How good was Vada Pinson?
PaulMaul
Posts: 4,877 ✭✭✭✭✭
I wonder about guys like Pinson, who fell off the HOF ballot in 1995, way before standards starting dropping. How does Vada’s HOF case compare to some of the more marginal recent inductees?
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Certainly better than Harold Baines.
Dead for 30 years.
Guess he quit campaigning.
The players to whom he is most similar are players who are generally underrated, and who are close to the "old" HOF line, before Baines and Rice lowered it into the gutter. That group includes Dwight Evans, Rusty Staub, Boog Powell, Orlando Cepeda, and Jose Cruz.
The table below shows, for those five players plus Pinson, their Win Shares for their 12 best seasons.
I do think the best player of that group can be identified (#5), but he's not a lot better, and there isn't much difference between any of them. I'd say Pinson is, and always was, right on the HOF line. I wouldn't put him in, but it wouldn't bother me at all if he got in.
He had the audacity to play for teams which were already loaded with stars. Hall Of Very Very Good.
Enjoy the go.
An Excellent player that deserves recognition but his career seems to be just shy of the HOF. I see him behind a player like Reggie Smith in terms of the HOF. There are several players that had noteworthy careers that deserve respect whether or not they make the HOF. And Pinson is among them.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
I still don't get and I'm VERY surprised he got his number retired so soon. As for Vada I wonder if he like Don Mattingly came up one season short.
D's: 54S,53P,50P,49S,45D+S,44S,43D,41S,40D+S,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 37,38,47,151,193,241,435,570,610,654,655 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
Reinsdorf loved Baines. Whether or not Baines had a hall of fame career is debatable but he had some great seasons and a well above average career. Some big moments in the post season and always hit well in the clutch. People should give the poor guy a break. Haha.
The most comparable players to Vada Pinson are all very, very good players who deserve to be involved in HOF discussions in which reasonable people could disagree.
The most comparable players to Harold Baines are all good players who, to the best of my knowledge, have never been involved in a HOF discussion. The table below, is some order, includes Baines, Buddy Bell, Tony Phillips, and Rick Monday. If you can tell who's who without looking them up in a Bill James book then I tip my hat to you. I sure couldn't.
As with the Pinson table, the best player in this group isn't hard to identify, and it ain't Baines.