A Gaping Hole in the Hall

Illustration by Thomas Dyson

If you’re born a New York Mets fan (and seriously, why else would you root for this team?), you are ingrained with certain irrefutable beliefs:

1. You hate – with a deep passion – the Phillies and Braves

2. The trade of Tom Seaver was the worst trade in the history of sports trades

3. Carlos Beltran owes each and every fan a personal apology for staring at strike three

4. Game 6 was the greatest baseball game in the history of baseball games

5. It’s a travesty that Keith Hernandez isn’t in the Hall of Fame

As a fan, you have to live with the mistakes of this organization (and there are plenty more than the couple mentioned above, believe you me), but they’re even harder to take when they aren’t self-inflicted, and it’s that last one that’s particularly glaring.

Hall of Fames have been in the news a lot lately, with MLB recently announcing their newest inductees (Mr. Called Third Strike was one of them), and the NFL’s silliness over not inducting Bill Belichick. But the fact that Hernandez – the best defensive first baseman of all time – doesn’t have a plaque in Cooperstown is a blatant black mark against baseball.

Although he was only on the Mets for six and a half seasons, Hernandez is one of the most important players in team history. If you’re a fan, surely you know his story. If you’re not and still reading, here’s a brief rundown.

After eight-plus stellar seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, which included a batting title, MVP award, and World Series ring, Hernandez was unceremoniously shuffled off to the Mets. Apparently, he and Card’s manager Whitey Herzog were less than buddy-buddy, and according to some, the White Rat (as Hernandez referred to him), specifically sent him to New York because of Hernandez’s dislike of the city.

Instead of just waiting until the 1984 season to end – a season, by the way, he finished second in NL MVP voting – and then looking to go elsewhere, Mets’ GM Frank Cashen convinced Hernandez to stay, and it wasn’t long before he became a team leader both on the field and in the clubhouse. It was he – along with Gary Carter – who were instrumental in shaping the young Mets and ultimately turning them into champions. Carter, incidentally, is in the Hall of Fame, which leads me back to my original point.

Now, normally I don’t like to get too into the weeds when it comes to players and who’s good and who’s better – I’ll leave that for those annoying ESPN guys who only seem to communicate by shouting. But, it’s worth digging into the numbers a little to look at Hernandez’s career and how he compares to some members of the Hall.

Take Carter, for example. Although Carter played two years longer, Hernandez has more hits and runs, a better on-base percentage, and a much higher batting average. He can’t match Carter’s power, however, which is why a better comparison might be his former teammate, Ozzie Smith. While Smith tops Hernandez’s hits and runs, he’s not even close with RBIs and batting average. Plus, Hernandez hit 162 home runs compared to the Wizard’s 28. If it wasn’t for Ozzie’s glove, he probably wouldn’t have even sniffed the Hall of Fame, and this is another reason why Hernandez deserves a nod.

When I said earlier that Hernandez is the best defensive first baseman of all time, it wasn’t hyperbole. No one else at the position has more Gold Gloves, as he took home 11 in his career. He was a true master, often exhibiting an uncanny sixth sense in the field, as demonstrated by this play. It’s hard to fathom how many games he saved or won by being in the right places at the right times. Wrote MLB Network’s Brian Kenny in his book Ahead of the Curve:

“First base is not normally a vital defensive position. Hernandez, though, was a transformational player. He turned first base defense into a weapon few teams in the history of the game have ever even approximated.”

Kenny went on to say that the sportswriters casting (or not casting) Hall votes were too fixated on stats and ignored what was right in front of them:

“Unfortunately, the sportswriters of the ’80s missed a hell of a game…Stuck in a 1970s mind-set of what a Hall of Fame first baseman should be, they forfeited the one advantage they had over someone looking at a page in The Baseball Encyclopedia: being at the park to see the nuances of his game.”

So, why isn’t Hernandez in Cooperstown? As mentioned, many cite his lack of home runs. Others point to his admitted drug use and hide behind the Hall’s “character clause,” despite a whole swath of enshrined players who, let’s face it, you’d probably never want to have a cup of coffee with. Maybe it’s some other silly reason, like they’re jealous of his mustache.

Thanks to the Era Committee, which evaluates retired players who are no longer eligible for the regular Hall ballot, it’s possible that at some point down the road Hernandez will get in. Let’s just hope this happens before he – and his fans – are too old to enjoy it.