The Hall of Mistakes, Election #26 (final)

[Sliding Billy]

To be a hall of famer, a RF needs to hit A LOT better than a 112 OPS+. He had a nice career, and he's not too far from HOF caliber. If he had any power at all, or been a good base stealer, or had drawn 50% more walks he might have deserved it.

I think his relative stats and value were diminished by the advent of the lively ball, as his offensive forte was contact. He did pile up more doubles and triples, but the league moved faster than he did. If he'd played from age 20 to 39, '10 to '29 instead of '15 to 34, he might have had a similar career line, but much more impressive in context.

[philliesfiend55]

Sam Rice

I wouldn't quibble about Sam Rice's HOF status because he doesn't measure up according to the more advanced and sophisticated stats we have at our disposal today. Based on the more primitive stats of his era Rice earned his way to the Hall, and actually should have gotten in sooner than he did.
The only things un-Hall Of Fame-like about his career were that he reached the majors relatively late in his mid-20's, and he made an error in judgement by not pursuing his 3,000th hit. I understand that he had an offer to return to the Washington Senators, where he'd spent 19 of his 20 seasons, during Spring Training, 1935 in order to reach the milestone, but he turned it down and chose to retire instead. Based on what he had done in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians he could still hit and could have played one more year. (98 hits in 97 games, a .293 batting average in 335 at bats). Those stats don't exactly scream "It's time to hang them up". If Rice came back for one last season in '35, he would have easily reached 3,000 hits early in the season, but more importanly, he might have found himself in that first induction ceremony in Cooperstown in 1939 (based on four elections (1936-39), rather than having to wait until 1963, when he finally got elected at age 73, and after living most of his life as a forgotten star.