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Baseball fan following baseball since 1955. Have been fortunate enough to have seen Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Johnny Bench, Roberto Clemente and Dale Murphy play baseball in Kansas City and Houston. Served in Army in Hawaii and Vietnam with 25th Infantry Division.More By Niteowl049
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Baseball Notebook: Piazza a Hall of Fame Candidate?
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Now that Mike Piazza has announced his retirement, he begins his five year wait to be eligible for Hall of Fame voting. He has a lifetime batting average of .308, a .377 on-base percentage and a .545 slugging percentage. Most catchers would like to have a .545 slugging percentage just once in their career, but Piazza averaged that over his 16 year career. He fell 873 hits short of 3000, but catchers aren't expected to have 3000 hits since they usually take a day off every few days. He hit 427 homers and drove in 1335 runs. Baseball-reference.com lists him 39th in home runs. He has hit more homers than Billy Williams, Duke Snider, Al Kaline, Dale Murphy andJohnny Bench. Of those players only Murphy has not been voted into the Hall of Fame.
His .545 slugging percentage which is 30th best alltime is higher than the slugging percentages of Hack Wilson, Duke Snider, Frank Robinson and Al Simmons all of whom are in the Hall of Fame. His .921 OPS is better than Hall of Famers Duke Snider, Al Simmons, and Mike Schmidt. His 16.20 at bats per home run is better than Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Mathews, Willie Stargell and Frank Robinson, who have all been admitted into the Hall of Fame.
It would be interesting to know what the readers think about his chances of going into the Hall of Fame are and if they think he deserves being enshrined at Cooperstown. I for one think he has excellent credentials to be voted into the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible.
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