Stories of the famous and not-so-famous men and women from the days when baseball was "Arkansas' Game." Always free and always short enough to finish in one cup of coffee.
Cooperstown? It's an interesting thought and you never know what a Veterans Committee will do. Hunter seems to have been well-liked, good personality, no scandals. I saw your email comparing him to Andruw Jones and while he does have an edge in some categories, the fact that he played 175 more games than Jones and still came well short of him in WAR and HR will hurt.
I think Darin is right that he's going to be a HOVG player, which is still an outstanding career. If you get Jones and Jim Edmonds (who fell off the ballot way too quickly) in then maybe there's room for a discussion.
Also, I remember reading about Lon Warneke as a kid, before I ever moved to Arkansas or even contemplated such a thing, and thought "The Arkansas Hummingbird" was one of the greatest nicknames of all time.
I have a harder time seeing Torii Hunter make Cooperstown. You mentioned JAWS and so I checked--Torii has a JAWS rank of 35th among center fielders, which is ahead of five HOFers (but all pre-WWII guys) and behind guys like Brett Butler, Curtis Granderson, and Ellis Burks. Even though I'm a Royals fan and he always seemed to kill us, I like Torii a lot. But he's probably another Hall of Very Good player (which is nothing to be ashamed of!).
Jim, It would be wonderful if Torii Hunter was in Cooperstown. His numbers give him an edge and he is in good company. What a great kick for Arkansas baseball that would be.
I would think Torii Hunter would be a shoo-in for the Arkansas Hall of Fame. His defense alone might get him the nod but a 50 bWAR career and 350 homers seals the deal.
He is in the ASHOF (2008), but Cardinal70 what about Cooperstown???Will you go that far?
Cooperstown? It's an interesting thought and you never know what a Veterans Committee will do. Hunter seems to have been well-liked, good personality, no scandals. I saw your email comparing him to Andruw Jones and while he does have an edge in some categories, the fact that he played 175 more games than Jones and still came well short of him in WAR and HR will hurt.
I think Darin is right that he's going to be a HOVG player, which is still an outstanding career. If you get Jones and Jim Edmonds (who fell off the ballot way too quickly) in then maybe there's room for a discussion.
Also, I remember reading about Lon Warneke as a kid, before I ever moved to Arkansas or even contemplated such a thing, and thought "The Arkansas Hummingbird" was one of the greatest nicknames of all time.
I have a harder time seeing Torii Hunter make Cooperstown. You mentioned JAWS and so I checked--Torii has a JAWS rank of 35th among center fielders, which is ahead of five HOFers (but all pre-WWII guys) and behind guys like Brett Butler, Curtis Granderson, and Ellis Burks. Even though I'm a Royals fan and he always seemed to kill us, I like Torii a lot. But he's probably another Hall of Very Good player (which is nothing to be ashamed of!).
Jim, It would be wonderful if Torii Hunter was in Cooperstown. His numbers give him an edge and he is in good company. What a great kick for Arkansas baseball that would be.
I would think Torii Hunter would be a shoo-in for the Arkansas Hall of Fame. His defense alone might get him the nod but a 50 bWAR career and 350 homers seals the deal.