More on Puckett and the Hall

Over at Twins Daily our old friend David Wintheiser builds on what we talked about the other day, pointing out the difference between the center fielders who were elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA, and those who were sent there by the veterans committee. It makes for a very interesting split.

3 months ago Jesse 4 comments 0 recs |

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It's hard to take too seriously

Any analysis that uses aggregate WAR.

Not that it’s perfect either, but here’s WAR per season played:

Cobb (w) (24) – 6.64
Mays (w) (22) – 7.03
Speaker (w) (22) – 6.04
Mantle (w) (18) – 6.68
DiMaggio (w) (13) – 6.43
Hamilton (v) (14) – 4.97
Snider (w) (18) – 3.75
Ashburn (v) (15) – 3.87
Carey (v) (20) – 2.53
Duffy (v) (17) – 2.92
Doby (v) (13) – 3.65
Roush (v) (18) – 2.58
Averill (v) (13) – 3.46
Puckett (w) (12) – 3.73

So, I guess that doesn’t make that much of a difference, but over the 12 years he played, Puck outpaces every veteran’s committee guy except Hamilton. Even assuming some gradual decline, a few more years certainly would have moved him up the aggregate WAR list, but he certainly doesn’t compare to the all time great center fielders.

by amiller92 on Feb 22, 2012 6:15 PM EST reply actions

WAR is a counting statistic.

How is that hard to take seriously? Obviously you need to contextualize it sometimes. But that goes for your average WAR in spades. The reason “Puck outpaces every veteran’s committee guy” is because his average WAR is boosted by not playing through his normal decline like everybody else.

by tobynotjason on Feb 23, 2012 3:24 PM EST reply actions