POLL: Ken Boyer and the Hall of Fame

Ken Boyer is a Veterans Committee candidate for the Hall of Fame in 2012.

The Hall of Fame debate starts below, but first a few words on the baseball card to the left--1962 Topps #370. This is a classic Topps set featuring a wood grain design (which was revived 25 years later in the 1987 Topps set as well as this year's Heritage set.) The striking thing to me about this card is how "St. Louis Cardinals" is abbreviated, plus the position listed as "3 BASE". Both are short forms that I have never seen before. Anyway--my two favorite aspects of this card are the "peeled back corner" effect that gives the card a cool third dimension, and the simple black/white coloring of the player's name.

Anyway, here are the quick stats on Boyer:

• A 7-time All-Star third baseman
• 1964 NL MVP winner in his last great season, plus MVP votes in 7 other seasons
• Had 2 HR and 6 RBI during his team's 1964 World Series championship
• 5-time Gold Glove winner

Click through for the debate on Boyer.


For Ken Boyer in the Hall of Fame

• From 1959 to 1964, Boyer was a top player in baseball. Over that period, among players with at least 2000 plate appearances, he's in the top 20 for OPS+:
  

  Rk	Player	OPS+	PA	Age	Pos
  1	Mickey Mantle	179	3211	27-32	*8/97
  2	Hank Aaron	167	4043	25-30	*98/453
  3	Willie Mays	164	4018	28-33	*8/635
  4	Frank Robinson	159	3767	23-28	973/85
  5	Eddie Mathews	148	3933	27-32	*5/73
  6	Norm Cash	147	3011	24-29	*3/97
  7	Harmon Killebrew	147	3764	23-28	*753/9
  8	Orlando Cepeda	143	3790	21-26	*37/95
  9	Roger Maris	142	3396	24-29	*98
  10	Willie McCovey	142	2222	21-26	37/9
  11	Jim Gentile	141	2819	26-30	*3
  12	Al Kaline	137	3565	24-29	*98/75
  13	Rocky Colavito	132	4068	25-30	*97
  14	Joe Adcock	131	2822	31-36	*3/7
  15	Bob Allison	131	3753	24-29	*983/7
  16	Ken Boyer	129	4000	28-33	*5/6
  17	Billy Williams	128	2765	21-26	*7/98
  18	Roberto Clemente	127	3596	24-29	*9/8
  19	Frank Howard	126	2291	22-27	*9/73
  20	Floyd Robinson	126	2441	24-28	*97/8

  Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
  Generated 11/7/2011.
  Note that he's the second-rated 3B on there, was older than most of the players, and had more plate appearances than most everybody else.
• Although he didn't put up many league-leading numbers, Boyer generated a ton of gray ink (top-10 finishes) in categories such as batting average, runs, total bases, RBI, etc.
• Boyer was great on both offense and defense. Among position players, Boyer is 120th all-time, and that breaks out as 137th on offense and 149th on defense--it's fairly rare for a player to rank so highly in both categories. All the All-Star selections, Gold Gloves, and MVP votes confirm it.

Against Ken Boyer in the Hall of Fame

• I think any time a player is in the hands of the Veterans Committee, one must at least consider the notion that sportswriters didn't consider the player worth during his regular eligibility. That doesn't mean they handled it correctly, but it may be an indication that the player is truly undeserving.
• Among third basemen with at least 5000 plate appearances, Boyer is tied for just 20th in career OPS+:

  Rk	Player	OPS+	PA	From	To
  1	Mike Schmidt	147	10062	1972	1989
  2	Eddie Mathews	143	10101	1952	1968
  3	Chipper Jones	141	10166	1993	2011
  4	George Brett	135	11624	1973	1993
  5	Home Run Baker	135	6660	1908	1922
  6	Wade Boggs	130	10740	1982	1999
  7	Ron Santo	125	9396	1960	1974
  8	Bob Elliott	124	8190	1939	1953
  9	Scott Rolen	123	8188	1996	2011
  10	Bill Madlock	123	7372	1973	1987
  11	Ron Cey	121	8344	1971	1987
  12	Heinie Zimmerman	121	5740	1907	1919
  13	Troy Glaus	119	6355	1998	2010
  14	Darrell Evans	119	10737	1969	1989
  15	Richie Hebner	119	7016	1968	1985
  16	Sal Bando	119	8288	1966	1981
  17	Stan Hack	119	8506	1932	1947
  18	Heinie Groh	118	7035	1912	1927
  19	Howard Johnson	117	5715	1982	1995
  20	Ken Caminiti	116	7125	1987	2001
  21	Ken Boyer	116	8268	1955	1969
  22	Harlond Clift	116	6894	1934	1945

  Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
  Generated 11/7/2011.
  His tie with Ken Caminiti is a bit eerie due to other similarities--a career year yielding an NL MVP award, a quick drop-off, and an early death (though Boyer died from cancer; I've never heard anything drug-related.)
• After that MVP 1964 season, Boyer completely fell off the map, due largely to a back injury. He played 100 games in just 3 more seasons and was basically league average with a 101 OPS+ the rest of the way. Given that he also had a fairly late start in MLB at age 24, he had a pretty short successful run (at least compared to a typical HOFer.)

Tell us what you think in the comments below, and have a vote in the poll.