Bill James makes HOF case for Dwight Evans

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7555836/an-open-letter-mlb-hall-fame-dwight-evans-rightful-place-cooperstown

Interesting...

 

No. It's insane.

Unless he shows his work, or his spreadsheets, I won't go fo a "win share" at all.

How the F does a player only earn two "loss shares" over the course of a season? And what about making crappy plays even though your team wins? Does that count against you?

Dewey was a good player. A very good player, but he was the third-best outfielder on his own team for many seasons, which is another way to say he was first-worst.

 

Dwight Evans belongs in the Hall of Fame.

 

I believe I have posted this before, but back in the '80s at the old Eliot Lounge, we came up with a bar game where you had to pick active players who'd be elected to the Hall by the Veterans Committee. Evans was the first name everyone came up with.

 

That guy has become the silverest of silver foxes. I vote yea.

 

It isn't Bill James making the argument, it's someone using his Win and (unpublished as to methodology) Loss shares. Arguing for Dewey by comparing him to his peers assumes that said group contains a deserving HOFer beyond Dave Winfield, which isn't clearly so. Dewey wouldn't be the worst induction, but whether he belongs among the best 240 in the game is at best debatable. He certainly isn't the best candidate on the outside of the Hall.

 

Fuck Dewey Evans. Let's see him make a case for Ricky Williams!

 

I'm sure one of the seamheads on here will tell me how wrong I am, but Evans had the best arm I've ever seen.

 

Mizzou, in Evans' first years, I was a right field bleacher regular at Fenway. He had an amazing arm, although I do believe Clemente's was better. Accuracy and strength.

 

This list was put together quickly, and I could change the order if I gave more thought behind it.

1. Barfield
2. Bob Meusel
3. Ichiro
4. Clemente
5. Evans
6. Guerrero
7. Andruw
8. Shoeless
9. Mays
10. Ruth
11. Mondesi
12. Parker
13. Winfield
14. Hooper
15. Cravath
16. Ott
17. Speaker

Obviously, there's some players on that list that I didn't see play, but I've read a lot about them.

 

Bo Jackson's was not that had. I head Elway's baseball arm was decent as well.