Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
Joe Carter For the Hall
With the recent news about Mark McGwire and his definitive steroid use, he will most likely not make the hall of fame. "The Steroid Era" will help guys like Jim Rice who recently got in as well as guys such as Andre Dawson who continues to wait and deserves to get in.
The other guy who I will continue to make a case for here is Joe Carter. Instead of doing it with words, lets let the numbers do the talking since, after all, that is usually what gets them in:
Jim Rice: 382 HR, 373 doubles, 2452 hits, 1249 runs, 1451 RBI's, 58 stolen bases, .289 career batting average
Joe Carter: 396 HR, 432 doubles, 2184 hits, 1170 runs, 1445 RBI's, 231 stolen bases, .259 career batting average
Nearly identical numbers with Carter edging him out in HR, doubles and stolen bases.
Lets throw in Dawson's numbers:
Andre Dawson: 438 HR, 503 doubles, 2774 hits, 1373 runs, 1591 RBI's, 314 stolen bases and .279 career batting average.
Looking at that Dawson should have gone in years ago well ahead of Rice. Instead Rice gets in because he played for a high profile team. Lets count the world championships between the three of them....2. Joe Carter with both and Carter made the series ending out in one of the series and the series winning walkoff homerun in the other.
Im not saying Jim Rice doesn't belong, but with his entry others need to be looked at closely for admission especially since these guys were not part of a tainted era. The next two sluggers in should be Dawson and Carter. Dale Murphy is another and if you compare Murphy to Carter and Dawson the numbers aren't far off on any of them.
Im willing to bet that if Carter didn't spend his big years with the Jays and a miserable Indians team, he would be in already. How many world series did Dale Murphy win? Lets change that, how many did he play in....ZERO.
Carter has the numbers and the intangibles that make him hall of famer add to that the fact that Carter was one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet and never had any run ins with the media, you would think the media that votes on this and the writers would have favored him a little. .
We can't just look at numbers...
Before our time, Jim Rice had a three year stretch in which he was the best in the game. Joe Carter was never close to being the best in the game. Carter put up very good numbers and was consistent, and he had one magic moment, but I don't think he's hall of fame worthy.
Then again, I'm not sure Jim Rice is either. Let's focus our efforts on getting Robbie Alomar in, he's far more Hall-worthy than Carter.
Robbie Alomar is a lock. He'll have to wait a year or two to pay for the spitting incident, but he's in. That's why taking up the cause for Joe is a worthy one.
He was one of the best run producers for over a decade, and his HR was monumental.
Joe Carter. Nice guy, good power, decent glove, durable, great moment in time.
But nowhere NEAR a Hall of Famer.
Out of 68 outfielders with over 9000 career Plate Appearances, Carter has the lowest OBP at .306. The only person whose ballpark he was in with OBP was Center Fielder Willie Davis.
And 55th in OPS (albeit ahead of Lou Brock, who was a great fielder, better OBP, etc).
There's a reason why whenever Carter was the team's focal point, the team was a disaster. He was allowed to be a free swinger on a team that featured Alomar, Molitor, White, and Olerud. But it wasn't a coincidence that the team usually stunk when he was supposed to be the best (or "co-best") player on the team.
Rice was an iffy selection, Dawson would be a mediocre at best one. Carter wasn't as good as these two. He's nowhere near the Hall and I doubt the VC would ever give him a sniff. Especially now that OBP is becoming more of an issue by the year.
You are booting him based on one stat? I think not. Come on....Most guys crave one defining world series moment he had two in two consecutive years. He caught the series winning out in one and hit the series winning homerun in the other. I Believe he is the only Series walk off homer ever?
If you are throwing him out based on one stat thats ridiculous.
396 homeruns, 400+ doubles, 231 steals, 2100+ hits and 1170 runs scored.
And I believe in 1987 he was one of the first 30-30 guys.