Are There 100 Players Who Deserve To Be in the Hall of Fame More Than Harold Baines?

By: William Robinson

I hope Harold Baines doesn’t read this article. I really do. Because I’m about to literally destroy him on paper and by all accounts he is a pretty decent guy. So, Harold if you are reading, please stop now.

Okay now that Harold has hopefully stopped reading let’s get on with the public execution. Last season the Veterans Committee destroyed all the criteria to get into the Hall of Fame by voting Harold Baines in. Harold Baines played baseball from 1980 to 2001 and during that time period he was able to stick in the Majors which is probably his most decorated accomplishment. During that 22-year time period he was only able to amass 38.7 WAR (wins above replacement) and 2866 hits, 384 HR, and 1628 RBI. The home runs, hits and RBI’s seem somewhat passable until you realize that it took him 22 years to get there. If you average it out, he averaged 130 hits per season, 17 home runs, and 74 RBI’s. He averaged 1.75 WAR. On the career list he ranks number 552 in total WAR for his career. Harold Baines though was a 6 time All-Star and won 1 Silver Slugger and so those need to be taken into consideration as well.

The question that I presented myself with during this article is could I come up with 100 players that were better than Harold Baines in his career. I gave myself some criteria.

1. They had to either be more impactful to the game. (They had to have a higher average WAR than Baines).
2. They had to have just as many awards as Baines. (So, the magic number is 7.) and
3. They had to have a higher status than Baines. This one is a bit subjective but at the end of the day did I believe that they were a better player than Harold Baines. I’m writing this article as I come up with players and so by the end we’ll see, are there 100 players who were more deserving of the Hall of Fame than Harold Baines.

Let’s start this one off with some easy candidates:

1. Barry Bonds – Without any doubt Barry Bonds was a more impactful and better player than Baines. His Career WAR of 162.8 puts him at number 4 on the All-Time list.
2. Roger Clemens – Even with the thoughts of PED’s having Baines in the hall of fame and not Clemens is a joke. Clemens may be the greatest right-handed pitcher ever.
3. Pete Rose – The All-Time hit leader deserves to be in the hall of fame even if he betted on baseball and even if he slept with underage girls. This isn’t the hall of choir boys after all.
4. Larry Walker – Walker had a career OPS that was .965 way higher than Harold Baines (.820), he also has better stats than Baines in every category and was an All-Star 5 times, has 7 Gold Gloves, 3 batting titles and 3 Silver Slugger awards.
5. Curt Shilling – He of bloody sock fame is way more deserving than Harold Baines. He was a 6-time All-Star, WS MVP and was one of the most dominant pitchers in the game for several seasons.
6. Lou Whitaker – Whitaker has a WAR of 75.1. He was a 5-time All-Star, 3-time Silver Slugger and 4-time Gold Glove winner at a premium position. He was also vital to winning the 1984 World Series for the Tigers.
7. Rafael Palmiero – Ugh I hate this guy. Seriously every time I think about him, I think about him wagging his fingers at congress telling them how clean of a player he was and then later on testing positive for PED’s. But let’s face facts even he was better than Harold Baines. He did have over 500 home runs after all.
8. Mark McGwire – Speaking of over 500 home runs. How about McGwire who many credits with saving baseball? If you saved baseball, then you get into the Hall. PERIOD.
9. Sammy Sosa – see above.
10. Scott Rolen – Only two other players have 8 Gold Gloves and played 3rd base, Mike Schmidt and Brooks Robinson (both of them are in the hall of fame.)

Okay first 10 in and we are through number 1-100 on the career WAR list. There were two other players not on this list that were in the top 100 but they didn’t meet my criteria as both of them played before my parents were born and thus, I never saw them play. They also don’t have as many awards as Baines does.

11. Fred McGriff – McGriff played 3 less seasons than Baines and eclipses him in nearly every statistical category. He also nearly hit that 500 home run plateau.
12. Manny Ramirez – Speaking of 500 HR hitters. Man Ram hit over 500 and was in twice as many All-Star games.
13. Dale Murphy – When Murphy was good, he was one of the best in the game. He won 2 MVP awards, was a 7-time All-Star, won 5 Gold Gloves and 4 Silver Sluggers. I myself would prefer a dominant player rather than one who played forever.
14. Don Mattingly – Speaking of which Don Mattingly also won an MVP award and was a 9 time All-Star. He was way better in his prime than Harold Baines.
15. Kenny Lofton – Did you know that during his 17-year career Kenny Lofton averaged more hits than Baines per season, had a higher batting average and nearly double WAR? Better than Baines.
16. Kevin Brown – In 1999 Kevin Brown was the first MLB player to earn a 100-million-dollar contract. Not even today for his entire career do I think Baines would get a 100-million-dollar contract. (maybe this is hyperbole)
17. Ken Boyer – During his 15-year career Boyer went to the All-Star game 11 times. He was also an MVP.
18. Shoeless Joe – Okay so I’m breaking one of my rules kinda….by all account Shoeless Joe was one of the greatest players of the day. So, I’m feeling pretty safe in saying that he deserves to be in before Baines.
19. Todd Helton – Helton ended his career with a batting average of .316. He won a batting title and more awards than Baines.
20. Gary Sheffield – Sheffield played the same number of seasons as Harold Baines. He has over 500 home runs, almost 400 more RBI’s and nearly as many hits. He was a 9-time All-Star. 5-time Silver Slugger and won a batting title.
21. Matt Williams – Matt was a 5-time All-Star, 4-time Gold Glove winner, 4-time Silver Slugger and played a more difficult position. Although he averaged less hits per season, he averaged more home runs. This one may be about preference, but I prefer my players to play a position.
22. Mark Grace – Very underrated Mark Grace was a dang good baseball player. I’d rather have him than Harold Baines any day.
23. Eric Davis – Another personal preference choice would be Eric Davis. Davis is very comparable to Baines, but he had the superstar power that Baines did not. That being said this bodes poorly for my chase for 100.
24. Dick Allen – 7-time All-Star and MVP. OPS+ of 156 this one is a no brainer for me as when he played, he was dominant.
25. Will Clark – A 6-time All-Star during only 15 seasons Will the Thrill was one of the best players in baseball when he played. Again, I prefer dominance to longevity.
26. Jeff Kent – Kent was a 5-time All-Star and 4-time Silver Slugger and put up some gaudy numbers for a 2nd baseman during this era.

By this point I’ve run out of players that I actually think deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Honestly, that stopped right after Kenny Lofton. But now the question is, are they better than Harold Baines?

27. Fred Lynn – 9-time All-Star, 4-time Gold Glove winner, MVP!!! Holy Cow I never remembered Fred Lynn being this dang good! Maybe he does deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.
28. Torii Hunter – 9 Gold Gloves, 2 Silver Sluggers and 5 All-Star games. His career WAR in 19 seasons is more than 10 higher than Baines in 22 and he played a difficult position. So, I’m going to go with Hunter.
29. Miguel Tejada – MVP awards go a long way with me. Like I said I’d rather have someone in the Hall that had one dominant season and a bunch of good ones than Baines who was okay his whole career.
30. Jimmy Rollins – Won an MVP award and has enough other awards to be able to be included in this.
31. Thurman Munson – Okay so I honestly thought Thurman Munson was in the Hall. How is he not? He only played 11 seasons due to his untimely death in those 7 seasons he was an MVP, 7-time All-Star, ROY, and 3-time Gold Glove and won 2 World Series. He honestly should be in the Hall and it’s criminal he’s not.
32. Omar Vizquel – Now I’ll say this, I’d never vote for a glove only player for the Hall. But do I appreciate him more than Baines. Yes. 11 Gold Glove awards is something that is remarkable.
33. Vida Blue – An MVP at pitcher is a remarkable feat. He was also a 6-time All-Star and won a Cy Young award. He was better than Harold Baines.
34. Rocky Colovito – Was a 9-time All-Star in the 14 seasons that he played. If he had played 22 seasons, he probably would have gotten closer to the 3000 hits that he needed to get into the hall.
35. Bill Freehan – As we move into the older portion of our list Bill played 15 seasons and was an All-Star 11 times. That to me means he was one of the best in the game.
36. Gil Hodges – I never saw Gil play but to many it’s a horrible tragedy that he isn’t in the Hall. He was an 8 time All-Star and won 3 Gold Glove awards. I would vote for him before Baines.
37. George Foster – Again an MVP award to me means a lot.
38. Nomar Garciaparra – Nomar before his injury was one of the best players in baseball. I’d vote for him before Baines.
39. Al Oliver – Played 18 seasons had 2743 hits, a career .303 batter, and 7-time All-Star and 3-time Silver Slugger. Oliver is highly under rated and should be considered for the hall.
40. Tony Oliva – Another player who was hurt by a shorter career, in 15 seasons he was an 8-time All-Star. And his career OPS+ is 131.
41. Jose Canseco – The other Bash Brother used steroids, he admits to it, which in my mind means he’s up for forgiveness. He was the best player in baseball for a long time. So obviously he was better than Harold Baines.
42. Darryl Strawberry – At the beginning of Darryl’s career Darryl was one of the best players in baseball. Then drugs took over. I think he was better than Baines too.

And that’s my list. There were 3 players who I didn’t include because they hadn’t won enough awards but, in my mind, they were better than Baines. They include Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman, and Mel Stottlemyre.

So, I made it to 42. Which isn’t quite 100 but is almost halfway there. So, what does this say about the Baseball Hall of Fame? Should the writers be more inclusive and start to include players based on the new Harold Baines inclusion or should they just allow the veterans committee to be the “release valve” to get players who weren’t as good into the Hall? The last thing MLB wants is to be like the NBA Hall of Fame who basically lets everyone in. For me I’d prefer them to look more at dominance rather than longevity. No matter what happens it’ll be interesting to see how the admittance of such a lackluster player as Baines does to the process moving forward.