The Case For: A Baseball Hall of Fame Podcast

Dave "The Cobra" Parker played 19 year and amassed 2,712 hits, 526 doubles, 75 triples, 339 home runs, 1493 RBI, 154 stolen bases, 4405 Total Bases and a career .290 BA.
Parker was a 2 time batting champion, 2 time World Series Champion, the 1979 All-Star Game MVP and the 1978 NL MVP. A longtime fan favorite, his counting stats, hardware, and championships bode well for his Hall of Fame case as does the sentimental tug of time. But modern advanced statistics aren't as kind to Parker's case, and his HOF discussion truly requires a complex analysis of his stats, hardware, and fame factor.

In episode 4 we examine the voting process and the difference between the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) ballot and the Veterans Committee ballot, and breakdown the cases for all the candidates on the 2024 Contemporary Baseball Committee:
Ed Montague (Umpire)
Joe West (Umpire)
Hank Peters (Executive)
Bill White (Executive)
Cito Gaston (Manager)
Davey Johnson (Manager)
Jim Leyland (Manager)
Lou Piniella (Manager)

Episode 3 addresses the Hall of Fame case for Todd Helton who played his entire 17 year with the Colorado Rockies, retiring in 2013 holding Rockies career records for games played, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI's, and walks. Todd batted .300 or better in 12 seasons and retired with a career .316 batting average. His 592 doubles are the 20th most ever in MLB history. Last year he received 72.2% of the BBWAA vote, is this the year he gets the 75% he needs for induction? Will Todd wear a Rockies cap on a Cooperstown plaque in 2024?

Carlos Beltran played 20 years in MLB with a reputation retiring with very impressive career stats of a 70.1 WAR, 2725 hits, 565 doubles, 435 home runs, 1587 RBI, and 312 stolen bases. He is one of only 4 players in MLB history along with A-Rod, Bonds, and Mays to accumulate 2,500+ hits, 400+ homers, 300+ stolen bases and 1,000+ walks.
Arguably one of the greatest post-season batters of all time, "Señor Octubre" hit .307 with 16 home runs and 42 RBI in 65 post-season games. Only Beltran and Bonds have hit 8 home runs in a single post-season, and only Beltran and Jose Altuve have scored 21 runs in a single-postseason.
A 9 time All-Star, 3 time Gold Glove winner and 2 time Silver Slugger, Beltran won the 2013 Roberto Clemente Award for his work founding the Carlos Beltrán Baseball Academy in his native Puerto Rico. Beltran also played for team Puerto Rico 4 times in the World Baseball Classic.
More recently Beltran has come under fire for his role in the now infamous 2017 Houston Astros sign stealing scandal. Will this impact his HOF chances? Will his career stats land him in Cooperstown? Listen while Russell makes the case!

Over a 6 year peak 2005-2010 Chase Utley's season average was .298 BA, 27 HR, and 95 RBI. During that period he won 4 Silver Sluggers and received MVP votes in 5 seasons including 3 top-10 finishes. Utley was also in the top 3 NL leaders in WAR for 4 seasons. Utley excelled in the post-season, helping his Phillies win the 2008 World Series and in the 2009 World Series tied Reggie Jackson's World Series record with 5 home runs including 2 games with 2 home runs. He also set the postseason record for consecutive games reaching base. Utley and Babe Ruth are the only left-handed batters to hit 2 home runs in a World Series game against a left-handed pitcher. A sharp decline after 2010 resulted in Utley's career counting stats falling short of traditional HOF benchmarks, however his respectable career WAR of 64.5 places him higher than several HOF'ers. Will his post-season accolades and advanced statistics compensate for his counting stats? Listen to find out Russell's opinion!