Phillies: Making a Case for Future Hall of Fame Candidates
Curt Schilling
Recent controversy has clouded Curt Schilling’s image, but when looking strictly what he did as a baseball player, there is no question that Schilling belongs in the Hall of Fame.
When you take away the name and simply look at the stats, Curt Schilling undoubtedly belongs in the Hall of Fame. The 50 year-old from Phoenix, Arizona pitched for 20 years in the bigs and has better numbers than players already in, but is on the ballot for the fifth time. He has both the career regular season stats, and the postseason heroics to have a plaque for himself in Cooperstown.
Schilling has three more career wins than John Smoltz and just three less career wins than Pedro Martinez, both of whom were first-ballot inductees. Schilling’s career ERA is also higher than another pitcher who was recently inducted on his first time on the ballot, Tom Glavine. He is also a five-time All-Star that finished runner-up in the Cy Young voting three times, twice to teammate Randy Johnson and once to Roger Clemens, arguably the two best pitchers of their generation.
Schilling also has the postseason stats to put him in the hall. Everyone remembers the bloody sock from Game 6 of the ’04 ALCS, but his overall postseason numbers are staggering. He went 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 19 postseason starts. His numbers also got better when the spotlight was bigger. Having pitched in four World Series (winning two), Schilling went 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA in seven Fall Classic starts.
Jim Thome
The Philllies have two first baseman who both have a case to be in the Hall of Fame, one of whom is Jim Thome. While he played in just four seasons in Philadelphia, he made an impact in that time and over his entire career as well.
The first thing voters always wind up looking for in players are their counting stats, which Thome has plenty of. Through his career, Thome hit 612 home runs, drove in 1,699 runs, and collected 2328 hits. He has the seventh-most home runs of any player, sandwiched between Ken Griffey and Sammy Sosa.
Overall, Thome finished his career with a .276 batting average and .956 OPS. He walked in at least 15% of his plate appearances in nearly every season of his 22-year career, which is considered “excellent” by Fangraphs. Thome also has five All-Star appearances, a Silver Slugger, and received MVP votes nine times.
Turning towards advanced statistics, Thome is better than the average Hall of Famer in both Hall of Fame Monitor and Hall of Fame Standards. Thome ranks tenth among all first basemen in JAWS, ahead of Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Eddie Murray along with likely future Hall of Famers in Miguel Cabrera and Todd Helton.
Considering the traditional and advanced stats, which Thome has in spades, it’s hard to deny his place in the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible.
Billy Wagner
Flame-throwing closer Billy Wagner never led the league in saves. He never won a Cy Young Award. And he never played in a World Series. So how the heck could Billy the Kid ever become Billy the Hall of Famer? Here’s how:
In a 16-year-career — 2 with the Phillies — Wagner was a seven-time all-star. He ranks No. 6 all-time among save leaders with 422. Only one other lefty in baseball history has had more saves (John Franco, 424). He has the best strikeout rate of any pitcher with at least 900 innings since 1900, whiffing 33.2 percent of batters he faced. His 0.998 WHIP is the lowest all-time among relievers with at least 500 innings pitched. He held opponents to a microscopic .187 batting average against him. Among pitchers to relieve in at least 95 percent of their outings, Wagner ranks sixth all-time in WAR.
And, for the sake of comparison, Wagner tallied more strikeouts than near-lock Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman, and he had better career ERA than Hoffman, too.
Wagner’s backstory is as Cooperstown-worthy as his stats. As a little kid, he broke his pitching arm twice and then decided to teach himself how to throw left-handed by throwing baseballs against the wall of a barn. He taught himself pretty well, wouldn’t you say?
Jonathan Papelbon
From Opening Day of the 1997 season, when the greatest of all-time took over as the Yankee closer, no one could mention in the same sentence. It was Mariano Rivera and everyone else.
Current Hall-of-Fame candidate, Trevor Hoffman, was able to tally over 600 saves over 15 seasons as a full-time closer, but was never in held in the dominant regard as Mo was. The post-season was Rivera’s playground. The better the hitters, the more pressurized the situation, the more eyes upon him, the better he became. Forty-two career playoff saves, a 0.70 ERA, and .75 WHIP in 141 career post-season innings, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
Over that period, when the conversation turned to second-best, most often, the eyes of baseball would turn to New England region and Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. A starting pitcher for most of his minor-league career, Papelbon became in the Sox full-time closer in 2006, using a high 90’s fastball and lot of attitude, to become one of the game’s most dominant relievers. He saved at least 29 games in every season from 2006-2014 for both, the Red Sox, and the Phillies, who signed him to the richest reliever contract in MLB history in the winter of 2011.
He went on to save 106 games in his first three season in Philadelphia, but that was the brightest spot of those Phillies teams where age and injury ravaged the core won them five consecutive division titles from 2007-2011. Papelbon’s competitiveness rubbed many people the wrong way and combined with few victories, the writing was on the wall and he was dealt to Washington in 2015.
By that time he brought 342 career saves and a chance to pitcher for another contender. The Nats never made it passed the first round that year and his fiery attitude took on a life of his own, while his fastball continued to lose life. The following season, he was replaced as Washington’s closer midway through the season, then released altogether.
Papelbon has 368 career save and is currently contemplating his future. He was easily one of the greatest closer of his era and not for Rivera, might be considered the best over a near 10-year period. Those voters with no bias against the one-inning stoppers might see their way passed the bravado and vote for Papelbon when it comes time, but with more and more writers using their ballot as a platform to take a stand against the issues of the day, he won’t see his way to 75% anytime soon.
Ryan Howard
While Ryan Howards tenure as arguably “the best player in baseball” was not long, it was warranted. Ryan Howard came in to the majors in 2005 and promptly won the Rookie of The Year award. He followed that up by winning the National League MVP award the very next year. He is one of 20 players to have won both awards and one of only five to do so in a two year span along with HOF’er Cal Ripken and future HOF’er Ichiro Suzuki.
Ryan Howard also finished in the top ten for MVP voting for the next five years. For his first six years in the league, Howard hit a ridiculous 251 home runs and maintained a .945 OPS. Also among his accomplishments is the most home runs in the National League from 2006-2016 (358) and the fastest player ever to 100 home runs. 358.
Ryan Howard may not have had the longest career but through his six-year prime he was dominant to an extent that is rarely seen in the Majors.
Chase Utley
Chase Utley, who is commonly referred to as “The Man’ by many Phillies fans, was the cornerstone of a dominant Phillies team from 2007-2012. Utley prided himself on his work ethic and it paid off as Utley was selected to the National League all-star game six times
As a second baseman, Utley showed tremendous power for the position. He also was able to post an OBP of over .375 in six straight season. This led to him being awarded the National League Silver Slugger award four times in his Phillies career.
In relation to the last second baseman to be enshrined to Cooperstown, Craig Biggio, Utley showed similar if not better statistic throughout the prime of his career. Chase Utley was able to post a WaR of over 5.8 in six straight seasons, as Biggio was only able to do that five times.
What he lacked as a defender was made up for by a beastly work ethic that no other second baseman in the league could compare to. Seldom times would you ever see Utley walk out a pop-up or display a lack of effort on the base path. In fact, Utley would go out of his way to break-up double plays, sometimes to a fault.
Utley finished his 13-year Phillies career with a .282 average, 233 home runs, and 977 RBIs. This constant production earned Utley five top-15 finishes in the National League MVP voting. Utley is also the Phillies all-time leader among 2nd baseman in hits, doubles, home runs, and RBI’s.
Jimmy Rollins
Jimmy Rollins in unarguably the greatest shortstop in Philadelphia’s history. We are talking about a player who now holds the franchise’s all-time hits record, a man who put a confidence of an entire city behind his team, but never quite had the entire city in his grasp the way his infield partner, Chase Utley, did.
Rollins’ successful run in Philadelphia is difficult to argue against. At a position that mainly calls for defensive prowess, Rollins brought much more to the table than most who came before him, played in his generation, or will play after him. In his article, Jimmy Rollins’ unique Hall of Fame case looking at this topic in 2014, Jayson Stark lamented that Rollins is the only shortstop in baseball history to steal 400 (470) bases and hit 200 (231) home runs.
Shall we add his 2,455 hits (more than 850 XBH) to those numbers? How about his four Gold Gloves, his MVP, and three All-Star appearances?
As J-Roll looks begins his 18th professional season with his fourth team, he hopes for a longer and more successful run than the previous two stops, which perhaps hurt his Hall of Fame prospects. Rollins looks up in the rankings at shortstops that have done more in individual categories, but he still sits among some of the best when you look at the whole player.
Roy Halladay
When Steve Carlton took the mound, everyone called it “win day.” Roy Halladay owned a stretch of time in which he could win any game he started, yet continued to amaze all who witnessed his greatness. Roy Halladay was one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, accumulating numbers that rival Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz.
In the history of baseball, only six pitchers have won the Cy Young award in both the American and National League: Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer. The first three are in the Hall of Fame, Clemens’ has a tainted case, and the other two are not yet eligible. Over the stretch of his 16-year career, Halladay finished in the top-five in Cy Young voting seven times. If you eliminated his first four seasons when he was recreating himself while jumping between the rotation and bullpen, you can say Halladay was a Cy Young contender for 7 of his 12 major league seasons.
Over the stretch of his 16-year career, Halladay finished in the top-five in Cy Young voting seven times. If you eliminated his first four seasons when he was recreating himself while jumping between the rotation and bullpen, you can say Halladay was a Cy Young contender for 7 of his 12 major league seasons.
For five consecutive seasons, Halladay led baseball in complete games while winning no fewer than 16 games, and losing no more than 11.
He threw the 20th perfect game in major league history, and just the second post-season no-hitter ever. To have both of those events occur in your career is one thing, but for them to happen in a new city in the same season.
When Doc’s name appears on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2019, fans should anticipate a road trip to Cooperstown.