Hall of Fame Poll: Edgar Martinez

This is Edgar Martinez' 8th time on the ballot. He's received between 25% and 36% his first 6 times. Last year he jumped to 43.4%, still a long way from the 75% he needed.

Edgar played 18 seasons with the Mariners, hitting .312/.418/.515 with 309 home runs, 514 doubles, 1261 RBI. He was on 7 All-Star teams, won 2 batting titles, 1 Roberto Clemente Award, and 5 Silver Sluggers.

He seemed like one of those guys that could get a hit when ever he wanted. I remember watching him and thinking that there was no way to pitch him.

He has a 62.9 career offensive WAR, good for 68th place on the all-time list for batters. Factoring in defense, he has a 68.3 bWAR, 76th among position players.

There are lot of arguments about whether a DH belongs in the Hall. I don't see any reason DH's should be excluded. Edgar did play about half his career at third base. If he played in another era, he would have likely moved to first base and would have likely had similar numbers.

You can look at his stats here.

Matt W gives us chart:

A lot of debate about the Hall of Fame relates to comparing a candidate against others elected and excluded. The chart below shows all players who played the majority of their career after 1945 (excluding active players, and those on the ballot or yet to hit the ballot) according to how long they played and how productive they were. TRC+ is wRC+, just for all runs rather than just batting runs. This is not meant to be definitive, but a high level starting point showing how players with similarly productive and lasting careers have fared.

Similar Players: Gary Carter (elected BBWAA), Barry Larkin (BBWAA), Duke Snider (elected VC), Andruw Jones (awaiting ballot), Miguel Cabrera (active), Keith Hernandez, Joe Torre (elected as manager)