That Balls Outta Here
FanSided

Phillies: Four former players who belong in the Hall of Fame

By George Stockburger

COOPERSTOWN, NY - JULY 29: 38 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with board members and state senators cut a ribbon during a rededication ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on July 29, 2005 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
COOPERSTOWN, NY - JULY 29: 38 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with board members and state senators cut a ribbon during a rededication ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on July 29, 2005 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 4
Next
COOPERSTOWN, NY – JULY 29: 38 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with board members and state senators cut a ribbon during a rededication ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on July 29, 2005 in Cooperstown, New York. Phillies (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
COOPERSTOWN, NY – JULY 29: 38 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with board members and state senators cut a ribbon during a rededication ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on July 29, 2005 in Cooperstown, New York. Phillies (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Which Phillies are most deserving of a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame

The Phillies went years without a new representative in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but recently there’s been a flood of alumni inducted into Cooperstown. Pedro Martinez, Jim Thome, and Roy Halladay broke a long streak of modern-day Phillies players getting into the Hall that dated back to Ryne Sandberg in 2005.

Here we’ll take a look at former Phillies who would make strong cases as future Hall of Fame candidates.

I’m not including the obvious candidates here, guys like Curt Schilling (who fell short last year), Pete Rose, Scott Rolen, Billy Wagner, etc. We’re also not looking at future Phillies Hall of Fame candidates like Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and other great Phillies whose time on the ballot hasn’t arrived yet.

These are players who have either fallen off the Hall of Fame ballot or are barely hanging on. We have three players who are no longer on the ballot and one who just snuck onto another round of voting.

Sherry Magee

When you’re looking for the greatest Phillies players from the early days of the franchise’s history, Sherry Magee is one of the most prominent names out there. In 16 years with the Phillies, Braves, and Reds, Magee picked up 2,169 hits, 425 doubles, 166 triples, 441 stolen bases1,176 RBI, and won a batting title in 1910 hitting .331.

Magee’s numbers are very good but some may not consider them to be great by today’s standards. Let’s consider what Magee did during his era.

When Magee was playing from 1904-19, only five players had at least 2,100 hits: Magee, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Sam Crawford, and Hal Chase, the middle three are all in the Hall of Fame. Magee hit more home runs during that time than any of those players and was either second or third among them in doubles, triples, and stolen bases.

Obviously, Magee’s career didn’t finish with the same numbers of Cobb or Wagner, arguably two of the greatest players ever. But during Magee’s playing days he was comparable to them.

In Phillies history, Magee is fifth in WAR (less than 10 points behind Richie Ashburn), eighth in hits, second in triples, sixth in doubles, and fourth in stolen bases.

By “Black Ink” standards (which looks at how many times a player led the league in a category) Magee is a Hall of Famer. He has a score of 35, eight points higher than the average Hall of Famer. His “Gray Ink” is 66 points higher than the average player in Cooperstown and his JAWS and WAR ratings are well about there for a Hall of Fame outfielder.

Magee’s 59.4 WAR is six points behind the average HOF left fielder and his 7yr-peak WAR is just three points short of the average. His overall WAR is better than Willie Stargell, Jim Rice, and Ralph Kiner’s individual WARs.

Magee has received Hall of Fame consideration before when the Veteran’s Committee voted in 2008. He could get another shot when the Early Baseball Committee (pre-1950) votes in December 2020 for the HOF Class of 2021.

Home/Phillies History