The Bellman has your snark right here: Shortstops

12/13/05

Shortstops

This year's Hall of Fame ballot is unusual in that five of the 17 position players appearing on it are shortstops. I've put together a position analysis after the jump.

Defensive statistics*
	G	PO	A	E	DP	FP	RFg
Dave Concepcion	2178	3670	6594	311	1290	.971	4.71
Gary DiSarcina	1069	1631	3172	131	671	.973	4.49
Ozzie Guillen	1896	2911	5335	222	1094	.974	4.35
Alan Trammell	2139	3391	6172	227	1307	.977	4.47
Walt Weiss	1462	2057	4009	190	854	.970	4.15

Gold Gloves:

Dave Concepcion 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979
Ozzie Guillen 1990
Alan Trammell 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984

*Offensive statistics*
	AVG	H	2B	HR	RBI	R	TB
Dave Concepcion	.267	2326	389	101	950	993	3114
Gary DiSarcina	.258	966	186	28	355	444	1276
Ozzie Guillen	.264	1764	275	28	619	773	2261
Alan Trammell	.285	2365	412	185	1003	1231	3442
Walt Weiss	.258	1207	182	25	386	623	1526

Notes:

This is the first year on the ballot for DiSarcina, Guillen, Trammell, and Weiss.
Dave Concepcion made nine All-Star squads and won the Silver Slugger twice. His Cincinnati Reds played in the World Series four times, winning twice.
Gary DiSarcina appeared in the All-Star game in 1995.
Ozzie Guillen was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1985 and played in three All-Star games.
Allen Trammell was named World Series MVP in 1984 after helping the Detroit Tigers beat the San Diego Padres in five games. He was named to six All-Star teams and won the Silver Slugger three times. He led the league in sacrifice hits twice.
Walt Weiss was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1988 and played in one All-Star game. He played in the World Series three times, winning once, with the Oakland A's in 1989.
Concepcion and Trammell outpace the other nominees both offensively and defensively. They appear to be fairly similar players, with Concepcion getting the nod defensively and Trammell offensively.
Concepcion has been on the ballot since 1994, but has never come close to being selected. Support for his candidacy has eroded from a high of 80 votes in 1998 to 55 last year.
Two pure shortstops who played during the last fifty years, Ozzie Smith and Luis Aparicio, have been inducted to the Hall of Fame, as have two other players, Ernie Banks and Robin Yount, who played more than 1000 games at short. Yount, with 3000+ hits, and Banks, with 500+ home runs, would be Hall of Famers regardless of position. Since neither Concepcion nor Trammell put up those kinds of offensive numbers, their Hall cases rest on showing that their offense was good enough given their defensive prowess. Smith and Aparicio, then, are the better comparison. The following table shows how the four stack up offensively and defensively.

Shortstop comparison**
	GG	FP	RFg	AVG	H	2B	R
Luis Aparicio	9	.972	4.86	.262	2677	394	1335
Dave Concepcion	5	.971	4.71	.267	2326	389	993
Ozzie Smith	13	.978	5.03	.262	2460	402	1257
Alan Trammell	4	.977	4.47	.285	2365	412	1231

Analysis: DiSarcina, Guillen, and Weiss should feel honored just to have made the ballot and will be lucky to pull in ten votes between them. Trammell and Concepcion were nice players, but neither has a real shot at the Hall. Concepcion probably stuck around this long mostly because of his World Series resume, but his time is running out. Trammell's best hope for staying on the ballot another year is to pull in Concepcion voters who think that consistency demands that they cast a vote for Trammell as well.

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* Since these defensive statistics may be unfamiliar, here's a brief glossary: