You’ve gotta reward the best players at each position, man! Lenny Harris had the most hits ever for a pinch hitter! Come on!

:)

He’s such an interesting case. I don’t think I support him for the Hall (I previously didn’t, then did, now probably don’t again), but here’s the thing. I think his saves are so overrated that people now underrate everything else he did. He was worth 29.0 fWAR and 30.3 rWAR. That’s not that good compared to almost all Hall of Famers. But as far as relief pitchers go, he was one of the very, very best. And that’s not even considering his saves.

So I think the case might be that relievers are overrated. Which is funny, because when I started by blog at BaseballTwit, one of the main goals was to prove that reliever are underrated.

Upon doing the research, I don’t think they are.

In fact, I think the only relievers who should be in the Hall of Fame are Wilhelm, Rivera, Gossage, and Hoffman. Of course, two of them are still active. I don’t believe Fingers and Sutter should be in. The fact that Sutter is in and Quiz is not still baffles me. Eckersley? I consider him a Hall of Fame hybrid. He accumulated more value as a starter than a reliever. But he’s in because of the “fame” aspect of his relief career.

There are three relievers I waver back and forth on—Lee Smith, Billy Wagner, and John Hiller. Depending on the day, I either think all three should be in the Hall or none of the three. Basically, I wouldn’t be upset if any of them got in.

And if Quiz happened to get in, I’d be very happy too (even though I believe others should get in before him).