Adam Dunn: Hall of Famer? (Also: Big Papi?)

This one might get locked, but in light of Dunn's selection to the American League All-Star team yesterday, I think it's timely and relevant.

Dunn, at age 32, has 389 home runs. He is almost a stone cold lock to get to 500, and his exclusion would make him I believe the first non-steroids-tainted member of the 500 home run club to be excluded. His career batting average is .242, which would be among the worst, if not the worst, career batting averages by a Hall of Famer. It is not going up at this time, I must note.

He has hit more than 40 home runs five times, and 38 twice, but never led his league in home runs. He logged one of the worst seasons in baseball history in 2011. His career on-base percentage is .373. His career OPS+ is 127, which is the same as Rickey Henderson, Dwight Evans, Roger Maris, and Oscar Gamble, and just one point less than Jim Rice and Sammy Sosa. It is better than Kirby Puckett's, although Puckett was a center fielder, and that counts for a lot.

Lock this if you must, but I think it's a fair question.

Adam Dunn: Hall of Famer?

 

Re: Adam Dunn: Hall of Famer?

You might want to add David Ortiz to this thread.

 

Re: Adam Dunn: Hall of Famer?

He's a fascinating case. I think that the failed drug test gives voters cover to keep him out and not have to make the really tough decision regarding his career as a DH.

 

Re: Adam Dunn: Hall of Famer?

Why is he "non-steroids-tainted?"

I'm not saying he's a 'roider, but who knows? Not everybody on steroids got big and ripped like Sosa and McGwire. There's some flab on this list:

http://www.baseballssteroidera.com/bse-list-steroid-hgh-users-baseball.html

 

Re: Adam Dunn: Hall of Famer?

Agreed on all points. His actual career OPS of .876 puts him just outside the top 100 all-time in the category.

 

I mean that he's never failed a test in the testing era, nor been connected by direct or circumstantial evidence. I understand that, theoretically, everyone is a suspect. But to this date, there is none of the evidence against Dunn that we have come to, generally, accept as evidence of usage.

 

Adam Dunn has made the same number of All-Star teams as Scott Cooper. Also never finished top 25 in MVP voting. Historic players don't fail to crack the top 25 in MVP votes during the peak of their careers. He just isn't famous enough.

 

I still laugh when I see Wilson Alvarez on that list (and I have no doubt that he may have used).

Ozzie Guillen: "Do steroids make you fat?"

 

I don't know if it was the offensive boom of the '90s and '00s or what, but it seems like there is less emphasis now on magic numbers and more on a holistic evaluation of the player's career.

That's probably a move in the right direction, though I miss the numbers for nostalgia's sake.

 

Good point, though I see it as him not being regarded as an elite player among his peers. I would also say he belongs in the Hall of Very Good.