Is Bernie Williams a Hall of Famer?

Killswitch

If he has indeed played his last game, then there will be discussion along these lines. I for one do not think he is even close. Anyone else share that belief or care to argue it?

Dr. Giganto

I'm a huge Yankee fan and I don't think he's even close.

Although from '95-'02 he was one of the best all-around hitters in baseball.

There is a stat called OPS+, which essentially tells you how good a player was offensively, compared to the average player that season. 100 is average, anything above is better,anything below is worse. It also takes into account park effects (guys hitting in a pitcher's park count more, for instance).

bernie's OPS+ numbers from 95-02:


130
130
148
159
157
136
140
143

That's excellent. His 159 in 1998 was 2nd highest in the AL that year.

Actually, when you look at his baseball-reference.com page, they have stuff to measure a player's HOF-worthiness.

They have a stat called "HOF Standards", which assigns point values for certain achievements. For instance:

• One point for each 150 hits above 1500, limit 10.
• One point for each .005 of batting average above .275, limit 9
• One point for batting over .300
• One point for each 100 runs over 900, limit 8.
• One point for scoring more than .500 runs per game.
• One point for scoring more than .644 runs per game.
• One point for each 100 rbi's over 800, limit 8.
• One point for driving in more than .500 runs per game.

And so on...

The average Hall of Famer scores 50. Bernie has 48.3, and he is 84th all-time in this stat.

There is another thing "Hall of Fame Monitor"

It "attempts to assess how likely (not how deserving) an active player is to make the Hall of Fame. It's rough scale is 100 means a good possibility and 130 is a virtual cinch. It isn't hard and fast, but it does a pretty good job. Here are the batting rules. Also, I require a minimum of 30 points in this metric before the value is displayed for a player."

• For Batting Average, 2.5 points for each season over .300, 5.0 for over .350, 15 for over .400. Seasons are not double-counted. I require 100 games in a season to qualify for this bonus.
• For hits, 5 points for each season of 200 or more hits.
• 3 points for each season of 100 RBI's and 3 points for each season of 100 runs.
• 10 points for 50 home runs, 4 points for 40 HR, and 2 points for 30 HR.
• 2 points for 45 doubles and 1 point for 35 doubles.
• 8 points for each MVP award and 3 for each AllStar Game, and 1 point for a Rookie of the Year award.
• 2 points for a gold glove at C, SS, or 2B, and 1 point for any other gold glove.
• 6 points if they were the regular SS or C on a WS team, 5 points for 2B or CF, 3 for 3B, 2 for LF or RF, and 1 for 1B. I don't have the OF distribution, so I give 3 points for OF.
• 5 points if they were the regular SS or C on a League Championship (but not WS) team, 3 points for 2B or CF, 1 for 3B. I don't have the OF distribution, so I give 1 points for OF.
• 2 points if they were the regular SS or C on a Division Championship team (but not WS or LCS), 1 points for 2B, CF, or 3B. I don't have the OF distribution, so I give 1 points for OF.
• 6 points for leading the league in BA, 4 for HR or RBI, 3 for runs scored, 2 for hits or SB, and 1 for doubles and triples.
• 50 points for 3,500 career hits, 40 for 3,000, 15 for 2,500, and 4 for 2,000.
• 30 points for 600 career home runs, 20 for 500, 10 for 400, and 3 for 300.
• 24 points for a lifetime BA over .330, 16 if over .315, and 8 if over .300.
• For tough defensive positions, 60 for 1800 games as a catcher, 45 for 1,600 games, 30 for 1,400, and 15 for 1,200 games caught.
• 30 points for 2100 games at 2B or SS, or 15 for 1,800 games.
• 15 points for 2,000 games at 3B.
• An additional 15 points in the player has more than 2,500 games played at 2B, SS, or 3B.
• Award 15 points if the player's batting average is over .275 and they have 1,500 or more games as a 2B, SS or C.

Bernie has a 133, making him a "virtual cinch". Pretty interesting. I guess he's more HOF worthy than I thought...

Killswitch

I agree with you, he was a great player but not quite in that Hall of Fame class. I would take Bernie in his prime on my team any day of the week but he won't get in.