HOF’er or not, what say ye? Some career numbers to ponder:
Wins: 203 (led the majors in wins 2x)
Win %: .659 (17th all time)
ERA: 3.38
Complete Games: 67 (led majors 7x)
WHIP: 1.178
SO/BB: 3.58 (led majors 5x)
2x Cy Young Award winner (once in each league)
Perfect Game
Only no hitter in post-season history
Is this a question?
Are you asking if I posed a question, or are you suggesting that Halladay is a no brainer for HOF? If the former, my question is Roy a HOF’er. If the latter, what makes you so sure? Some things to consider:
Wins are really low by modern standards. 50+ pitchers with more wins who are eligible have not been enshrined
Career ERA isn’t even in the top 300 all-time. That includes relievers, but here are some active starters with better ERA’s: Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, Jered Weaver, Johan Santana, King Felix, Adam Wainwright, Clayton Kershaw. Obviously most of those guys have had shorter careers so far, but Oswalt and Santana have been around and I don’t hear people calling them sure fire HOF’ers.
As a biased Phillies fan, I’d love to see Doc get in, but I’m trying to see how much my bias affects my thought that he will.
don’t think so.
Halladay had some of the best individual pitching years in the history of the game. I remember he had a few 2.8-2.9 ERA seasons in Toronto, and I told multiple people that he could have a 2.4-2.5 ERA if he didn’t play in the AL East. Funny enough, I was proved right when he went to Philadelphia and had a few incredible seasons there.
The fact he regularly pitched complete games with low earned runs and some of those were no hitters is incredible. I don’t see how someone like this couldn’t be. His awards speak highly and the stats backing them are great too. So it’s the latter.
I see the point that his numbers alone may not warrant enshrinement, but when you consider he played the bulk of his career in the AL East (which produced how many WS champs while he was in Toronto), plus he was relegated to an average franchise with no real supporting cast, he deserves to get the nod. There were several seasons when he was the best pitcher in baseball.
Larson’s was even a perfect game. I thought for sure when Doc pitched his they said it was the first. My bad.
When he was up here in Toronto he was lights out for a few years while getting little to no run support (which led to a lot of no decisions). He was a work horse who could be relied upon when needed. In the prime of his career he was pitching in the hardest division in baseball while pitching half his games in a hitters ballpark.
I’m sad his career had to end the way it did and he never got a ring but I’m glad he went out a Blue Jay. No doubt he’ll be coaching in a few years. I think he’ll get into the HOF because a lot of these voters are never gonna vote anyone who they think did steroids so they will vote in someone like Doc.
Here is a fun fact. The Blue Jays offered Halladay and Chris Carpenter to the Expos for Pedro Martinez in 1997. The Expos declined. The Indians offered Bartolo Colon and Brian Giles for Pedro. The Expos declined. They finally traded him to Boston for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas.
His numbers are borderline overall, but he was dominant for a good half a decade. He seemed like a class act too.
its not too fun when you consider the jays let carpenter go for nothing and he became one of the best players in baseball. And they traded halladay for what has amounted to nothing.
Good breakdown of Halladay’s case here: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24369988
“For a decade, one could have argued that Halladay was the best pitcher in baseball – in a hitters’ era. From 2002-11, Halladay was 170-75 (.694 – which calculates out to 112-50 in 162 games) with a 2.97 ERA. That was good for a 148 ERA+, which is to say that Halladay was a whopping 48 percent better than the average pitcher for an entire decade at run prevention. He made the All-Star team eight times while finishing in the top five of Cy Young voting seven times – winning twice. That screams elite-level production for an era.”
Seems like a pretty easy decision to me that he should get in.
The most difficult HOF to get into is the MLB HOF. In any other sport, there wouldn’t even be a discussion whether Halladay deserves to be in the Hall.
Speaking of the Hall, does Vladimir Guerrero deserve to go in? I think Tim Raines should get in. He was the NL version of Rickey Henderson for a decade. One of the most underrated players of his era.
^ I always liked Vlad from his days with the Expos. But I don’t think he’s a hall of famer. Like you say, it’s very very difficult to get in. In the next couple years, I don’t see any first ballots and few second or third ballots. Pudge is the exception.
Pudge will likely get lumped in with all the other PED players. I’m guessing he stays out along with many others from that era.
I’m boycotting Cooperstown until Barry Bonds is inducted.
Vlad was one my favorites to watch. He gets serious bonus points for using tar instead of gloves. He was one of the best hitters too. Yankee killer.
Don’t Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Randy Johnson become eligible next year?
^ good point. Forgot about them but I don’t see them getting in on the first ballot. The voters are a bunch of old pompous jerks who have the idea that no one should ever get in on the first ballot. Therefore, second or third for those guys. There is also a decent sized backlog of guys who have been eligible for a few years who the voters will put in because they have waited long enough, voters deemed them not to be part of the steroid culture and you can’t have too many years of no one getting in like last time.