St. Louis Cardinals: Former Players On The 2017 Hall Of Fame Ballot

The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the most storied franchises in the history of sports having achieved eleven World Series victories and a name that is all but synonymous with the playoffs.  In addition, the Cardinals have seventeen Hall of Fame inductees which is the third most of all time.

There have been many players inducted to the Hall that have worn a St. Louis Cardinals uniform at one time or another.  People like Dennis Eckersley, Orlando Cepeda, and Cy Young all played for the St. Louis Cardinals for a year or two during their illustrious careers.

To be in the seventeen inducted hall of fame players in this list, though, the player or manager must be a St. Louis Cardinal at heart, and have multiple seasons in the uniform.  Moreover, they need to be inducted as a Cardinal: players like Stan Musial, Lou Brock, and Bob Gibson, or managers like Whitey Herzog and Tony LaRussa.

With the 2017 ballot looming for the Baseball Writers, there are certainly several names to consider.  In total there are thirty-four players upon which to be voted: nineteen new players and fifteen returners.

Jeff Bagwell, Trevor Hoffman, and Tim Raines are the headlining names of the returning potentials.  Raines is the one of two players in his final year of the ballot.  These three, along with the two members of the 2016 class, received at least 67.3 percent of the vote last year.  That number is significant because only one player in history, Jack Morris, has reached that magic number without an eventual induction.

Players eligible for the first time are headlined by Manny Ramirez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Vladmir Guerrero.  Quite a class.  Ramirez is in the 500 home run club, Rodriguez has nearly 3,000 hits, and Guerrero is perhaps the best bad-ball hitter of all time.  And let’s not forget Vlad’s 449 homers.

The 2016 inducted class featured only two names: Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza.  Those two were polar opposites at the start of their careers.  Griffey was a top draft pick poised for stardom, while Piazza was selected as the 1,390th overall player in the 1988 amateur draft.

Being in the Hall Of Fame is the highest honor for a player, manager, executive, umpire, or broadcaster.  To get in on the first try is even better.  The last year a player got in on his first try was 2014 when there were three of them– Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Frank Robinson.  In total there are 47 first-ballot inductees.  These include St. Louis Cardinals greats Musial, Gibson, Brock, and Ozzie Smith.

Rules on getting a plaque in Cooperstown have changed recently.  Before 2014, a player had fifteen years to be inducted.  Players like Jim Rice, who got in on year-15 back in 2009 loved this rule.  Now, a player has only ten years, so Raines could be out of luck if he doesn’t get in this year.

To be an eligible candidate for the Hall of Fame, a player must have been active at least fifteen years, and retired five years before election.  The player must also have ten active seasons in the Major Leagues.

After that time period, the Baseball Writers get to work.  This starts with a Screening  Committee of six members who prepare the ballot.  To be on the ballot a player must have received at least five percent of the vote on a previous ballot, or be eligible for the first year and collect nominations from two members of the six-member committee.

A writer chosen as an elector can vote for no more than ten players, with no write-ins allowed.  Finally, when all the smoke clears, if a player on the ballot has seventy-five percent or more of votes, he will be forever immortalized with a plaque in Cooperstown.

The 2017 class ballot has already been announced and there are five players who have ever worn a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.  These include three who wore it for a significant amount of time, and two who were there only couple years.

Larry Walker, Right Field and Arthur Rhodes, Pitcher

These two get lumped together because they spent an underwhelming amount of time as members of the St. Louis Cardinals.

What the two have in common is that St. Louis was the last stop of their long careers.  Rhodes was even a member of the 2011 World Series championship roster.  That being said, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals by Texas and only threw 8.2 innings with a 4.15 ERA out of the bullpen as a Cardinal.

This is Rhodes’ first year on the ballot, but with a 4.08 career ERA and eighty-seven wins, it wouldn’t surprise many if it was his last.  He had a 20-year career in the majors as primarily a middle-relief and set-up man.  I have to believe it was the longevity of his career that got him a nod this year, but I don’t see him getting the five percent necessary to have longevity on the ballot.

Walker on the other hand is nearing the end of his time for consideration.  This is his seventh year on the ballot, and last year he earned only 15.5 percent of voting. He may be hanging on, but it doesn’t look too good for the retired outfielder.

The last two seasons of Walker’s career were spent as a St. Louis Cardinal. That translated, however, into only 144 games.  During this time, he acquired 133 hits and a .286 batting average. Following the 2005 season, he retired at the age of 38.

In seventeen total seasons, Walker was a five-time All-Star, seven-time Gold Glove recipient, three-time Silver Slugger, and even won an MVP for the 1997 season.  His career ended with just over 2,100 hits and 383 homers.

Sabremetrics say that Walker will be forever enshrined in Cooperstown.  The three most important sabremetric stats for Hall of Fame consideration are Wins Above Replacement(WAR), Hall of Fame Monitor(HOFm), and Hall of Fame Standards(HOFs).  An average Cooperstown inductee will have an HOFm above 100, and an HOFs above 50.

For Walker, he has a higher WAR at 72.6 than returning favorite Raines.  Walker also boasts a 148 HOFm and 58 HOFs.

I agree with the sabremetrics here; I think he is worthy of the Hall. That being said, it won’t be this year.  I believe that if Cooperstown calls Walker, they are going to make him sweat a little and that his induction will take place in his ninth or tenth year on the ballot.

Lee Smith, Pitcher

Smith only spent four years with the St. Louis Cardinals, but he gets the benefit of the doubt here because he is the last ever player to be an exception to the 2014 amendment.

In the most recent change to Hall of Fame voting rules, players can only be on the ballot for ten years.  2017 will be Smith’s 15th year of consideration.  He is the last of three players who were granted eligibility past their 10th year.  Don Mattingly and Alan Trammell, the other two names of these three grandfathered names, are both now off the ballot and neither of them are in the Hall of Fame.

This begs the question, will Smith be the shining star of the three? He has a good chance. Yet, last year he earned only 34.1 percent of the vote which is not a positive sign for his hopes.  He currently owns an HOFm of 127, but an HOFs of only 13.  The biggest contributor, as always is what happened during the career though, not what Sabremetrics says.

By the end of his career, Smith had become the first pitcher in MLB history to record 400 saves and ended his career with 478 saves.  These 478 rank him third all time in saves. When he retired, however, these 478 were the record number.  Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman have since passed the mark set by Smith.

With three Rolaids Relief Man-of-the-Year awards to his resumé, along with seven All-Star appearances, Smith makes a pretty strong case to be inducted in his final year of eligibility.

Of greatest note to Cardinals Nation is the fact that perhaps the best years of his career came as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.  During his time wearing the birds on the bat he collected 160 saves with 246 strikeouts and only 68 walks in 245 games.

Unfortunately, due to his eight-year tenure with Chicago, if Smith gets a nod from the writers he will go in as a Cub.  During his time there, he collected only 180 saves.  With the St. Louis Cardinals, on the other hand, he twice led the league in saves, in only four years.

I don’t think Smith will be inducted by the baseball writers.  The percentage he got last year is well-below the required 75 percent, and that kind of jump is a very tall task.  While he had a very good career, it will be put in the hands of the appropriate committee to vote him into Cooperstown.

J.D. Drew, Right Field

Drew played mostly right field for the St. Louis Cardinals, but also tried his hand in center and left during his six years as a part of the team.  This is his first year on the ballot.

Over the course of his career, Drew was the starting right fielder for the 2007 Boston Red Sox when they won the World Series.  The following season, he was named the MVP for the 2008 All-Star game.  He finished sixth in MVP voting during one season, but never finished higher than that.

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Three times during the 14 years he spent patrolling a Major League outfield, he led all right fielders in fielding percentage.  With a bat in his hands, Drew finished his career with a .384 on base percentage.  And in five seasons he passed the 20 home run mark.

These are not exactly Hall-of-Fame-level numbers.  He had a solid career, but he looks like he is poised to possibly stall out a couple years on the ballot before not having enough votes to return.

The St. Louis Cardinals selected Drew with the fifth overall pick of the first round in the 1998 draft.  The upside potential is what drives a lot of fans to remember him as a player.  After working through the farm system, Drew spent his six seasons with the Cardinals and hit just shy of 100 home runs.

With his lone All-Star appearance coming in Boston in 2008, there is not a whole lot of accolades to speak of for Drew’s career.  His HOFm and HOFs are both below the standard and his career WAR is a mediocre 44.9.  While this is higher than Renteria, the reason Drew is lower on the Hall of Fame potential list is because of the lack of contributing moments and accolades.

There is no telling how good Drew could have been, but injuries derailed his career.  On average, Drew would play between 135-140 games a season, and never more than 146.  Without injury, I really think this is a different write-up.  But the way it stands, it doesn’t look good for JD Drew.

Next: The Return of Carlos Beltran?

What do you think?  Did I miss anyone in this review?  Do you agree with the assessments here?  Let us know on Twitter and thanks for reading!