guys in the minors who could come up and play league-average defense. I always assumed that was the reasoning. I mean, I have a friend who played college baseball, and who could easily out-throw, say, Johnny Damon, and was as fast, to boot. My friend was a great hitter on our softball team, but of course probably wouldn’t have hit .150 in the majors. I think the rationale is that defense… Read more »

Mike L

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

To John A’s point about dWAR, I agree-I’m a little leery about giving it as much emphasis when the science is less exact, and, at least for the “skill positions”, the ability to grab a glove and play the position has value, even if you don’t play it particularly well. It’s an allocation of resources by the team which balances the player’s contribution against what else is available (and at what price.) On the “character clause”, there’s a difference between being surly and engaging in illegal activity. I’m more inclined to give players a pass for surly. We’d like them… Read more »

kds

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

The problem is the definition of dWAR, and obviously oWAR also since oWAR = WAR – dWAR.) WAR is the sum of, offense over average, defense over average, position adjustment, replacement adjustment. (Which is the difference between replacement level and average times games played.) Sean Foreman, (not Sean Smith who developed rWAR), chose to separate the defense over average and call it dWAR, and call all of the other parts together oWAR. My objections to that, especially to including the position adjustment in oWAR are on record at the b-r blog. Looking at overall defensive value, combining position and runs… Read more »

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

If I recall correctly, during his time with the Yankees, Shefield was not in love with the idea of DHing. But to be fair, that can be said of several players in the last 15 years AND the Yankees (he was the last “George Steinbrenner signing” did not sign him to DH, they signed him to play OF.

vivaeljason

12 years ago

I say no because I feel that he wouldn’t have gotten some of his numbers if not for the steroids. There is, of course, no way to state to what extent his PED usage helped his numbers and overall career. I’m not comfortable with voting for Sheff until it’s clear to what extent PED usage helped his and other known/assumed users’ careers.

Brandon

12 years ago

This is a tough one. While in Detroit, I never “felt” like I was watching a future HOF’er. In fact I was begging for Leyland to bench him in ’08. I think he would get more support if he would have been a one or two franchise player. His numerous stops and boorish attitude never allowed him to connect with the fan base IMO. That being said he has the numbers. One thing I noticed when reviewing his stats was his relatively low K totals. In fact Sheffield, Ted Williams, and Mel Ott are the only players with 500+ and… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

The lowest WAR Fielding Runs total for an HOFer since 1901 is -89 by Dave Winfield, another OFer and also a 450/450 guy with the same black ink score of only 4.

Put Winfield’s stats beside Sheffield’s and they’re quite similar. Except, Sheffield’s are a bit better in slash, OPS+, SB and WAR, quite a bit better in terms of both taking walks, not striking out, and GIDP, and (FWIW) far, far better at getting hit by a pitch.

If Winfield is the standard, then Sheffield should be in.

MicahelPat

12 years ago

Just looked at his most comparable list. Could one day all of ’em are Hall of Famers.

Mel Ott (877) *
Reggie Jackson (864) *
Chipper Jones (863)
Ken Griffey (851)
Fred McGriff (850)
Mickey Mantle (840) *
Billy Williams (838) *
Frank Robinson (836) *
Frank Thomas (832)
Al Kaline (830) *
* – Signifies Hall of Famer

Interesting… Chipper Jones is his most comparable seven out of ten years in their 30s.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to MicahelPat

I’ll just chip in my usual disclaimer that a top Similarity Score of 877 is not terribly similar. So the fact that all 10 of Sheffield’s most-similars are HOFers or nearly there does not necessarily show anything about Sheff.

Omar Vizquel has 6 HOFers in his top 8, but the highest actual score is 889 (Aparicio). Harold Baines has 5 HOFers in his top-10 Similarity Scores, including 4 of his top 5. But only one of those scores (Tony Perez, 943) is highly similar to Baines. Neither Vizquel nor Baines deserves to make the Hall.

MicahelPat

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

No quarrel with any of that. But it does remain that, all ten of the players with the most similar numbers to Scheffield are in, or have an excellent chance of going in. The Chipper Jones stuff is amazing – and he is almost an exact contemporary. What is especially fascinating to me is that Sheffield is almost the anti-Chipper, in terms of his media persona. Hired gun versus lifetime team guy. Team captain type versus team scourge type. The steroid stigma. I have to mention race. When the time comes to consider Chipper for the hall, will the remarkable… Read more »

nightfly

12 years ago

Reply to MicahelPat

Chipper does get some more credit for playing a more demanding defensive position, though… and playing it generally well, at least according to reputation, though I don’t think he was ever considered an elite glove.

MicahelPat

12 years ago

wow, it’s nine out of ten on Chipper’s page. (Most comp in their 30s) Plus another pair in their twenties.

I’ll go out on a limb and say Chipper’s line for 2012 will look something like this…

100 G 312 PA 13 D 2 T 10 HR 43 RBI .276 .372 .451 .823

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Similarity scores show him in the company of nothing but HOFers or will-be HOFers, the only maybe being Crime Dog. ___________________________________ Sheffield was, by observation, a poor defensive player. And the statistics seem to back that up. But I’m not entirely sold on the advanced defensive metrics yet. According to the chart above, the Shortstop and Centerfielder on the only dynastic team of the last 35 years were two of the worst defenders in history. And they were awful during the 4 out of 5 run. That speaks either to the minimal impact of bad defense or the not-quite-there factor… Read more »

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

It could also speak to the overwhelming level of talent surrounding them, as well as their own high offensive value.

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

For the edification of the audience, rWAR has him at -178 runs. fWAR has him at -204.6 runs. Since fWAR uses TotalZone rather than UZR before 2002, that means that both systems had him at -158 from 1988-2001, but UZR says he was much worse thenceforth. The Baseball Gauge, which uses a system for defensive WAR more similar to the system in Win Shares, sees Sheffield as basically an average defender: positive half a run for his career. Frankly, it’s really, really hard for me to believe that Sheff was as bad as particularly UZR sees him (or TZ in… Read more »

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Thanks for the link. I especially enjoyed the quote from Sheff on the HOF question:

“I am sure it will be mentioned and debated but from my standpoint I know who is in the Hall of Fame,” Sheffield told The Post. “A lot of them don’t belong in the Hall of Fame. If someone wants to debate me, check the stats.”
(emphasis added)

Wouldn’t you love to hear his list of those that don’t belong?

Mike Felber

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

I recall that article Dr. Doom, the discussion below was very good. If there were no PEDs involved, i would day his peak & career value were good enough, even accounting for defense. But when it is close at all, & a guy is named in the Mitchell report, I want to either see that it is the unusual case they got wrong, or have some good idea of how delimited the usage was. Since normally it helps sluggers hit with more power, thus draw more walks, & can keep guys healthy for a while, even if they break down… Read more »

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

The sim scores are somewhat meaningless since they are raw numbers and not corrected for offensive eras.

MicahelPat

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

PA OPS+ WAR oWAR dWAR 1.Sheffield 11,000 140 63.3 81.7 -18.4 2.Mel Ott (877) * 11,300 155 109.3 103.0 6.3 3.Reggie Jackson (864) * 11,400 139 74.6 75.1 -0.5 4.Chipper Jones (863) 10,200 141 82.7 84.9 -2.2 5.Ken Griffey (851) 11,300 135 78.6 80.9 -2.3 6.Fred McGriff (850) 10,200 134 50.5 53.2 -2.7 7.Mickey Mantle (840) * 9,900 172 120.2 122.1 -1.9 8.Billy Williams (838) * 11,300 133 57.2 61.0 -3.8 9.Frank Robinson (836) * 11,700 154 107.4 101.9 5.5 10.Frank Thomas (832) 10,100 156 75.9 83.2 -7.3 11.Al Kaline (830) * 11,600 134 91.0 74.7 16.3 – Signifies Hall… Read more »

MicahelPat

12 years ago

Reply to MicahelPat

I disagree with your ‘somewhat meaningless’ comment, good sir. Looking at those top ten similarity scores with modern metrics (OPS+, WAR), Sheffield’s numbers stand up pretty well. Mantle is the odd man out of this group; his numbers are clearly in a different universe. But for the rest, Sheff holds his own; 6th of 11 in OPS, 9th in WAR (but 6th in oWAR). Do we tend to downplay too much the offensive stats that were put up during the recent hitters’ era? Defense is his Achilles heel. If we are going to assess his Hall of Fame worthiness, I… Read more »

kds

12 years ago

Reply to MicahelPat

Following my comment #35 I went to the top 10 on the sim list and figured Offensive WAR properly. That is, I removed the position adjustment, so it is batting and base running above average and replacement runs to get it to runs above average for offense. Then convert runs to wins. Name Offensive WAR Sheffield 91 Ott 113 Reggie J. 95 Chipper Jones 87 Griffey Jr. 82 McGriff 70 Mantle 129 B. Williams 78 F. Robinson 119 F. Thomas 95 Kaline 88 Chipper, Junior and Mickey change less than the others because they played most of their careers at… Read more »

nightfly

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

In the five years from 1996-2000, the Yankees pitching staff finished 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 3rd, and 4th in the AL in strikeouts. Fewer balls in play lessens the negative impact of bad defense.

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

Voom: I agree. Give me the all-time worst iron gloves and I’ll win 120 games: Manny, Piazza, Allen, Jeter, Bernie Williams, Frank Thomas, Sheffield, Hornsby…..you get the idea. People quote these fielding metrics as if they were the synoptic gospels. If you bat for 9 and pitch for 9, the standard deviation on the value of fielding has to something like 6% ? And then you divide it into 9 fielding positions, it’s even less. If one guy gets 4 PA’s/per game and another gets 4 fielding chances per game, who has greater effect on the outcome of the game/which… Read more »

birtelcom

12 years ago

Similarity Scores as I understand them are based on unadjusted raw numbers, which means a player who played in high run-scoring period in baseball history (such as Sheffield) is going to end up looking similar to hitters from lower scoring eras who were actually more valuable than he was. I prefer to use sabermetric numbers to find comparable players. One good comp for Sheffield (in terms of baseball numbers, not personality!!) might be Harmon Killebrew. Killebrew had a career 143 OPS+ and 61.1 WAR (including negative WAR fielding numbers his whole career), compared to Sheff’s 140 OPS+ and 63.3 WAR.… Read more »

12 years ago

Reply to birtelcom

I’ve said it before but I really wish Baseball Reference would get rid of the Similarity Scores. They may have made some sense when Bill James first developed them, but he was working with a lot less information than what we have available now. Now, they really don’t add any value to the discussion and too many people have no idea what they represent. At the very least, someone should come up with an updated system that takes into account some of the newer stats (e.g., OPS+, WAR, etc.).

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

Meh… I guess you just have to take it with a grain of salt, like a lot of other stuff. We’ve mentioned many times in this community how RBI mean very little, and how pitcher Wins mean very little, at least when we’re talking player analysis. But I wouldn’t want those things gone. They have some value. Likewise, I think Sim Scores can have value, too, but only if they’re used properly. It might be worth checking, for example, if you’re curious how many players put up career numbers to Sheff. I don’t think that you can actually build a… Read more »

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

The problem is that too many people use them without knowing what they do and don’t mean. (see some of the comments on this post for example). Mike L’s idea (comment #37) is actually a decent compromise.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Agreed—when I look at Sim Scores I tend to put on blinders except for players from the same era as the player I’m looking up.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to birtelcom

One of the unintentional results of the B-R Similarity Scores is that singles hitters from recent decades frequently get compared to power hitters from the deadball era, and vice versa.

For example, Rod Carew is Sam Crawford’s #8 MS; Tony Gwynn is Tris Speaker’s #9 MS. Cy Seymour is Matty Alou’s #6 MS. Paul Molitor is Honus Wagner’s #10 MS. None of these pairings is of really similar type offensive players.

An Anonymous Reader

12 years ago

I don’t know if this has been said before, but Sheffield only used steroids in 2001, and I don’t know how long steroids’ effects last, but (by WAR) his 2001 season was a step down from his 2000 season, and 2002 was another step down. Maybe steroids had a negative effect on him? Then, in 2003, 2 years after his steroid use, he had the best year of his career. I think he definitely deserves it, but the question is if he will, as the simple fact that he did use and that he played during this era.

vivaeljason

12 years ago

Reply to An Anonymous Reader

While I know he admitted to usage in 2001…do we know for sure that 2001 was the only year Sheffield used PEDs? Legitimate question; not suggesting I know otherwise.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to vivaeljason

Sheffield admitted to use in 2002, not in 2001, and of course there is the possibility that he wasn’t entirely truthful.

vivaeljason

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

My mistake…Wikipedia says the session with Bonds’s trainer was in 2001. Obviously not always reliable.

Steven

12 years ago

When he came up with Milwaukee, he admitted making errors on purpose because he didn’t want to be there. This was when he was an infielder. That, to me, would be enough to keep him out of the Hall.

Mike L

12 years ago

Just to follow on about what’s been said about Similarity Scores, I still think I would display them, but I’d cut them off at 5000 or more PA, and the top three or everything at 900 or above. What you find is something interesting-that the greats just aren’t that similar-even to each other. The similarities become more pronounced when you move down in class. I looked at the 25 500+HR hitters, where you would think you’d find commonalities. In that entire group, there are only four matches at 900 or above-not just to each other, but to all other players… Read more »

e pluribus munu

12 years ago

On the issue of Sheffield’s defense – defense in general, really – I think there is a different perspective that legitimately influences our assessment of players, in addition to the perspective natural among this group. The athletic fielder is a pleasure to watch and contribtues the possibility of a game as a set of highlight moments. When I think of Mays or Clemente, I remember them in the field first, even though I know (and was excited to watch them compile) their wonderful batting records. I’m not thinking of their dWAR’s, I’m thinking of what they were able to do… Read more »

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to e pluribus munu

Munu:
Yeah, great fielding is matter of aesthetics AND some measurable factor of ability and contribution that keeps changing with the hyper-statistician’s analysis. But, as far as aesthetics, Jeter going in the hole and jumping, twisting, and throwing is very pretty; however, Ozzie Smith, Ripken, and Tulowitzki make that play flat-footed without any fanfare or Thom Brennaman felatio….

e pluribus munu

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Point taken, Paul. I’m sure Sheffield made a few circus catches along the way; Ozzie and Jeter share acrobatic moments, but Ozzie’s come at the edge of a greater range.

Dave V.

12 years ago

Just wanted to touch on one thing, as Derek Jeter’s name comes up here as 2nd worst all time in Fielding Runs behind Sheffield…I see on the EloRater, he is only at #168. Yesterday, I believe he was at #189 and I think earlier last week, I saw him at #200. I don’t know if it came up when the most underrated hitters of all time were being discussed or if that list included active players…but if active players were counted, would Jeter being ranked that low on the EloRater make him one of the most underrated hitters in history?… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Dave V.

I don’t know if this is still the case, but this same thing happened with Derek Jeter like a year ago. It turned out to be a glitch in the EloRater. Maybe that’s happened to him again.

Dave V.

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Thanks for the info, Dr. Doom. I see today he is at #160, so perhaps the glitch is slowly moving him up to where he’s supposed to be (as he’s had a climb from #200 to #160 in a short span).

LJF

12 years ago

A great debate, I think, about Sheffield. I have a couple of thoughts. Obviously he moved around quite a bit. Teams are often looking for the “best available bat” and I got the impression that Sheffield was often available. My perception was that the teams acquiring him never looked at him as a long-term solution – but only hoped he would get them over the hump before his personality and bad defense made him available once again. And I never got the impression that the teams who traded him/let him walk via free agency really felt like they were losing… Read more »

Chris A.

12 years ago

In an era with so much offence and PED suspicion he’ll get lost in the mix and won’t get serious consideration. He’ll stay on the ballot for a few years but will never get anywhere near enough votes.

MicahelPat

12 years ago

My gut response to Gary Sheffield for the Hall was NO WAY. When I saw the similarity score list, I began to question that. I am fully aware what similarity scores are, and that they are more of a toy than a vehicle for rigourous analysis. I do think, however, they provide a context – at least a starting context – for evaluating where a player`s career achievements rank among his peers. Ultimately some large percentage of hall-worthiness analysis is based on the numbers, and sim scores are a way to consider those numbers quickly to come up with comparable… Read more »

topper009

12 years ago

One point to consider, if Ron Santo was like the greatest injustice of all-time before he made the HOF then shouldn’t anyone with a similar WAR be in the same boat? Last I checked, WAR accounts for position and defense, so if Ron Santo and his 66 WAR SCREAMED hall of fame snub then how could you say Gary Sheffield and his 63 does not belong (including a staggering amount of negative defensive value which we all know is questionable). Baseball is about hitting, if say for example the greatest basketball player of all-time played baseball they would probably be… Read more »

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

There is at least one reasonable distinction between the HOF arguments for Santo and Sheffield: Position scarcity.

There are around 60 outfielders already in the Hall. Santo was just the 11th third baseman.

kds

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

The complaint that not having Santo in the HoF is a major error goes back long before WAR. Bill James, in his HoF book, “Politics of Glory”, (1994) said that if he had the power Santo would be the first he would put in. In his Historical Abstract (1985), he rated Santo 8th in peak among 3B and 6th in career value. He had him as the 71st greatest player by career value among all players to that time. James wasn’t the only one.

Mike Felber

12 years ago

Also, peak value is at least as important as career value, right? Whatever # of years you examine, it is a basic measure of greatness. Santo was more dominant at his peak. So they are not as close as they appear, unless Sheffield is significantly wrongly assessed as a fielder. While he should have been moved or DHed, I doubt he was much better than given discredit for. His longevity also contributes to his negative accumulation. Though I would put him in as similar or close to to The Killer overall, if it was not for The Mitchell Report. but… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Mike Felber

Well, combining peak and career WAR is an Adam Darowski specialty. Right now, his wWAR score would place him 16th among all HOF rightfielders. However, Sosa and MannyBManny are both marginally higher than Sheff. Still the Hall of wWAR has 20 RFs right now. If that holds steady, those three will move in (in the next few years), while Dave Winfield, Bobby Bonds, and Andre Dawson will move out.

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Possibly, no one cares about this thread anymore, which is actually fine by me. But I was just looking at my own WAR-weighting system. Typically, I only use The Baseball Gauge WAR when doing so (freely available data, plus I actually really like the different systems it uses – but I digress). Anyway, I re-ran the system for 25 of the top RFs of all time. Using the different WAR systems, here’s how Sheffield came out. The Baseball Gauge – #6 all-time, behind only Ruth, Aaron, Ott, Frank Robinson, and Reggie Jackson. Of course, this WAR system has Sheff as… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Winfield has the lowest B-R WAR Fielding Runs of any HOFer (see my post #13). Line up their stats side-by-side and and they look pretty similar. But, Sheff’s are better.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Thanks for a fresh take on the subject.

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10 years ago

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10 years ago

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