#202 Is Chipper Jones a Hall-of-Famer?

Yet another October without the Braves in the postseason. This year was a disaster, especially where starting pitching is concerned. Who would have thought that Mike Hampton of all people would be the last starter standing? Anyway, the one consolation of the season is that Chipper Jones won the 2008 batting title beating out Albert Pujols after losing it to Matt Holiday on the last day of the 2007 season. Arguably, he's been the best hitter (for average) in baseball over the last two years.



At the beginning of the season I asked myself the question of whether he could be considered a good candidate for the Hall of Fame someday. He's certainly one of the greatest players the Braves have ever had, but I wasn't sure how he compared with the other great players at his position in the history of baseball. So at the beginning of this year, I pulled the statistics for every current Hall of Fame 3rd baseman and here's what I found.

Third Basemen BOLD Indicates Statistical Leader For HOF Third Basemen
Name [Link To Full Stats]	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	RUNS	SB
Frank Baker (bio)	.307	.363	.442	96	987	887	235
Wade Boggs	.328	.415	.443	118	1,014	1,513	24
George Brett	.305	.373	.487	317	1,595	1,583	201
Jimmy Collins	.294	.344	.409	65	983	1,055	194
George Kell	.306	.368	.414	78	870	881	51
Freddie Lindstrom	.311	.351	.449	103	779	895	84
Eddie Mathews	.271	.378	.509	512	1,453	1,509	68
Brooks Robinson	.267	.325	.401	268	1,357	1,232	28
Mike Schmidt	.267	.384	.527	548	1,595	1,506	174
Pie Traynor	.320	.362	.435	58	1,273	1,183	158
Name [Link To Full Stats]	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	RUNS	SB
Hall of Fame Third Basemen

The bold numbers above represents the player that leads all Hall of Fame 3rd baseman in that particular category.

Now here are Chipper's current career stats as of today:

Avg: .310; OBP: .408; SLG: .548; HR: 408; RBI: 1,374; RUNS: 1,378; SB: 138

So if he were to be inducted today, among the 10 existing 3rd basemen, he would place 4th in average, 2nd in on-base percentage, 1st in slugging, 3rd in home runs, 4th in RBIs, 5th in runs, and 6th in stolen bases.

He leads George Kell and Brooks Robinson in every category.

He leads Frank Baker, Jimmy Collins, and Pie Traynor in every category but stolen bases.

And, at 37, he's almost certainly going to play one more year and possibly more. So ignoring the percentage-type categories, he's got a decent chance to pass his fellow Brave, Eddie Matthews, in RBIs near the end of the 2009 season. Passing George Brett and Mike Schmidt in this category by the end of his career is going to prove a little more difficult, as is passing both of these guys in the runs category. We'll see how he holds up. If you're a big fan of Chipper, this goes to show you how great these other guys really were.

He's also achieved several feats that don't show up in the stats. From Wikipedia:

He was the first overall pick in the 1990 amateur draft and TSN's rookie of the year. He won the 1999 MVP, which is considered the most prestigious individual seasonal award in baseball. He won the 1999 and 2000 National League Silver Slugger award for 3rd basemen. He holds or comes in 2nd for several team records. He is behind only Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray on the all-time switch hitters career home run list. He is the only switch hitter in Major League Baseball history to have a .300+ career (.310 as of August 9, 2008) batting average and 400 home runs. He is a six-time all-star (1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2008.) And as mentioned above, he won the 2008 National League batting title. He holds the Major League record for most consecutive games with an extra-base hit (14; tied with Paul Waner.) He's had 8 consecutive 100+ RBI seasons (1996-2003) and 14 consecutive 20+ home run seasons (1995-2008) He has the most home runs in a season by a National League switch hitter (45; in 1999; tied with Lance Berkman although Jones completed the task first.) He hit the first home run at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. (2008) He's hit the most home runs to begin a career playing under one manager (Bobby Cox.) He had 2008's highest on-base percentage with .470. Along with his Atlanta Braves teamates he won the 1995 world series, 3 NL pennants, and 12 division titles.

In short, I think he's a shoo-in, especially given another year or two to pad his stats.