Is Mark Belanger a Hall of Famer?

As most baseball fans know, Edgar Martinez who played 18 seasons for the Seattle Mariners, primarily at designated hitter, is eligible for election to the Hall of Fame for the first time this year.  The Mariners issued a detailed e-mail citing a myriad of facts regarding Martinez' qualifications for the Hall.  Roch Kubatko, shared part of this e-mail in a recent blog.  (Kubatko blogs for MASN.com on the Orioles.  He is insightful, witty, and well-worth reading.)  A 7-time all-star, Martinez finished with a career .312 batting average.  Ordinarily, that lifetime batting average alone would get you into the Hall, but Martinez played only 591/1412 games in the field and was, essentially, a one dimensional player.

Martinez' candidacy has raised the question of whether a one-dimensional player belongs in the Hall.  However, we already have one dimensional players in the Hall.

Relief pitchers are essentially one dimensional players.  How else do you explain that two of them--Bruce Sutter and Rollie Fingers--are in the Hall in spite of lifetime losing records?

In any case, there are Hall of Famers who were world class hitters, but mediocre to poor in the field.  You think Harmon Killebrew, for example, would have played that much in the field if there had been a DH in his day? 

If we grant admission to players such as DHs and relievers who were one-dimensional, then shouldn't we think seriously about admitting players who played Hall of Fame caliber defense, but were weak with the stick?  And that brings me to former Oriole shortstop Mark Belanger.  He won 8 gold gloves (that's twice as many as the overrated Derek Jeter) while anchoring the infield for the Birds from 1969-1978, during which time Baltimore appeared in 3 World Series and won the A. L. East 5 times.  Only 3 other shortstops havewon more Gold Gloves than Belanger:  Ozzie Smith (13) and Luis Aparicio (9) are in the Hall of Fame.  Omar Vizquel has 11 and might be headed to the Hall himself one day.  Belanger retired with the highest fielding percentage of any American League shortstop in history (.977)

If you're an other-worldly hitter who happens to stand in the hole between second and third with a glove on your hand (see Honus Wagner and his error totals, which topped out at 74 in 1912. . . . 74??!!) you will get elected to the Hall of Fame.  Why shouldn't you also be enshrined if you are an other-worldly fielder who happens to stand in the batter's box with a bat in your hands?

 

Mark Belanger's 1974 Topps card, posed, ironically enough with a bat in his hands.

Comments

[John Combs]

All I've got to say is, "Why is Davey Concepcion not in the Hall of Fame?" Much better hitter than Ozzie, much better fielder than Honus Wagner, so why is he not in?

[Austin]

And the defensive anchor of one of the best teams ever. He probably should be and so should Alan Trammel, but neither has received much support. They may be victims of the transitional time between slick-fielding speedsters such as Aparicio and slugging shortstops such as Ripken and Rodriguez.