Don Mattingly Hall Of Fame Chances

Don mattingly from his sabr bio quoting mattingly in good company from the new york times making the hall of fame case for donnie baseball.

Don mattingly hall of fame chances.

His bbwaa ballot eligibility is used up in 15 ballots he never got more than 28 support. Bbwaa hall of fame voters judged yankees greats don mattingly and thurman munson the same way for 15 years in a row. In 2015 mattingly s eligibility expired after fifteen attempts. But when looking back at it it s hard not to think about what could have been.

Don mattingly and steve garvey are two big names getting a second shot at the hall of fame through the modern baseball era committee ballot. By 2009 only 12 of voters still put him on their ballots. So the only way he can get in the hall of fame now is for the modern game era committee formerly known as the veterans committee to elect him. Mattingly retired at 34 and there have been just three players since world war ii to be voted into to cooperstown on the ballot and not through committee under the age of 35.

Mattingly finished his career with an 830 ops not a typical hall of fame threshold for a first baseman. Sandy koufax don. His career counting stats 222 hr 1 099 rbi 2 153 hits do not measure up especially for a first baseman. If not for a debilitating back injury evansville native don mattingly would be a hall of famer.

The problem is that their cases remain just as weak as. Neither came close to even getting even a third of the vote let alone the 75. The average score of a hall of fame first baseman is 54 6 and mattingly is pretty far below at 38 9. Based just on age it s also not great.

The fact that we re still debating whether don mattingly belongs in the hall of fame means he had a great career. The hall of fame case for don mattingly is all about peak performance. Mattingly getting second chance for hall of fame on modern baseball era ballot. Don mattingly s latest chance to earn hall of fame status was once again denied.

Of the 17 first basemen in the hall of fame mattingly s 830 ops would be higher than only three jake beckley high pockets kelly and frank chance all of whom debuted prior to the live ball era since 1920.