Vladimir Guerrero’s Hall of Fame Case

It’s Hall of Fame time for the baseball world. I submitted my 2012 ballot for FanSided but it’s always fun to look at the future. Vladimir Guerrero was one of my favorite players before he joined the Angels in 2004 and won his only MVP. While he might hang around another year or so, let’s pretend Vlad retired today. Is he a Hall of Famer? Would you vote for him?

I know I would. If you’re on the fence, take a look at some of his statistical company. You might recognize some of these names from baseball lore…

Seasons a player hit for a .300 AVG and 25+ homeruns

Rk		Yrs	From	To	Age
1	Ted Williams	14	1939	1960	20-41
2	Babe Ruth	14	1919	1933	24-38
3	Hank Aaron	13	1955	1973	21-39
4	Vladimir Guerrero	12	1998	2010	23-35
5	Manny Ramirez	11	1995	2008	23-36
6	Barry Bonds	11	1990	2004	25-39
7	Lou Gehrig	11	1927	1937	24-34
8	Albert Pujols	10	2001	2010	21-30
9	Willie Mays	10	1954	1965	23-34
10	Chipper Jones	9	1996	2007	24-35

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/4/2012.

What’s that? You like on base percentage and Vlad despised walking? Fine.

Seasons a player hit for a .300 AVG, a .370 OBP and 25+ homeruns

Rk		Yrs	From	To	Age
1	Ted Williams	14	1939	1960	20-41
2	Babe Ruth	14	1919	1933	24-38
3	Manny Ramirez	11	1995	2008	23-36
4	Barry Bonds	11	1990	2004	25-39
5	Lou Gehrig	11	1927	1937	24-34
6	Albert Pujols	10	2001	2010	21-30
7	Vladimir Guerrero	10	1998	2007	23-32
8	Hank Aaron	10	1957	1973	23-39
9	Willie Mays	10	1954	1965	23-34
10	Chipper Jones	9	1996	2007	24-35

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/4/2012.

Oh, you want your HOF sluggers to slug too? Fine.

Seasons a players hit for a .300 AVG, .370 OBP, .550 SLG and 25+ homeruns

Rk		Yrs	From	To	Age
1	Ted Williams	14	1939	1960	20-41
2	Babe Ruth	14	1919	1933	24-38
3	Barry Bonds	11	1990	2004	25-39
4	Lou Gehrig	11	1927	1937	24-34
5	Albert Pujols	10	2001	2010	21-30
6	Manny Ramirez	10	1995	2008	23-36
7	Willie Mays	10	1954	1965	23-34
8	Vladimir Guerrero	9	1998	2006	23-31
9	Hank Aaron	9	1957	1973	23-39
10	Jimmie Foxx	9	1929	1939	21-31

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/4/2012.

Still not sold? Fine.

I saved the best for last. If Vlad retired tomorrow with 449 homeruns and a .318/.379/.553 line, I’d call for immediate induction. I think Barry Bonds might be the greatest hitter of all-time and he’s not on this list.

Rk		BA	OBP	SLG	HR
1	Ted Williams	.344	.482	.634	521
2	Babe Ruth	.342	.474	.690	714
3	Albert Pujols	.328	.420	.617	445
4	Stan Musial	.331	.417	.559	475
5	Vladimir Guerrero	.318	.379	.553	449
6	Lou Gehrig	.340	.447	.632	493
7	Jimmie Foxx	.325	.428	.609	534

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/4/2012.

Is Vlad a Hall of Famer?

Obviously, I think so. There are plenty of ways to manipulate stats and I’d like to congratulate myself on these. But in an era where the “old writing guard” still reigns supreme in HOF voting, I think they’d have a hard time omitting Vlad after looking at that.

Vlad doesn’t have the steroid suspecion hanging around him either. And he smiles. A lot. That’s like a +27 for the BBWAA.