Hall or No Hall: Part One, Bernie Williams

Thinking of Madge-Rod manning my old position in Gitmo-North makes me pretty repulsed to think about this current Yankee team. So, with every embarrassing loss that drops us another place in the standings, I get a little more nostalgic about my years in pinstripes and my three World Series rings in four years. Therefore, to keep spirits up during these trying times, I’m going to start a multiple part series titled: Hall or No Hall.

It's a game based off one of baseball’s most beloved pastimes of arguing who belongs in the Hall of Fame. We’ll look back at the key members of the pre-ARod, pre-Randy Johnson, superstar-less Yankees from ’96 to 2001 (‘cause, according to the all-knowing Buster Olney, that was the last year of the so-called dynasty) and see if they are truly Hall of Fame worthy. We’ll analyze both good and bad aspects of their careers, some of which are still going, and also the whole looming issue that will be going through every voter’s mind: steroids. And of course, feel free to drop any comments about the analysis.

Our first case is a personal favorite of mine: Bernie Williams.

Good (Hall of Fame merits):
Bernie is one of the most beloved centerfielders in Yankee history. He was the clean-up hitter on what could be baseball’s last dynasty in our Moneyball, competitive balance, revenue-sharing day of age. As well as being a consummate professional, model citizen, and fan favorite, he was a terrific all-around player that had a knack for coming through in pressure situations. His biggest accomplishments include:
• 4 World Series Championships
• 5 All-Star appearances
• 4 Gold Glove Awards
• 1998 AL Batting Title
• First player in baseball history to win a World Series ring, a Gold Glove, and a Batting Title in the same year (1998).
• 2nd most career postseason home runs (24)
• .297 career batting average
• Played all 16 seasons in the majors with the same team (for all those old-school guys who despise free agency and how it changed the dynamics of the game)
• Played more games in center field than any other player in Yankee history, even more than legends like DiMaggio and Mantle (true fact, look it up)
• Bernie ranks on the all-time Yankee lists of these categories (they gotta mean something, they’re the Yankees’ all time leaders):
o 2nd all-time in doubles
o 4th all-time in walks
o 5th all-time in hits
o 5th all-time in extra-base hits
o 6th all-time in home runs
o 6th all-time in RBIs
Not a bad resume. And his career numbers aren’t that far off other borderline Hall of Famers from the past few years, such as Jim Rice. On top of that, there are a few players (Kirby Puckett and Bill Mazeroski) who also had borderline careers, but some of baseball more memorable postseason exploits. Bernie never hit a monumental home run that will go down in history along with Mazeroski or Puckett. But if anybody is going to be measure players on their postseason stats, Bernie is pretty close to the top of the list. Comparing those borderline Hall of Famers to Bernie Williams, here’s how they add up (thanks to Baseball Cube):

Player Name avg G AB R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO

Williams .297 2076 7869 1366 2336 449 287 1257 147 1069 1212

Mazeroski .260 2163 7755 769 2016 294 138 853 27 447 706

Puckett .318 1783 7244 1071 2304 414 207 1085 134 450 965

Rice .298 2089 8225 1249 2452 373 382 1451 58 670 1423

As you can see, Bernie’s got almost identical, if not better, numbers in almost every batting category than these players. And anytime you have better numbers than Hall-of-Famers, you’re in pretty good shape.

Bad (Hall of Fame de-merits): To many, Bernie doesn’t feel like a Hall-of-Famer because he was an extremely good, but not great, all-around player. Bernie was never considered a true superstar in the mold of players like Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa, among others. Though very consistent throughout his career, he never dominated the competition. Bernie isn’t a true power hitter; he only has 286 career home runs, a far cry from another switch-hitting outfielder he’ll be compared to: Mickey Mantle. Bernie’s career high for homers in a season (30) isn’t that great either. And though he has a great career batting average, his 2336 career hits aren’t enough to put him ahead of guys like…Chili Davis. That’s sure to be a big knock on him. Despite his sprinter’s body, he was never considered a big base-stealing threat. And despite his Gold Gloves, Bernie always had a weak arm for a centerfielder.


Ugly (Steroids and how it affects player of mention):The steroid era will immensely help Bernie Williams. The perfect example of this is Bernie has the distinction of hitting the most career postseason home runs without testing positive for a banned substance . Players clouded with steroid suspicion (i.e. Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and a couple of Yankees that we’ll get to later on in this series) will probably be denied from Cooperstown based on the fact that 75% of the voters aren’t ready to give baseball’s highest individual honor to a “cheater.” This will open up the doors to border-line candidates like Jeff Bagwell and Bernie Williams, who are becoming eligible on off-years and are competing with players who are under a cloud of suspicion. Steroids also make Bernie’s numbers look even better. The fact that high-profile pitchers of the era are also under the steroids’ cloud and that Bernie had to beat out many swollen sluggers for the 1998 AL Batting Title makes Bernie’s accomplishments look even more impressive.


The Verdict:I personally believe that Bernie will get into the Hall, despite the fact that he’s a borderline candidate in the eyes of many. The main reason why I see him getting in is steroids. Bernie will go down as one of the few players who will benefit from the steroid era. Bernie’s never been suspected of steroids because his performance and his body don’t lead us to believe he ever did them. This is going to be a huge help for Bernie’s case of getting in the Hall of Fame, a feat he might not have accomplished had he played 25 years ago.

Next Up in the Series: Andy Pettitte