(670 The Score) I will mimic Mark Buehrle’s efficient approach to pitching to sum up his Baseball Hall of Fame candidacy in one sentence.
Buehrle was very good but not great.
And the Hall rewards greatness with baseball immortality. It can be reduced to those simple terms in the 280-character essay world we live.
A full explanation includes many more layers than that, but Buehrle seldom overcomplicated things. Sports writers loved Buehrle, the fastest worker of his generation. Over his 16 seasons – including 12 with the White Sox – Buehrle helped countless reporters in Chicago, Miami and Toronto make deadline or last call with no-frills efficiency. A FiveThirtyEight.com report once estimated that Buehrle had spared baseball fans 63 hours of dead time over the course of his 16-year career, making every start a presentation for the pace-of-play argument.
Time flew with Buehrle on the mound, where the left-hander with pinpoint control went 214-160, including a no-hitter and a perfect game. He won the 2005 World Series with the Sox and threw 33 complete games with 10 shutouts. He earned four Gold Gloves and five All-Star appearances. Perhaps most impressively, Buehrle pitched 200 or more innings for 14 straight seasons despite rarely topping 90 miles per hour velocity. Every fifth day, Buehrle simply took the ball, nodded after the catcher put down the signal and delivered the pitch again and again and again.
That made Buehrle one of the most consistent, dependable pitchers of his generation. That made him perennially solid, if not spectacular. But that didn’t necessarily make him a Hall of Famer. As someone working in town for the bulk of Buehrle’s career on the South Side who appreciated his Everyman narrative from 38th-round draft pick to World Series hero, my heart says yes, his bust belongs in Cooperstown.
My head disagrees, swayed by the evidence and the Hall’s high standard for induction.
Buehrle never was a 20-game winner in an era when that meant something more than it does today. He never won a Cy Young award and finished his career with a 3.81 ERA. He only struck out 5.6 batters per nine innings. At the peak of Buehrle’s career, his combined seven-year WAR totaled 35.8 – well short when compared with the average of 50.0 among Hall of Fame pitchers. He topped 5.0 WAR just four times, and his career WAR of 59.1 ranks 69th among starting pitchers.
The perfect game and no-hitter combined with 15 seasons of double-digit victories makes Buehrle’s spot on the ballot legitimate. The only three other pitchers with those credentials are Hall of Famers Warren Spahn, Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson. On the other hand, of the 21 pitchers to throw perfect games since 1901, only seven are in the Hall.
You can make a sound argument for Buehrle’s enshrinement, as some have, but it isn’t the strongest one given where the bar for entry is. He figures to receive enough support to stay on the ballot and, over time as baseball redefines what a starting pitcher is, perhaps Buehrle will be held in higher esteem for his durability. But neither he nor the any other 10 players eligible for the first time figure to go in this year. Buehrle, Torii Hunter and Tim Hudson – who has eight more career victories than Buehrle – appear the best bets to receive the minimum 5% to stay on the ballot. (Sorry, Nick Swisher.)
To get the nod, candidates must receive at least 75% of the vote and can remain on the ballot for 10 years.
Here’s a look at the five players I voted for in my second year of having the privilege. (They're ranked in order of conviction.)
Curt Schilling
One of October’s best pitchers ever offers impressive credentials. Schilling allowed two or fewer earned runs in 16 of his 19 postseason starts. In five playoff elimination games, Schilling allowed six total runs and his team won every start. Overall, Schilling went 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in those 19 playoff starts. He became as dependable every autumn as fall foliage, winning three World Series rings, the 2001 Series co-MVP and the 1993 NLCS MVP. His 3,116 strikeouts rank 15th all-time, and his 80.5 WAR is the highest for any pitcher besides Roger Clemens not currently in the Hall of Fame. He finished 216-146 with a 3.46 ERA – similar regular-season numbers to Buehrle but with postseason success that elevates his candidacy. Schilling has become a polarizing figure since his last pitch, but the Hall ballot shouldn’t evaluate personality. So regardless of what anybody thinks of what Schilling says, his statistics make a declarative statement that he belongs in Cooperstown.
Omar Vizquel
Three times in his career, Vizquel played 140 or more games and committed five or fewer errors. Only three other shortstops in MLB history ever have done that once. He won 11 Gold Gloves. He finished with 2,877 hits in 24 seasons – 24 seasons! Only two other players ever have as many hits and Gold Gloves as Vizquel: Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente. No slouch at the plate, Vizquel hit .272 with an 82 OPS+ in his career. Longevity matters, but so does performing at such a high level in the latter stages of Vizquel’s career. He was considered an elite defensive shortstop for a long enough period of time on some excellent Indians teams to warrant Hall of Fame induction.
Billy Wagner
Wagner suffers from the tradition of relievers being viewed differently than starters when evaluating their historical value. But no pitcher since 1900 with at least 900 innings pitched allowed fewer hits per nine innings than Wagner – 5.99. Wagner’s strikeout rate of 11.92 per nine innings ranks first among pitchers with at least 900 innings. The lefty flamethrower owns the lowest WHIP of any pitcher of the modern era with at least 900 innings – 0.998. His career 2.31 ERA ranks atop the list of left-handed relievers who have thrown at least 900 innings. In 16 seasons, Wagner saved 422 games and converted 85.9% of his opportunities, numbers that make him more than worthy of induction.
Scott Rolen
Nobody really talks about Rolen’s offense, but he had eight straight seasons with an .846 OPS or better – something no other third baseman in history has done. Among third basemen, only Mike Schmidt won more Gold Gloves (10) than Rolen (eight) and had at least a 120-plus OPS+ at the plate. Rolen ranks ninth among third basemen in all-time WAR (70.1) behind seven Hall of Famers and likely future enshrinee Adrian Beltre, and he hit 316 home runs in 17 seasons, offensive pop that complemented his defensive excellence. Injuries perhaps shortened and marred his career but not enough to deprive Rolen of a spot in Cooperstown.
Andruw Jones
The same logic on Vizquel applies to Jones, who defined his position defensively for the better part of a decade and contributed to a long Braves run of success. Jones won 10 Gold Gloves, a rare feat that among outfielders has been accomplished only by future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki and current enshrinees Mays, Clemente, Ken Griffey Jr. and Al Kaline. His career declined sharply after his 30th birthday, but through his age-29 season, only Alex Rodriguez, Eddie Mathews and Griffey had hit more home runs at that point of their careers than Jones, whose flame burned brightest during his prime from 1998-2007. He hit 434 career home runs, making him the only center fielder ever with at least 400 home runs and a dWAR of 24.0 or higher.
No cheaters
Again this year, I thought long and hard about the candidacies of Barry Bonds, Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, Andy Pettitte and Sammy Sosa. It’s complicated separating statistics from the suspicions. I’m all for the addition of a wing in Cooperstown to include tributes to players whose credentials don’t pass the smell test. I openly acknowledge you can't write the history of baseball without including those whose career accomplishments carry legitimacy concerns. I admit not knowing how many other players gained entry into the Hall despite cutting corners or bending rules and respect the presumption of innocence. But it's a baseball museum and not a courtroom, so the criteria remains subjective. And to this voter, leaving those linked to performance-enhancing drugs off the ballot felt like the right thing to do.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.