Wally Joyner: A Legitimate Hall-of-Famer
The 1990's were an era of giants, statistically a true Golden Age in baseball. Yet through it all, there was Wally Joyner, a giant among giants.
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What makes a Hall-of-Famer? That's a question for which there is no definitive answer. Some look at the milestones--like, say, 3,000 hits or 300 wins--in order to make their particular Hall of Fame decisions. That has legitimate basis--a player that puts up the biggest stats is often Hall of Fame worthy--but really is a blunt instrument that doesn't give you a feel for the player, or is necessarily particularly accurate--for example, there are multiple pitchers on the 300-save club who aren't particularly deserving of enshrinement (The same may may apply to steroid users who've achieved 500 career home runs).
A more accurate measuring stick is a player's dominance at a position over an extended period of time. That, of course, leads to inspired debates over the meaning of dominance, and one really must look at an incredible multitude of factors--like, say, the general performance of the league--before one can even join in these debates.
I hope I didn't bore you with that expanation, but I had to make sure everyone was on the same page.
This blog entry hopes to prove that not only is Wally Joyner a legitimate Hall-of-Famer, but also that he was, at least, one of the most dominant first basemen of the '80's and '90's, and, perhaps, something more...
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The Hall of Fame's criteria for Hall of Fame voting is as follows:
Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contribtuions to the team(s) on which the player played.
(Taken directly from my Hall of Fame Yearbook)
I'm going to use this as my vehicle by which I prove Wally Joyner is a Hall-of-Famer.
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Statistical Record and Playing Ability
Let's take a look at Wally Joyner's career stats, as provided by mlb.com:
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Welcome to the MLBlogosphere! Glad to have you with us and looking forward to your posts. We'll get you added to the Rookies section on mlblogs.com.
With regards to this issue, you've obviously made a very thorough argument for him. I'm a lifetime voter and although I don't say who I vote for, I can tell you that there wasn't enough there in this career to be inducted. I'd put my former high school opponent Donnie Baseball on the ballot easily before Wally, but unfortunately Mattingly didn't have the lasting power in his career due to his back.
And my first criteria overwhelmingly is always whether he dominated at his craft over an era. It helps keep it all about true Hall of Famers. With all respect to your well-reasoned post, you should be able to tell a Hall of Famer in one sentence; if they require a long argument from every angle, then they are probably candidates for the local team's own Hall of Fame. But you did Wally proud and he was fun to watch.
Have fun blogging!
Mark/MLB.com
http://mlblogs.mlblogs.com
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This is one of the best satirical pieces I've ever read. It's almost too good as you have certainly fooled a lot of people like the above HOF voter and many more at Primer! Good job!
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