How is Thome Not a First Ballot Hall of Famer?
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by Tyduffy
Jim Thome hit his 500th homerun in 2007. It is a hallowed statistic that once granted one an automatic place in Cooperstown. But, in the wake of the steroid era, the 500th home-run has lost its luster.
Unfortunately, this will tarnish Thome's legacy, a travesty for a country strong guy who's post-game fitness training constitutes a cold beer.
There was an immediate backlash about how Thome was not a legitimate first-ballot hall of famer. It was not just angry bloggers, but noted pundits such as Buster Olney who came out against Thome going in on the first ballot.
Here is the Olney Argument
He currently ranks 67th in career RBIs, despite playing in an offense rich era...He currently ranks 105th in career runs scored. Thome has hit a ton of homers and drawn a ton of walks, but he hasn't been extraordinary at scoring runs or driving them in.
Alright, Thome's value as a player relies upon how many runs he has driven in and how many runs he has scored. So, essentially, his value rests upon how many people were on-base when he was at the plate to score, and how many people hitting behind him came through to bring him around. His value as a player thus rests upon two factors that are almost completely unrelated to his individual performance?
He was not a fast player, but over the course of his career he has gotten on base in one way shape or form 40% of the times he came to the plate. That's more than doing one's fair share to score runs.
As far as the number of RBI per home run argument, what big name player is most famous for having low RBI totals for the amount of home runs he hits? Barry Bonds! A player who, steroids aside, would be a unanimous hall of famer. Perhaps, the number of runs batted in has more to do with how many people are on base? Or, perhaps teams would pitch to Thome less, like with Bonds, when there were runners in scoring position?
If you are going to make that argument, include a reason why this is a knock on his ability. He is hitting and he is getting on base. Why is the relative lack of run production his fault?
Even so, is having over 100 RBIs in nine out of his twelve full seasons "ordinary" production?
Here are two reasons Thome is a first ballot hall of famer.
- .974 Career OPS, Thome has five seasons above 1.000 OPS and has never had lower than .929 OPS. He has nine seasons of .400 OBP or better and three seasons over .600 slugging.
- 507 Home Runs, Thome has hit over 30 home runs in eleven out of his twelve full seasons (eleven straight full seasons). He his hit over 40 home runs six times, and hit over 50 in 2002.
