2025 MLB HOF Classic Era candidates
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This is a real world MLB topic. The list of candidates for the Classic Era hall of fame induction was released. These are the players:
[censored] Allen
Ken Boyer
John Donaldson
Steve Garvey
Vic Harris
Tommy John
Dave Parker
Luis TiantFor my money, there is only one player on this list worthy of induction and that is Tommy John. John earned 288 wins with an ERA of 3.34. He pitched in an era during the 1960's to 1981 known for offense. So, these two numbers rank very high for his era pitched. However, he was also a workhorse starter, recording 700 starts (good for eighth all time) with 4,710.1 innings pitched.
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Personally Tommy John should be a Hall of famer but you should check Allen's br page again he's criminally underrated and is easily a hofer
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I just noticed that days after I created this OP, that the forum censored "Richard" Allen's real first name.
Seriously!
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Even though I absolutely would love to see John being inducted into the Hall of Fame; I believe that Dave Parker had a longer peak than him. From 1976-1979, you could argue that Parker was the best overall player in MLB, period. He was the 1978 N.L. MVP with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and had better offensive numbers than Willie McGee, when he placed second in MVP voting in 1985 with the Cincinnati Reds, his childhood and hometown team. Then, with the Oakland's A's in 1989, he won his second World Series Championship ten years after winning with the '"We Are Family,'" Pirates in 1979 along with Willie Stargell. Lastly the man has nearly 1500 RBI's, my personal standard and my opinion for automatic Hall of Fame induction, with 1493. If I had to choose only one player that I could induct, it would be Parker over John and the rest of those players.
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@xsdert34_PSN said in 2025 MLB HOF Classic Era candidates:
and had better offensive numbers than Willie McGee, when he placed second in MVP voting in 1985 with the Cincinnati Reds
It really depends on which stats you want to focus on. They were really different players
Parker had more power and RBIs
Willie had a much higher BA (by 40 points) and more runs scored.Willie also had 56 stolen bases, won a Gold Glove and only grounded into 3 double plays all season, while parker led the league in that category.
If you look at WAR, Willie had an 8.2 WAR that year compared to Parkers 4.7
That is not a knock on Parker. There is no doubt he had a much more storied career. His was the first name that jumped out at me from that list and I always liked him as a player. But Willie has always been one of my favorites so I had to defend his MVP win that year.
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Honestly, the fact that Tommy John isn't in the Hall of Fame is highly surprising, considering he has a whole surgery named after him that has helped other players careers last longer, and some even went into the Hall.
If it were up to some MLB The Show players, John Donaldson would easily get the nod, because of how nasty they made him.
Everyone else, I need to do more research.
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Anyone with a career WAR lower than Harold Baines should be immediately removed from any HOF consideration.
Sorry, Señor Garvey.
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@SaveFarris_PSN Garvey was considered by some of his fellow players on other teams, his teammates, sports reporters, and fans as the best overall first baseman in the National League, if not MLB, back in the 1970's, and his overall stats during that decade support their claim. But after he left the Los Angeles Dodgers following the 1982 season and signed with my former hometown San Diego Padres; his offensive numbers dropped significantly. By 1987, his final year in San Diego, Garvey had to have his whole shoulder fixed, and was out from mid-May until the end of the year. The following year, 1988, he had a tryout with the Dodgers, but his repaired shoulder limited him, and he wasn't signed, so he had to retire. His overall career numbers and some character issues, '"He supposedly got three women pregnant in 1988,'" (His wife at the time and two others), according to CNN Headline News during that year, and an alleged fight with Hall of Famer Don Sutton in the 1970's that was witnessed by their teammates (A disagreement about their wives that got extremely personal between the two), according to a book I read about the Los Angeles Dodgers of the 1970's, will keep Garvey from being inducted into Cooperstown now, and probably until he passes. But, I am still a fan of his even to this day, and hope that he'll eventually be inducted in the future.
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Yes, I believe that John Donaldson will get inducted from the "Contemporary Era Ballot" when it's announced at the Winter Meetings in Dallas in December.
