So my point has been not that Cal shouldn't be in the HOF but when you drill past the hype often a different story is told. Many judge a HOFer on was he the best player of his era. Lets narrow that to was Cal the best player on his own team year-by-year during his career. In 3 of the 20 he was. During the other 17 years here's who was better. Eddie, Larry Sheets, Mickey Tettleton, Mike Devereaux, Chris Hoiles, Rafael, Brady, Albert Belle, Charles Johnson, Melvin Mora.
So not that he shouldn't be in the HOF but I'm not that impressed.
As far as other players mentioned in this post:
Ozzie Smith - Hell no. Poster boy for hype.
Whitey Ford - Lost 2 years to military service. Only 13 years of pitching. Hell yes.
Harold Baines - No. Wasn't even much hype. Must have a cousin who counted the votes.
Jack Morris - No, Poster boy for a high profile playoff performance overreaction.
One not mentioned - Sandy Koufax - Only 6 years of great pitching but he was awesome for those years. Didn't have medical procedures they have now to save a career. I don't know.
Finally. An example from the past of what I was saying of Harper and hype. In 1977 the Yankees signed Reggie Jackson to what was then the largest contract ever. Jackson was a great home run hitter and RBI man so I'm not saying he wasn't great or doesn't deserve HOF. But his average up to that point was .256. In a book called " The Bronx is Burning" at the time of that signing Jim Palmer is quoted as saying " He's an average player, not even a real good player". Dock Ellis is quoted as saying " He's an average player who has a lot of power". What they were saying is look past the Hype. I don't agree in Reggie's case but a closer look at Harper is warranted.
