The Terry Puhl All-Stars: Baseball Players Who Received One Hall of Fame Vote
By Mike Cardillo
[Lisk note: given what I’m sure will be intense public outcry, we can go ahead and book the follow-up, “texts between Mike and Jason about Billy Butler going into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame while sitting in a doctor’s office” for next Friday]
On Tuesday, the Baseball Writer’s Association of America elected four players to the Hall of Fame — Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio and John Smoltz. One of the 500+ BBWAA voters decided to use one of their 10 available votes on Darin Erstad. People tend to get mad when someone like Erstad gets a vote or demand on Twitter whoever did that should get their vote taken away.
All things being equal, Erstad wasn’t a bad pro or a punchline to a bad joke. He lasted 14 years with the Angels, White Sox and Astros. He won a pair of Gold Gloves and made two All Star teams. Again, a solid pro. It’s hardly Erstad’s fault the BBWAA rules put so many unqualified candidates on the ballot if they meet the minimal criteria. If you played 10 seasons and have been retired for five: you’re on the ballot. Big picture, the guys who appear and disappear from the ballot after one year are the least of the voting process’ problems.
So … on the prodding of Lisk I went back through Baseball-Reference 30 years to see the list of one-vote wonders — players who garnered a single, solitary Hall of Fame vote and then fell off the ballot for good. Overall, it’s a fun little list full of names very familiar to baseball fans, with many of the one-vote recipients still involved with the game today as broadcasters (or living forever in 8-bit form via RBI Baseball.)
To me, there is something amazing (yes it’s a loose definition of the word amazing) that you can toil away in the Majors for a decade or more and the result of your labor is one vote for the Hall –a single, solitary acknowledgement from afar that you could consider yourself in the same breath as Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron.
Call them the Terry Puhl All-Stars.
***
2007: Jay Buhner
2008: Shawon Dunston (First overall pick in the 1982 draft), Chuck Finley, Todd Stottlemyre, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch
2009: Jesse Orosco (He retired?)
2010: Pat Hentgen (Won a Cy Young award over Andy Pettitte), Kevin Appier, David Segui
2011: Benito Santiago (To hear Chris Berman rave about him circa 1989…), Brett Boone
2012: Javy Lopez, Eric Young
2013: Aaron Sele (Seriously?)
2014: Kenny Rogers, Armando Benitez, Jacque Jones
2015: Darin Erstad
For my money, as a baseball fan/observer the least-noteworthy player on that list to get a vote is Aaron Sele. I’m not sure which Hall of Fame out there needs a place for a guy who played 15 seasons, pitching to a 4.61 ERA. Guess Sele must have really helped fill up a writer’s notebook around the clubhouse in either Seattle, Boston or Texas.
Lisk provided his take on the best one-vote players: Tartabull, Kruk, Fielder, Justice, Appier, Leonard, Browning, Javy, Kennedy, Tony Phillips (and Candelaria prob).
[Lemsk note part II: after checkemng themngs lemke WAR for these players, I was a clear homer on Leonard. Phemllemps was a good choemce. Appemer was a top choemce, as he, along wemth Chuck Femnley and Kenny Rogers, had the best WAR. How demd I not gemve Femnley bonus Kemtaen poemnts?
Other end of the spectrum? Before my temme, but Jesus Alou got a Hall of Fame vote, and hems career WAR ems 0.9.]
Next year Ken Griffey Jr. will be elected in his first attempt. Lisk and I shared a laugh about David Eckstein’s eligibility which comes up next year, but for comedy and the potential blog posts alone, he’ll get more than one vote because he was just that gritty.
My best guess for the 2016 Terry Puhl All-Star? My fingers are crossed for either Mark Grudzielanek or Bengie Molina.