Should Bobby Grich be in the Hall-of-Fame?

Bobby Grich fell off the Baseball Hall-of-Fame ballot in 1992, but there’s an argument that he should have been enshrined in Cooperstown.

For Angels fans, this is a familiar argument. Bobby Grich, the second baseman that formed the heart and soul of the Angels throughout the late seventies and into the mid-eighties, should be a Hall-of-Famer.

His name was removed from the ballot in 1992 when he only received 2.6 percent of votes, but that doesn’t mean his Hall-of-Fame credentials should be forgotten.

Grich, who played high school baseball at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, was drafted by the Orioles, where he played the first seven seasons of his career. It was in Baltimore where he proved to be one of the most reliable defensive infielders in the game. He won four Gold Gloves before signing with the Angels as a free agent in 1976.

Over the next ten seasons, the 6-foot-2 second baseman would hit .269/.370/.436 for the Halos with 157 home runs and 557 RBIs, while fielding his position at an elite level. At first glance, it wouldn’t appear as if Grich’s numbers justify a Hall-of-Fame argument, but when you look closer they might.

The interesting thing about making a case for Grich to reach Cooperstown is that you need to rely on his accomplishments from Baltimore to make a strong argument. While Angels fans would have loved to see him enter the Hall wearing a Halos cap, without his performance in Baltimore, there’s no argument to make.

Playing for the Orioles, Grich won all four of his Gold Glove Awards, appeared in three All-Star games, and in 1973, had his best overall season as measured by Wins Above Replacement (WAR).

Should Bobby Grich be in the Hall-of-Fame?

The case for Grich

Angels fans don’t need to be reminded that if things had turned out differently at the end of Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship, Grich’s two-run home run to give the Halos a 3-2 lead in the sixth might have helped end his career with a World Series championship.

But long before that home run, Grich built an impressive resume for the Hall-of-Fame if you look at metrics beyond the traditional counting statistics.

Hall-of-Fame expert Jay Jaffe created the Jaffe WAR Score System (JAWS) to evaluate Cooperstown worthiness using a variety of factors that compare players who have already been elected into the Hall with potential candidates. As defined on Baseball-Reference, a player’s JAWS is his career WAR averaged with his 7-year peak WAR (not necessarily consecutive years).

Using JAWS, Grich should have been a sure-thing Hall-of-Famer as a second baseman. In fact, his JAWS value ranks 7th all-time; other than Chase Utley and Lou Whitaker, he is the only player in the top 15 who hasn’t been enshrined in Cooperstown.

Looking at the average Hall-of-Fame values for second baseman, Grich’s career WAR of 71.0 is higher than the baseline of 69.5 WAR, and his 7-year peak WAR of 46.4 is also better than the 44.4 baseline, which averages the peak WAR totals for 20 Hall-of-Fame second basemen.

It’s Grich’s defensive value that is most difficult to translate into traditional Hall-of-Fame thresholds, which is reflected better in advanced metrics like Wins Above Replacement. However, if you look at leaderboards that are easier to discuss at your local bar, Grich shines there, too. You just need to look.

From 1973-1975, the Michigan native led the league in double plays turned as a second baseman. He has turned the 12th most double plays in second base history. He also has the 17th most putouts, 19th most assists, and his range factor, which measures putouts plus assists divided by innings played, ranks third all-time.

As baseball enthusiasts have learned the value of considering metrics beyond just home runs and RBIs, the argument for Grich becomes louder. He has the 8th highest career WAR total of second baseman in baseball history.

Think about that. Grich’s overall value as a player, according to WAR, ranks next to Hall-of-Famers Rod Carew and Craig Biggio, and Grich couldn’t even stay on the ballot.

It’s unfortunate the Angels legend lost his chance to be enshrined in Cooperstown. Perhaps, down the road, voting will improve to consider the value of defense, and use advanced metrics that highlight the true value of a player like Grich. For now, Angels and Orioles fans are left remembering his greatness on message boards and articles like this one.