What a hectic last couple of weeks. Finals are this week, so academic commitments have been piling up lately. In addition to a newly busy, uh, social calendar, Sox-1918 hasn't had the same level of attention that it has in the past. I haven't even listened to a M's game in a week or so.

A few weeks ago, someone in the blogosphere (I was thinking it was Jeff, but I couldn't find it in his archives, so maybe it was someone else) in passing mentioned the Hall of Fame Monitor scores on Baseball Reference and Albert Belle's score of 134.5. A score of over 100 means "likely Hall-of-Famer," so statistically, this means Belle should be a lock. The author of the post expressed surprise at this. A long-running argument of Pete's and mine is Belle's HOF worthiness, so I wanted to comment, even if it is a little bit late.

From the years 1992-1999, Albert Belle was one of the best few hitters in baseball. The players of comparable offensive value over that time period fall into three categories:

First-Ballot HOF'ers:

Barry Bonds
Year	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1992	34	103	.311	.456	.624	1.080
1993	46	123	.336	.458	.677	1.136
1994	37	81	.312	.426	.647	1.073
1995	33	104	.294	.431	.577	1.009
1996	42	129	.308	.461	.615	1.076
1997	40	101	.291	.446	.585	1.031
1998	37	122	.303	.438	.609	1.047
1999	34	83	.262	.389	.617	1.006

Mark McGwire
Year	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1992	42	104	.268	.385	.585	.970
1993	9	24	.333	.467	.726	1.193
1994	9	25	.252	.413	.474	.887
1995	39	90	.274	.441	.685	1.125
1996	52	113	.312	.467	.730	1.198
1997	58	123	.274	.393	.646	1.039
1998	70	147	.299	.470	.752	1.222
1999	65	147	.278	.424	.697	1.120

Ken Griffey Jr.
Year	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1992	27	103	.308	.361	.535	.896
1993	45	109	.309	.408	.617	1.025
1994	40	90	.323	.402	.674	1.076
1995	17	42	.258	.379	.481	.860
1996	49	140	.303	.392	.628	1.020
1997	56	147	.304	.382	.646	1.028
1998	56	146	.284	.365	.611	.977
1999	48	134	.285	.384	.576	.960

Mike Piazza
Year	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1992	42	104	.268	.385	.585	.970
1993	9	24	.333	.467	.726	1.193
1994	9	25	.252	.413	.474	.887
1995	39	90	.274	.441	.685	1.125
1996	52	113	.312	.467	.730	1.198
1997	58	123	.274	.393	.646	1.039
1998	70	147	.299	.470	.752	1.222
1999	65	147	.278	.424	.697	1.120

No one (at least no one that matters) would argue against the HOF candidacy of any of the above men. Just look at those numbers (and Piazza's a catcher!). Griffey and Bonds are two of the best outfielders ever, McGwire one of the greatest sluggers, and Piazza is probably the best hitting catcher ever.

Next category:

The Argument Could Certainly Be Made:

Edgar Martinez
Year	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1992	18	73	.343	.404	.544	.948
1993	4	13	.237	.366	.378	.744
1994	13	51	.285	.387	.482	.869
1995	29	113	.356	.479	.628	1.107
1996	26	103	.327	.464	.595	1.059
1997	28	108	.330	.456	.554	1.009
1998	29	102	.322	.429	.565	.993
1999	24	86	.337	.447	.554	1.001

Frank Thomas
Year	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1992	24	115	.323	.439	.536	.975
1993	41	128	.317	.426	.607	1.033
1994	38	101	.353	.487	.729	1.217
1995	40	111	.308	.454	.606	1.061
1996	40	134	.349	.459	.626	1.085
1997	35	125	.347	.456	.611	1.067
1998	29	109	.265	.381	.480	.861
1999	15	77	.305	.414	.471	.885

We've heard the case for Edgar, and Thomas's follows a similar line of logic. I'd vote for both, but that's just me.

And now the final category (at least in terms of the voters' perception), with only one entry:

Stupid Jerk-Heads That Had No Business Playing This Game In The First Place:

Albert Belle
Year	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1992	34	112	.260	.320	.477	.797
1993	38	129	.290	.370	.552	.922
1994	36	101	.357	.438	.714	1.152
1995	50	126	.317	.401	.690	1.091
1996	48	148	.311	.410	.623	1.033
1997	30	116	.274	.332	.491	.823
1998	49	152	.328	.399	.655	1.055
1999	37	117	.297	.400	.541	.941

The only difference between Belle and the others is his rep. If he wasn't such a gaping asshole, we'd all be really sad that his career was cut short and be forecasting what his career numbers would have been with a couple more years of big league service. Speaking simply as a Mariners fan, I hid my eyes when Belle came up in his prime. Especially if Jeff Nelson was on the hill. Belle hit in the neighborhood of 8 thousand jacks against Nellie, travelling an average distance of 893.83 feet.

Albert Belle seemed to hate everybody equally -- teammates, umpires, opponents, fans, hot dog vendors, etc. Kind of like the drill sargeant in Full Metal Jacket. His anger seemed to fuel his fire, though. The only other player I can think of that played better with a chip on his shoulder was probably Jackie Robinson. Granted, Jackie's motivation was a wee bit more noble. The question that bears asking is: How much does attitude matter? For every voter, the answer is a little different. For me, if I had a vote, I'd leave Albert Belle on the outside looking in.

EDIT 10:46 AM -- Sorry about all that space between the tables. No idea why that happens, or how to fix it.

EDIT 12:14 PM, 5/5/04 -- Thanks for all the suggestions on repairing my tables. Much appreciated to all who responded so quickly.