HOF by the Numbers UPDATE

As we are in  a new HOF voting period, I figured I would update a blog post from 2020 around our composition of the HOF

The HOF currently has 69  members  here are a few key stats

There are 25 pitchers and 44 hitters in the HOF

Of the 25 pitchers ALL of them were starters with the exception of Mel Cortes who pitched as a tandem starter. There are 0 closers or relievers in the Hall.

Of the 44 pitchers here are the position break-down (the position a player played MOST games in his career are used).

1b/DH/LF/RF represent 29 of the 44 hitters, going around the diamond, I've added OPS next to everyone's names I know some have more counting stats which matters but I wanted to add something to provide context around the diamond. Since the last update the only non 1b/DH/LF/RF to join the hall was Hector Peters (2b), Weldon Cooke (2b) & Haywood Lowry (3b)

C: (1) Robinson Rodrigo (.854 OPS)

1b: (13) Lou Stevenson (1.114 OPS), Rich Peters (.969 OPS), David Trinidad (.906 OPS), Ken Sisler (.934 OPS), Matt Buchanan (.978 OPS), Rondell Sandowski (1.026 OPS), Mark Iwamura (.978 OPS), Terrance Wood (.969 OPS), Randy Dickens (.953 OPS), Jonathan Griffin (. 968 OPS) , Dan Petrick (.910 OPS), Cristobal Baerga (.989 OPS), Erubiel Belliard (.977 OPS)

2b: (4) Mendy Clemens (.905 OPS),Glen Peters (.906 OPS), Weldon Cooke (.954 OPS), Hector Peters (.957 OPS)

3b: (5) Angel Bolivar (.899 OPS), Guillermo Sanchez (.922 OPS), Britt Perkins (.922 OPS), Felipe Sosa (.952 OPS), Haywood Lowry (.820 OPS)

SS:  (3) Alan Grimsley (.922 OPS), Eruibel Johnson (.916 OPS), Gary Morton (.850 OPS)

LF: (9) Albert Henley (1.040 OPS), Magglio Javier (1.022 OPS), Braden Cox (.943 OPS), Branch Gardner (1.049 OPS), Michael Bocachica (.903 OPS), Bredan Weekes (1.025 OPS), Kevin Fujikawa (.983 OPS), Brant Rowand (.941 OPS),

CF: (2) Garret Biggio (.969 OPS), Patrick Bynum (.956 OPS)

RF: (5 Yamid Molina (.938 OPS), Frank Zhang (1.151 OPS), Bruce Kaufman (.923 OPS), Ed Burks (.976 OPS), Philip Goodwin (.941 OPS)

DH: (3) Sam Wheeler (.985 OPS), Ty Langston (.951 OPS), Gene Rucker (1.028 OPS)

Hunter All-Time Batting Records

Had some time to kill so was poking around the All-Time Hunter batting records to see if any active players were in the mix and learned that there were quite a few records in play for active players. MOST of the records are the ones at the fringes ie: Most pinch hits. However, there were a couple active players who's names popped up a few times. One at the beginning of his career and another at the end of what will likely be a HOF career. 

Below are all the records where an active player sits in the top 5

All-Time Batting Stats

Caught Stealing

3.  Andrew Holtz (38)- London Calling : 200 (1 away from 2^nd  Frank Zhang and 38 away from 1^st  Branch Gardener)

 

Hitting Streak

3.  Andres Fernadez (30)- Philadelphia Sultans of Swat: 38 (1 away from 1^st place tie Wally Golub and Willie Reagan)

 

Infield Hits

4. Tony Saito (35)- Free Agent: 426 (47 away from 3^rd Albie Cortez)

 

Isolated Power

4.  Enrique Andujar (25)- New York Yankees: .357 (.04 away from 3^rd Lou Stevenson)

 

Number of Pitches Seen

3. Dweezil Ferrell- Free Agent: .382 (.01 away from 2^nd  Bill Lofton and .02 away from 1^st Gregg Cox)

 

On-Base Percentage

5.  Enrique Andujar (25)- New York Yankees: .428 (.09 away from 4^th Roy Christenson)

 

On-Base Plus Slugging

3.  Enrique Andujar (25)- New York Yankees: 1.110 (.04 away from 2^nd  Lou Stevenson apparently Andujar’s nemesis).

 

Pinch Hits

5. Renato Segui (33)- New Britain Yorkies: 133 (2 away from 4^th, 34 away from 1^st Naoto Yosida)

 

Runs

4. Yonder Solarte (37)- Free Agent: 1981 (121 away from 3^rd  Hector Peters)

 

Runs Created per 27 Outs

 4. Enrique Andujar (25)- New York Yankees: 10.54 (Tied for 3^rd, .21 away from Lou Stevenson)

 

 

Sacrifice Hits     

3. Herbert Wilkins (36)- Free Agent: 102 (1 away from 2^nd and 4 away from 1^st Bey Jackson)

 

Secondary Average

2. Enrique Andujar (25)- New York Yankees: .519 (.22 away from 1^st Lou Stevenson)

 

Slugging Percentage

4. Enrique Andujar (25)- New York Yankees: .682 (.03 away from Lonny Iglesias)

 

Stolen Base Percentage

1. Benito Hechavarria (27)- New Britain Yorkies: .974

3. Lastings Paul (34) – Free Agent: .970

 

Triples

2. Yonder Solarte (37)- Free Agent: 137 (2 away from 1^st Cal Newfield)

                            

Owner Review & Trades/World Chat

 All, 

Sorry for the delay was away since Friday with my son for a hockey tournament. I figured a blog post would be a better forum instead of getting it buried in the chat. 

1) Owner Reviews

As per league rules any owners with back to back seasons with more than 105 lossses come up for commissioner review. These reviews have been completed but haven't been publicly posted. As I stated before moving forward any owner reviews will be posted in the chat. With timf as previously stated, at 3-28, he was flagged that he would be in jeopardy of following into a commissioner review. Subsequent to that timf record dramatically improved and did not end up with the first overall pick. As a result I made the decision to allow him to stay. 

At the time several owners reached out to me regarding timf start. Several of the same owners that have been active in the forums. I responded to all trade chats and gave updates on the situation. It was at that point I considered the situation resolved. 

2) Trades and World Chat

Hunter is an extremely active trade world. As a commissioner my stance on trades has always been if there is two willing owners unless there is obvious collusion I never veto a trade. This is because every owner values their players and trades differently. With some recent seasons having over 100 trades there will be more than a few you likely disagree with or become jealous of, I know I do. 

With respect to the world chat the thing I find most confusing and frustrating in relation to the Vancouver-Augusta trade, was the time to discuss the merits of the trade was while it was pending. I know I saw the trade and was jealous of timf for having landed an ace but reviewed the trade and thought I might have offered more but it wasn't a bad trade on the merit then moved on with my day. 

Augusta not assigning the players isn't great but I don't think that creates a scenario to relitigate a trade and start tossing out allegations and questioning the ethics and morals of other owners.

I reached out to carmanjr and he stated this was likely a sign that he needed to move on from HBD because he wasn't invested the way he should be. Bigalric has agreed to return the players but at this point I can't get carmanjr to respond. I also suspect for a potential outgoing owner the bruhaha likely didn't increase his engagement. 

As an owner I am jealous that I didn't get Mench but the time to have the discussion around Mench was the time of trade not a week afterwards. That said, I don't think there was a discussion because timf did give up a lot to get him. 

I welcome conversations about trades while they are pending especially if something seems off, however I do ask that in any conversations owners are respectful of other owners and that other owners may value players differently. 

I always always recommend if you are moving a star to post it in the chat to try and maximize your deal. With that said I know there have been times that players have been posted and have gone for less than what other owners feel they offered. Once again not all GM eyes match. 

If any owners have any concerns on the above please feel free to sitemail or trade chat. 

 

Trader Catfish Hunter

 As many have noticed this season has been an extremely active year for trades within Hunter. However, for those who have been around since the beginning, know that Hunter has always been an active world in relation to trades. 

Whether your selling or buying there is normally an owner willing to facilitate your needs. Below are some fun stats in relation to Hunter's active trade history. 

Hunter started out hot and heavy with deals from day one. Season 1 saw 60 trades and every season had more than 30 deals until Season 23. 

Per Decade of Hunter 

(1-10): Averaged: 53 trades a season

(11-20): Averaged: 45.2 trades a season

(21-30): Averaged: 29.6 trades a season

(31-40): Averaged: 23.1 trades a season (This is our low water decade which would still rate as an above average trade market)

(41-50): Averaged: 33.9 trades 

(51-54 so far): Averaged 33.5 trades

Average ALL seasons: 36.7 trades

The record for most trades in a season league wide was season 10 with (66). The league cracked 60 trades two other times in season 1 (60) and season 7 (61). Since the record setting season 10, the highest season has been (54) in seasons 20, 22 and 45. 

The lowest number of trades made occurred in season 31 with (12). There have only been 9 seasons with less than 20 trades. Most of which occurred during the S31-40 decade (7 times). Not sure what happened to everyone else in that period. I know I became less active. As I call those my lost HBD years (2 children were born)

Thus far this season there has been 41 trades processed or accept, which would rate it has the 24th highest trade season in Hunter History. To crack the top 10, another 10 trades would have to be made. 

Ode to Josias Morales

 Every season in the retirements section I like to sort by the oldest player to retire because normally the oldest player to retire is a Hunter legend or at least someone who put together a great career. Call it early scouting for the HOF ballot. 

This year the oldest player to retire was Josias Morales at the age of 45..... which caught my eye because normally the oldest is like 40-42. So I assumed Morales had to be an NL legend that I was unaware of and in some ways he is. That said I spent way too much time digging into the Legend of Josais Morales so I figured I should at least share

Hailing from  San Luis Rio Colorado Mx, Morales signed as an international free-agent with the Portland Pigeons....... I never remember Hunter having a team called the Portland Pigeons but they did exist for 1 season, as the now Augusta franchise spent (4) seasons bouncing around from Cincy to Portland Helena to Dover before the steady ownership of carmanjr was put into place. Anyone remember the Dover Dragons.

Morales started at Low A in season 30 and finished the season 1-8, going 12/18 Sv opps and sported a 4.85 ERA. It was a rough start for the 22 year old rookie but hey he was doing what he loved playing baseball. 

Josias rode buses and stayed at it starting  S31 at Low A before being jumped to AA at mid-season. Speaking with him at the end of his career he was surprised not only by the promotion but skipping over Hi A and then being inserted as the closer for Cincy's AA team. He ended the season going 12/17 and an ERA of 5.28.  

Sure it was a rough first year in  AA but he had always dreamed of being a ML closer so he figured he was all set only 2 levels from the bigs at age 24. The off-season saw another move for the franchise to Helena and new management saw Morales future very differently. he was taken out of the closer role and turned into a Set B but moved up to AAA and after some early success really struggled in his new role with his ERA jumping to 6.42 and 5.47 over the next two seasons. The franchise had moved once again to Helena before finally moving to Augusta for S35. 

This is where the past grows hazy and Morales is reluctant to discuss what exactly happened. As a 27 year old at AAA Morales had his best season at that level posting a 3.93 ERA. 

Then poof S36 disappear while under contract with Augusta Josias did not pitch a single game. Rumors of drugs, woman and alcohol issues all swirled. The most consistent rumor was that Morales had been caught in an illegal cock fighting ring during the off-season and he was suspended with pay for S36. At this point we may never know the truth. What ever the truth was it took him years to repair his reputation as he pitched a combined  8 innings in S37-S39. 

A lot of people would consider this a cross-roads, you're 32 years old you've been riding buses for a decade and you are averaging 2 IP per season. This is where a lot of people would walk away, go find a real job but NOT Josias Morales. This is where the legend grows he doubled down on his attempt to make the major leagues and committed himself to a conditioning regiment of taking the stairs instead of the elevator at his apartment building and this dedication paid off immediately. Ripping off a 5 year stretch of sub 4 ERAs before having his best season ever in S45 with a 2.83 ERA.

Morales always spoke highly of  the Augusta franchise but you can tell he felt like that was when he should have gotten a call to the bigs and that disappointment clouded the rest of his career. His ERA spiked to 6.10 and 4.98 in S46 and S47. 

Morales at this point is no longer a young man and once again no one would have faulted the then 41 year old from walking away. Instead he once again re-committed himself and started taking the stairs again and cut his smoking down to half a pack a day. This resulted in a turn back the clock season for the ages the 41 year old who was now older than some of the parents of his teammates posted his best career ERA of 1.71 ERA. 

But like a star that shines brightest just before it explodes that was the last highlight for Morales who ERA balloned to 6.17 and 4.76. He kept playing hoping to finally either make the bigs or at least participate in a minor league playoff game, but it was not meant to be. 

At the end of S51 he was informed that he was being sent down to AA, a level he hadn't pitched at since he was 23 year old. Management wanted him to be a role model for the kids so he agreed to stay but his heart wasn't in it and he posted a career worst 9.92 ERA. 

And with that Josias Morales walked away from baseball and into the sunset. I asked if he would be back as a coach, he commented that it was all still too raw for him to deal with. 23 seasons is a long time to not make the majors and never make the playoffs. 

I for one expect him to be back baseball is in his blood you don't ride buses for 4 seasons to pitch 8 total innings if you don't love it. 

In the end Josias Morales made 1.5 million dollars playing baseball for 23 seasons and ended his career with a 4.29 ERA and 617 IP pitched. While he never won an award, or made the playoffs or the major leagues he has won this owner's respect. 

He also managed to pocket a cool $2431 dollars per inning pitched which is not bad work if you can get it.