Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune received his baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Whenever the ballot is received, a columnist is almost always required to have a column on the chances of one of the local heroes to make the Hall of Fame. Today Sullivan had an article on the possibility of Mark Buehrle making the Hall of Fame.
I immediately laughed at that idea. While a good pitcher, I never thought of Buehrle as a candidate for the Hall of Fame. However, after reading Sullivan's column and checking his stats with Baseball Reference, I would concede that Buehrle does merit at least some slight consideration based on his 214 career wins.
However, I don't think that Buehrle is deserving of being in the Hall of fame. His career stats, listed below, do not scream "Hall of Fame" to me. The one glaring stat that jumps out to me is his paltry Cy Young votes. He finished in the top-10 of Cy Young voting only one time, and that was a 5th place showing. That shortcoming in and of itself should be a disqualifier for his candidacy for the Hall of Fame. I would think that a Hall of Fame pitcher should at least have multiple years of top-10 finishes in Cy Young voting - if not at least having won one.
Buehrle's 162 game career average stats for his 16 year career is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. It confirms what most baseball people thought of Buehrle when he played - that this is a solid front of the rotation starting pitcher who will take the ball every 5th day and give you innings. Someone that any team would love to have in their rotation. He just is not a Hall of Fame pitcher. Kind of like a pitching version of Harold Baines.
14 wins - 11 losses - 3.81 era - 1.281 whip - 221 innings; he won 214 games in his career; made 5 all-star teams; pitched in one World Series; won 4 gold gloves; pitched 2 no-hitters, with one being a perfect game; but was 5th in Cy Young voting in his single season of finishing in the top-10.
I immediately laughed at that idea. While a good pitcher, I never thought of Buehrle as a candidate for the Hall of Fame. However, after reading Sullivan's column and checking his stats with Baseball Reference, I would concede that Buehrle does merit at least some slight consideration based on his 214 career wins.
However, I don't think that Buehrle is deserving of being in the Hall of fame. His career stats, listed below, do not scream "Hall of Fame" to me. The one glaring stat that jumps out to me is his paltry Cy Young votes. He finished in the top-10 of Cy Young voting only one time, and that was a 5th place showing. That shortcoming in and of itself should be a disqualifier for his candidacy for the Hall of Fame. I would think that a Hall of Fame pitcher should at least have multiple years of top-10 finishes in Cy Young voting - if not at least having won one.
Buehrle's 162 game career average stats for his 16 year career is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. It confirms what most baseball people thought of Buehrle when he played - that this is a solid front of the rotation starting pitcher who will take the ball every 5th day and give you innings. Someone that any team would love to have in their rotation. He just is not a Hall of Fame pitcher. Kind of like a pitching version of Harold Baines.
14 wins - 11 losses - 3.81 era - 1.281 whip - 221 innings; he won 214 games in his career; made 5 all-star teams; pitched in one World Series; won 4 gold gloves; pitched 2 no-hitters, with one being a perfect game; but was 5th in Cy Young voting in his single season of finishing in the top-10.
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