Chili Davis

[Cowtipper]

Over 19 years in the majors, Chili Davis collected 2380 hits - 350 of which were home runs - and put together a .274 batting average. A three time All-Star, he was one of the most intentionally walked batters of all time - in fact, his 188 career IBBs are 16th all time. He is also 43rd all-time in sacrifice flies.

Statistically, he is similar to Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda.

When he retired, he had more home runs than any other switch hitter except for Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray.

So, should Chili Davis be in the Hall of Fame?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Here are Chili's comps:

Don Baylor (887)
Luis Gonzalez (886)
Dwight Evans (878)
Ruben Sierra (865)
Andres Galarraga (864)
Orlando Cepeda (861) *
Joe Carter (857)
Ron Santo (855)
Dave Parker (853)
Steve Garvey (851)

Cepeda's a HOFer, Santo should be, and the other guys have threads in this forum discussing them. Hmmmm . . .

Chili Davis was a good player. He was not a great player, never once. He spent half his career as a DH, and that was the BETTER half of his career. If Chili had spent his entire career in CENTER field, and hit what he did for the second half of his career all the way through, then he would be on a par with, say, Jim Edmonds. Of course, those are "ifs"; Chili did NOTHING in his career to suggest to anyone that he has a plausible HOF case. There may well be a thousand players ahead of him in the Cooperstown line.

[Rotoprofessor]

I have to agree. Davis never came off as anything more then an average player to me. He was a good player that did his job, but that was about it. I wouldn't fear him when he came up to the plate and he was never a dominant player. I wouldn't expect him to get more then a handful of votes, so I would say hands down, no, not a Hall of Famer.

[Los Bravos]

Here are Chili's comps:

Don Baylor (887)
Luis Gonzalez (886)
Dwight Evans (878)
Ruben Sierra (865)
Andres Galarraga (864)
Orlando Cepeda (861) *
Joe Carter (857)
Ron Santo (855)
Dave Parker (853)
Steve Garvey (851)

Cepeda's a HOFer, Santo should be, and the other guys have threads in this forum discussing them. Hmmmm . . .

To me, that suggests he has enough of a case to discuss, so I voted "Maybe."

If nothing else, he had a better carer than a lot of people seem to realize.

[Paul Wendt]

If nothing else, he had a better carer than a lot of people seem to realize.

For sure, a good player for a long time.
But none of those comps is a close comp (max score 887).

[Fuzzy Bear]

For sure, a good player for a long time.
But none of those comps is a close comp (max score 887).

The lack of close comps is due to Chili's uniqueness as a player. He spent half his career as a speedy outfielder with medium range power, and the back end as a slow DH with significant power. Chili isn't really comparable to most of those guys, but he isn't better than them, either.

[KCGHOST]

I remember him from his KC days and he had a reputation as just being out for his own stats. The numbers suggest a guy who had a pretty good career with the bat, but not that good.

[TomBodet]

I always liked Chili. Guy came up w more speed than you'd have thought and was in CF, later became a dh w a really good bat. Underappreciated, fine player and a good guy. Not a Hof but every team would kill to have one like him.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I always liked Chili. Guy came up w more speed than you'd have thought and was in CF, later became a dh w a really good bat. Underappreciated, fine player and a good guy. Not a Hof but every team would kill to have one like him.

We don't have the "had HOF potential" question in the poll. It's hard for me to say that Chili Davis had HOF potential. He had a 1984 season that was something special, but he never really built on it, and he lost his speed and became a DH. He was a better hitter as a DH, but he needed the entire package (CF plus offense) to even have HOF potential. There's a difference between having a great season early on and being a potential HOFer.

[bluesky5]

We don't have the "had HOF potential" question in the poll. It's hard for me to say that Chili Davis had HOF potential. He had a 1984 season that was something special, but he never really built on it, and he lost his speed and became a DH. He was a better hitter as a DH, but he needed the entire package (CF plus offense) to even have HOF potential. There's a difference between having a great season early on and being a potential HOFer.

What happened that he had to become a DH. I don't see anything in his SABR biography about injuries.

[JR Hart]

I loved Chili as a Giant and he went on to contribute to some championship teams. While no HOFer, he is one of the top switch hitters ever.

[blade1969]

I voted no. He was a very good hitter, but not nearly good enough to get into the HOF, considering he didn't field or run very well.

[Cougar]

I saw Chili play in the minor leagues as a young kid. He was a star on the AAA Phoenix Giants, and I thought he was awesome, in no small part because he had a cool name. He was big in the shoulders and narrow at the waist, and looked like a superstar in the making.

I'm uncertain if I'm remembering in sepia-tones, but I think Chili was pretty much a five tool guy coming up; a switch hitting centerfielder with five tools evokes comparisons to Mantle.

He certainly was no Mantle, as it turned out -- he lost his speed and durability pretty quickly, and his bat was more solid than great.

Still, a quite substantial career, and it's not outrageous to believe that with better health (which involves luck at least to some degree), he could have made a run at Cooperstown.

[JR Hart]

I saw Chili in 1982, slice a HR to leftfield off Nolan Ryan at Candlestick. It had topspin like a tennis serve. It looked super cool. I had a great look at it, from about 30 rows up just on the 1B side of home. He had to have some strong hands to hit a ball like that off Ryan.