Albert Belle

[Aegis]

Dont get me wrong I liked Gil Hodges as much as any Dodgers fan.

Hodges played for 18 seasons.Belle played for 12 seasons.

Which makes ink scores of 2/128 look even funnier next to 28/137.

[J W]

Ah yes, my little franchise killer, Albert Belle...

I'm probably one of the biggest supporters of Dick Allen here. That would necessitate my support of Belle, I suppose. But it's a very interesting predicament that puts me in. Belle has to be my least favorite Oriole, EVER. Well, while he was with the team anyway... Mike Mussina ripped my heart out to he's really my least favorite.

But all that said, I may have to endorse him for the HOF. Even with so many other sluggers pounding the ball, he was consistently top five in all of MLB. Though he doesn't have the HR-title streak that Ralph Kiner does, I like to compare him to Belle as well. And it isn't like his personality drove him from baseball; he had a degenerative injury.

Allen/Belle/Kiner are all in that cut-short boat of the greatest sluggers in history. So I'll bite the bullet and say yes to Albert Belle; he was capable of being part of a successful team (see: Cleveland), despite being a big part of the O's collapse after they got rid of Palmeiro and Alomar. Just expect me to find every other viable candidate to vote for first.

[Aegis]

All in all, if I support Puckett, I have to give a good look at Belle. His numbers are inflated due to the era, but he still lead the league in slugging twice, OPS once, runs once, total bases three times, doubles once, home runs once, RBIs three times, and extra base hits three times. It doesn't matter what era you're in--when you lead the league, you lead the league. His injury wounds his stats, but I'll give him some benefit of the doubt on it.

He's still behind other personal choices of mine, however.

[cubbieinexile]

Here is a question. How many people here believe that if a player used drugs to enhance his skills he should not be allowed into the hall? And then for all those who believe they should not, do you believe that Albert should go in?

[Aegis]

Here is a question. How many people here believe that if a player used drugs to enhance his skills he should not be allowed into the hall? And then for all those who believe they should not, do you believe that Albert should go in?

If you mean any drugs, then we have to kick out Mays for using an amphetamine variant, and I'm not willing to be that hardline.

[J W]

good one... my answers are "questionable" and "yes". I haven't gotten any hint whatsoever that Belle was a user; IMO he was just a big man.

[dreifort]

here's a 2nd question. Would Belle have lasted as long as he did without the DH?

another player with no Defense and a big bat.

granted he had an arm, but he had to to make up for the time it took him to get the ball in his glove.


Hodges was a under-rated superb fielding firstbaseman. And how many career .260 hitters, career 100 HRs are in the Hall JUST becuase of their defense. *sigh

[dgarza]

And how many career .260 hitters, career 100 HRs are in the Hall JUST becuase of their defense. *sigh

the gymnastics Hall of Fame

[RuthMayBond]

here's a 2nd question. Would Belle have lasted as long as he did without the DH?

another player with no Defense and a big bat.

granted he had an arm, but he had to to make up for the time it took him to get the ball in his glove.


Hodges was a under-rated superb fielding firstbaseman. And how many career .260 hitters, career 100 HRs are in the Hall JUST becuase of their defense. *sigh

Aparicio, Ozzie & the Cubs' trio and Reese?

[dgarza]

Aparicio, Ozzie & the Cubs' trio?

don't forget Schalk and his 11 HRs! - at least Ozzie outslugged him

[dreifort]

either you hit 40+ HRs and hit .300+ or you are a great fielder....but God forbid you do both...then you might get snubbed by the HoF.

[RuthMayBond]

don't forget Schalk and his 11 HRs! - at least Ozzie outslugged him

Behind the plate, and in that era, that's probably better than Ozzie

[RuthMayBond]

either you hit 40+ HRs and hit .300+ or you are a great fielder....but God forbid you do both...then you might get snubbed by the HoF.

Say what

[Aegis]

Say what

I think he's talking about Hodges, how he was a good fielder but with "not enough" power for the hall.

Another tab for Aparicio is that he led the league in steals for nine years. And that's with just a .311 OBP.

[RuthMayBond]

I think he's talking about Hodges, how he was a good fielder but with "not enough" power for the hall.

Funny we should require power from a 1B

[dgarza]

Behind the plate, and in that era, that's probably better than Ozzie

ignoring the position, Ozzie did slug lower than avg more so than Schalk, but just by about .8 of a percent,

still , Schalk's 162 game HR avg is just 1

[cubbieinexile]

The point of my question was that it seemed to me that a lot of people who are apalled at Bonds because of steroids seem to be okay with Belle and his known cheating. Belle was a cheater every single one of his bats was corked and everybody knew it.

[RuthMayBond]

The point of my question was that it seemed to me that a lot of people who are apalled at Bonds because of steroids seem to be okay with Belle and his known cheating. Belle was a cheater every single one of his bats was corked and everybody knew it.

The double standard is

[Sashag]

I'm sure that they did not mean to leave him off of the ballot. Out of curiosity, what was their responce to your inquiry? -Sasha

[shinco]

Whoops, sorry.. Wrong thread.

[tybear]

Part of the reason would be that Belle didn't officially retire until after the 2003 season. He was on the Physically Unable to Perform list. It had to do with the O's getting paid on their insurance on Belle. That is also part (albeit a small one) of the reason the O's didn't spend any Free Agency money before the 2003-04 off-season

[cubbieinexile]

It had more to do with Albert Belle getting paid and less to do with the O's insurance.

If Albert Belle had retired the Orioles would not have to pay him the 39 million dollars he was owed for the next three seasons. By not retiring he gets all of that.

The Orioles got to recoup 70% of that (27 million) through insurance. They would have been much happier just to see him retire.

I think 4 million a year for three years probably did not deter Angelos from spending money on free agents. I think the real reason he did not sign free agent is because somebody in his office convinced at least for a while that signing over the hill veterans to big contracts was not going to work. In that same period the Orioles tried and failed to a degree to develop youth.

[Brad Harris]

Part of the reason would be that Belle didn't officially retire until after the 2003 season. He was on the Physically Unable to Perform list.

Which leads to the next question:

The most likely explanation for Belle's absence from the list of potential 2006 newcomers is that the Hall of Fame didn't add his name at the time of his actual retirement since there was (at that time) some question as to whether he would be able to play again. I'm sure someone just overlooked the fact he's now been retired for four seasons and Belle has simply been overlooked at this point.

The Hall of Fame certainly isn't going to count his time on the PUTP list against his retirement, else he'd be shown on their list of 2009 newcomers.

Anxious to hear the explanation the Hall gives and/or whether they update the page to add Belle's name.

[Myankee4life]

.295 career avg

381 hr's in 12 seasons

1239 rbi's in 12 seasons

first major leaguer to hit 50hr and 50 doubles in the same season (1995)

5 silver slugger awards

5 time allstar

3 time AL RBI leader

3 time Al SLG percentage leader

1 time AL HR leader

winner of both the The Sporting News Player of the Year & Baseball Digest Player of the Year Award in 1995


He was only the fourth player (Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth ) in Major League history to have eight consecutive seasons with at least thirty home runs and one-hundred runs batted in.

Do you think he belongs in the Hall?

[The Dude]

Yes, he is a HOFer in my opinion. While not an all-time great player, he hit for average and for power well, and led the league or was among the league leaders all through the 90's. And unlike most power hitters today, he didn't stikre out 100+ times a season (only 2 times). Also, he had a few seasons were he walked more then K'ed out. He'll probably be appeared on either next month, or the month after for my BBFHoF ballot.

I'm interested in how he'll do in his first year on the real HoF ballot.