I never considered Walker a HOFer. As a hitter, he was a poor man’s Lance Berkman. He was a better fielder, but so was Jim Edmonds…and Kenny Lofton, neither of whom saw a second ballot. I have not problem with Walker getting in, especially if it means Jeter will not have the stage all to himself, but Walker is the classic example if how random voters are sometimes. There is no reason Walker got in ahead of any dozens of players except…well, it was his lucky day. Someone has to win the lottery.
Sorry, no. Just to take out the Coors effect - Berkman hit .296/.406/.537 on the road for his career; Walker hit .313/.400/.565. Throw in Walker’s night and day fielding advantage, and the Astros would have traded Berkman for Walker in a heartbeat.
Where’d you get your numbers? According to baseball-reference, Walker’s career road numbers were .278/.370/.495. Berkman’s are .287/.400/.539. That’s a significant overall offensive advantage to Berkman. Walker was a better fielder, but to suggest the Astros would have swapped Berkman for him in a heartbeat is real stretch.
Maybe he was using their career totals without Coors, not just “road” games?
Either way, OPS+ is adjusted for park effects. Walker had a career 141 OPS+; Berkman was 144. This suggests that Berkman was the slightly better hitter overall.
He was using Walker’s career numbers, which included his Coors-inflated stats. Take Coors out of Walker’s numbers, and he’s at .282/.372/.501 at every other ballpark, both home and away. Berkman’s numbers at every other park not named Coors are about the same as his career: .293/.406/.538, all measurably better than Walker’s.
That’s weird, I had pulled home/road from B-R. Maybe an issue with the mobile site.
The HOF is definitely biased against CF and RFs. I would put a bunch more of them.
Anyone voting for Vizquel that doesn’t vote for Andruw Jones should have their head examined.
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