On Monday night, Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter announced his retirement after 17 full seasons in the majors with the Twins, Angels, and Tigers. Hunter has a reputation of being an above average hitter and excellent defender in center field, and a player who could receive some support for the Hall of Fame when he reaches the ballot in five years.
(note: this article will not discuss any of Hunter’s controversial public stances, comments, or clubhouse incidents. Sticking to sports today!)
But when talking about Hunter, one also has to talk about two of his contemporaries that were similar players – above average hitters, and fantastic defensive outfielders. Let’s play “guess the player”, shall we?
PLAYER A: 2,196 career games, 8,664 plate appearances, .254/.337/.486, 434 home runs, 111 OPS+, 10 Gold Gloves, 5 All-Star Games, 62.8 rWAR, 67.1 fWAR
PLAYER B: 2,372 career games, 9,692 plate appearances, .277/.331/.461, 353 home runs, 110 OPS+, 9 Gold Gloves, 5 All-Star Games, 50.0 rWAR, 41.6 fWAR
PLAYER C: 2,011 career games, 7,980 plate appearances, .284/.376/.527, 393 home runs, 132 OPS+, 8 Gold Gloves, 4 All-Star Games, 60.3 rWAR, 64.5 fWAR
So on the surface, all three players look pretty similar defensively (at least from a “Gold Glove” standpoint, which doesn’t tell you all that much), and received a similar amount of love from their fans during their careers. Player C is clearly the better offensive player, while Player B stuck around the longest and Player A had seemingly the better combination of offensive and defensive abilities.
None of the players won an MVP or Rookie of the Year award, though each player received MVP votes in at least five seasons. Players A and C each played in two World Series, but only Player C’s team won baseball’s ultimate prize. All three players spent the bulk of their careers with one team, but turned a bit nomadic later on – C played with five teams in his last three seasons, while A played with five different teams over his last six seasons.
Using Baseball-Reference’s Hall of Fame statistics, the hierarchy of the players shakes out a little more logically.
PLAYER A: 109 Hall of Fame Monitor, 34 Hall of Fame Standards, 10th in CF JAWS
PLAYER B: 58 Hall of Fame Monitor, 34 Hall of Fame Standards, 31st in CF JAWS
PLAYER C: 88 Hall of Fame Monitor, 39 Hall of Fame Standards, 14th in CF JAWS
Six of the top seven center fielders in JAWS have been elected to the Hall of Fame, with Ken Griffey Jr. making it 7/7 next year. #8 is not eligible yet (and frankly, should have also been included in this article). #9, Kenny Lofton, was one and done on the ballot. #11, #12, and #13 are all Hall of Famers.
Which player is which, and are any of them worthy of Hall of Fame consideration? Well, let’s peel back the curtain…
Player A is Andruw Jones.
Player B is Torii Hunter.
Player C is Jim Edmonds.
If you want to make the case that Torii Hunter is a Hall of Famer, that’s fine. But his case is based on a defensive prowess that was matched (at the very worst) by both Jones and Edmonds, who were also better hitters than Hunter over shorter careers. If Edmonds got his first full-time season in the majors at 23 like Hunter instead of 24 and didn’t miss chunks of multiple seasons while dealing with injuries, what would his overall statistics have looked like? If Jones stuck around in America past his age 35 season and played til 39 like Hunter, would he have bolstered his statistics to the point where he was a slam dunk Hall of Famer?
The larger point is this – Hunter was a fine player who had a fine career. That doesn’t make him a Hall of Famer. And frankly, that’s OK – there’s nothing wrong with simply having an above average, long career.
Oh, and the active player that was #8 in JAWS among center fielders I mentioned above? That’s Carlos Beltran. Don’t bother trying to tell me *he’s* not a Hall of Famer.
