Rafael Palmeiro in Hall of Fame?? Of Course.

I don't know why, but there is some debate on whether Rafael Palmeiro should be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he is eligible. I do not know the reasons that people have to not induct him, but I am going to present you with reasons why he IS a Hall of Famer.

Throughout Rafael Palmeiro's storied career he was by-and-large a First Baseman. Since this is the position that he will be inducted under, let's compare him to the other, modern-era, non negro-league, first basemen already in the Hall of Fame.

I am going to look at the hitting lines of all the Hall of Famers compared to Palmeiro's.

***I was going to use K/BB ratio in this comparison, but I decided against it because it does not matter if a player struck out alot, or even walked a very small amount; all that matters is that the numbers presented on the hitting lines were put up by each player--regardless of how they did it.***

Hitting Lines go as follows: AVG/OBP/SLG, OPS, HR, Hits (Ranking in OPS)

Lou Gehrig- .340/.447/.632, 1.079, 493 HR, 2721 Hits (1)

Jimmie Foxx- .325/.428/.609, 1.037, 534 HR, 2646 Hits (2)

Hank Greenberg- .313/.412/.605, 1.017, 331 HR, 1628 Hits (3)

Harmon Killebrew- .256/.379/.509, .888, 573 HR, 2086 Hits (8)

Orlando Cepeda- .297/.350/.499, .849, 379 HR, 2351 Hits (9)

George Kelly- .297/.342/.452, .794, 148 HR, 1778 Hits (13)

Willie McCovey- .270/.374/.515, .889, 521 HR, 2211 Hits (6)

Johnny Mize- .312/.397/.562, .959, 359 HR, 2011 Hits (4)

Eddie Murray- .287/.359/.476, .835, 504 HR, 3255 Hits (11)

Tony Perez- .279/.341/.463, .804, 379 HR, 2732 Hits (12)

George Sisler- .340/.379/.468, .847, 102 HR, 2812 Hits (10)

Bill Terry- .314/.393/.506, .899, 154 HR, 2193 Hits (5)
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Rafael Palmeiro (after 2004)- .289/.372/.517, .889, 551 HR, 2922 Hits (6)

The ranking at the end, OPS, is where I would rank Palmeiro within these Hall of Fame First Basemen.

OPS, in the Authors's belief, is the best all around stat for measuring exactly what a hitter is trying to do at the plate--get on base, get around the bases, and get others around the bases. This ranking system puts him sixth, tied with Willie McCovey, Palmeiro had more HR though.

Looking at that ranking, and combining it with Palmeiro's HR, it is clear that Palmeiro was a better first basemen than Willie McCovey; who is the sixth best 1B in the Hall of Fame now. That kind of puts this debate into perspective, huh?

The total Hits statistic used at the end of each player's hitting line is a stat I am not really fond of, but I used it because 3000 hits is seen as that magic number which equals an "automatic" bid into the Hall of Fame. And as can be seen, unless a tragedy happens, Palmeiro will surpass 3000 hits next year in 2005.

There is also another number which is viewed as an "automatic" bid to the Hall of Fame, a bid which Palmeiro already secured in 2003. This "automatic" bid is the number 500.

Five hundred Home Runs, that is.

So besides the fact that Palmeiro is already the sixth best First Basemen in the group of current Hall of Famers, he is going to have already secured the two "automatic" bids by next year--500 HR, and 3000 Hits. The only other 1B to do that was Eddie Murray.

Congratulations Raffy.

Thank you for reading.

Frank Bundy III

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to email me at frnkbndy@yahoo.com.