2018 VETERANS COMMITTEE PLAYER ELECTION VOTE
SUPPORTING STATEMENTS –
Having spent his career mainly with my team, I may be a little bit biased, however, …
In his 14-year career he accomplished quite a bit as a more than a “good” shortstop. His career batting average of .306 is 8th overall and 1st among shortstops, his .509 slugging percentage among shortstops is surpassed only by A. Rod and his On Base Percentage ranks 4th behind Larkin, Jeter, and A. Rod. His homers (#5 among SS) and RBI’s (#6 among SS) add to his accomplishments as well. Add to that 4 straight All-Star starts and 2 Reserve selections as well as 6 Division Series, 3 League Playoffs, and 2 World Series and you have, in my opinion, a player deserving of consideration for the Hall of Fame.
Career spanned 11 years, with 6 different teams.
In that time, he amassed 441 Home Runs (Good for 9th All-Time), 1206 RBI’s (23rd All-Time)
Career .275 Batting Average & a .359 ON Base Percentage.
4 Time All-Star Starter, 2001 MWBL Most Valuable Player in the American League.
Sosa has 12 Career Post Season Home Runs, 30 Career Post Season RBI’s.
2003 World Series Most Valuable Player.
A near perennial gold glover (5 of them) with a .286 lifetime average, almost 300 homers and a .375 OBP who twice topped 30 homers and four times hit 100+ RBIs and was a five-time all-star.
He won two Cy Young awards. four all stars and a gold glove. Career 2.81 ERA
While his career was short in his prime he was amazing winning 20 wins and two 23-win seasons.
Half his seasons he played in the playoffs and three times he made the World Series,
296 HR as a catcher, with a .293 average.
Those are elite and HOF worthy numbers.
The two greatest relievers of MWBL history are without doubt Billy Wagner and Mariano Rivera. Wagner is in the HoF, and Rivera should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Hoffman makes a strong argument for the 3rd greatest in the 21-year history of the MWBL. Hoffman’s 256 saves rank’s third all-time after those two, despite being used as a setup reliever for several seasons, Hoffman’s six All-Star Game appearances tie for 5th most among all pitchers. During his 14-year career, Hoffman averaged over a strikeout per inning while achieving a 2.34 career ERA.
Selected as an All-Star two seasons.
His numbers certainly reflect he should’ve gotten a few more selections.
He has a lifetime average of .283. He had a monster season in 2001 where he hit .402
with an OBP of .522, had 237 hits, 134 runs, 151 RBI’s, 65 2bs, 32 HRs, and drew 129 BB’s.
During his 14-year career he had 8 seasons where he hit over 30 HRs with two of
those seasons having over 40 HR’s.
He had 6-100 RBI or more seasons and during his career averaged 92.9 RBI a season along
with 28.7 HR per season.