HoF Debate: Frank Thomas (Merged)

[giants!]

Yes or no, and if yes, what ballot should he be on.

[KoopaTroopa211]

I think that he can get in, and that he definitely should get in. However, the little voice in the back of my head says he won't get in on the first ballot, and I'm still trying to figure out why.

[superfly]

Easily, probably on first ballot and definitely on first ballot if he reaches 500 HR. He was one of the most feared hitters in the mid 90's and has 2 MVP awards (should have three - 2000). His CAREER OPS of .995 is ridiculous.

[KoopaTroopa211]

Yeah, he's belted almost 500 HR's while maintaining a career average over .300

That's golden.

[schmidty]

For me, this would be an easy "Yes". And an easy 1st ballot, assuming he hobbles his way to 500 HRs. Even if his career ended today, he's an easy "yes" and I couldn't see him taking more than a couple tries to get in (would depend on the other guys on the ballet that year).

He's got big-time career numbers (1300+ runs, 470+ HRs, 1500+ RBIs, 0.300+ AVG). And his sabremetric numbers are even better: 11th all-time OPS (14th adjusted), 13th all-time OBP, 15th all-time SLG. He's got a monster peak sustained through most of the 90s, where he was one of the most feared hitters in the game. He finished top-3 in OPS every year from 1991-97, and had 8 or 9 HOF-level seasons with monster triple crown numbers. He's got the awards (MVPs). Yeah, there's no defense and no rings. But the hitting stats speak for themselves. HOF monitor has him at 179 (through 2005) which is "HOF-worthy, no questions asked" level. If Frank Thomas isn't a HOFer, then no slugger belongs there outside the inner circle pantheon. For a while, he looked like he could be an inner circle guy, but injuries knocked him down a peg.

[schmidty]

Oh, and after his 1997 season of 11 errors, he's made just 11 more since. That's golden.

Well, you know why he didn't commit many errors after 1997, right? That's when he became primarily a DH. There's are many arguments for why the Big Hurt is a HOFer -- but I don't think defense is one of them.

[noseeum]

No question. He's in. I never get the first ballot thing, but if I had a vote, I wouldn't wait a year.

[schmidty]

Oh, and after his 1997 season of 11 errors, he's made just 11 more since. That's golden.

Well, you know why he didn't commit many errors after 1997, right? That's when he became primarily a DH. There's are many arguments for why the Big Hurt is a HOFer -- but I don't think defense is one of them.

Too late for that edit KoopaTroopa211! I caught you!

[KoopaTroopa211]

Oh, and after his 1997 season of 11 errors, he's made just 11 more since. That's golden.

Well, you know why he didn't commit many errors after 1997, right? That's when he became primarily a DH. There's are many arguments for why the Big Hurt is a HOFer -- but I don't think defense is one of them.

Yeah, I just noticed that. My bad.

[KoopaTroopa211]

OUCH, busted!

Take your hand out of the cookie jar, and slowly back away.