Tribute to Ken Boyer

                                                                                 Should Ken Boyer Be In the Hall of Fame?

“Ken Boyer did everything well, hitting for power and average and playing Gold-Glove defense. So why is he not in the Hall of Fame? Because third base is probably the most underrepresented position in the Hall. It’s just hard to get in as a third baseman. Third base is the Hall of Fame’s biggest mess.” -Author Eddie Daniels

I agree. Think Ron Santo…and the answer to the question I posed is an emphatic “Yes!”

I’m reading an interesting book right now called, “The Hall of Fame Corrected.” (see link below). The author, Eddie Daniels, is going through every player in the Hall and making the case either for or against his qualifications for inclusion. He makes his evaluations based not only on the traditional stats that we’re all familiar with (BA, HRs, and RBI), but he also uses some of the newer metrics, like Wins above replacement (WAR), Win shares (WS), and On-base Plus Slugging Adjusted (OPS+). In addition, he identifies players who he thinks should be in but are not. Among those is Ken Boyer.

Daniels also makes it very clear that third base is, in his words, “the Hall of Fame’s biggest mess,” adding:

“Not only does it have the fewest inductees of any position, with 15, but the Hall has several third basemen with weak qualifications. The expectations for third basemen have changed more than with any other position besides pitcher. In the early days of the game, third base was a defense-first position, where any offense was a bonus. Only after World War II did third base’s hitting profile evolve into the sort of ‘first base lite’ that it is today.”

I tend to agree with this assessment.

Evaluating the third baseman in the Hall, he has no problem kicking out George Kell and Freddie Lindstrom and has Pie Trayor on life support. He then makes a convincing case that Ken Boyer, along with Scott Rolen, Darrell Evans, Graig Nettles, Stan Hack, Sal Bando, and Heinie Groh, should all be in (Chipper Jones will surely get in when eligible).

This caught my interest. Since I was recently contacted by one of our readers, Dave Hopper, asking for info on Ken Boyer – and since Ken Boyer is our friend Don Stokes’ favorite player – I thought this was a good time to take a closer look at his career.

Ken Boyer played 15 years in the majors with the Cardinals (1955-65), the Mets (1966-67), White Sox (1967-68), and the Dodgers (1968-69). Over his career, he hit .287 with 2,143 hits, 282 home runs, 1,141 RBI, 1,104 run, 318 doubles, 68 triples and 105 stolen bases. Boyer had 11 All-Star selections, was a five-time Gold Glove winner, and was the National League MVP in 1964, leading the Cardinals to a World Series championship. He hit over .300 five times, hit over 20 home runs eight times, and retired with the third highest slugging average ever by a third baseman (.462). He drove in 90 runs eight times, and is still the only Cardinal to hit for the cycle twice. Boyer’s 12 career walk-off hits remain the most for any player since 1950.

Defensively, the 6’ 1” Boyer led the National League in double plays five-times and in fielding average once, and retired among the all-time leaders in games (sixth, 1,785), assists (sixth, 3,652) and double plays (third, 355). His career OPS+ of 116 places him well above average for third baseman in the Hall of Fame. Both his career WAR and WS rate him 12th all-time at the hot-corner. Bill James also ranks him 12th all-time.

His brothers, Clete and Cloyd also made it to the major leagues, with younger brother Clete being a standout player for the Yankees and Braves, with five post-season appearances. Upon Clete’s retirement in 1971, the Boyers’ 444 career home runs (282 by Ken, 162 by Clete) were the fourth most in major league history by two brothers, behind Hank and Tommie Aaron (768) and the separate pairings of Joe DiMaggio with his brothers Vince (486) and Dom (448).

So why is Ken Boyer not in the Hall of Fame? His career numbers certainly justify his inclusion. One stumbling block is that his career wasn’t terrifically long, totaling 8272 PA’s mainly due to losing his age-22 and age-23 seasons to military service. According to author Daniels:

“The major factor behind his non-selection is the ol’ third baseman’s conundrum. People look at his career totals and say “not quite.” If he had the same record as a second baseman, they would likely say “for sure!” But we have unrealistic expectations for third-base offense, as I’ve discussed.”

He was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014 and his #14 has been retired by the Cardinals. Ken Boyer passed away in 1982 at the age of 51.

-GL

Photo Credits: All found on Google Search

Information: Excerpts edited from “The Hall of Fame Corrected,” by Eddie Daniels: https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Hall-Fame-Corrected-ebook/dp/B018ZJ5CXM?ie=UTF8&keywords=The+Hall+of+Fame+Corrected&qid=1464178157&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1; and the Ken Boyer Wikipedia page.

Statistics: From the Ken Boyer page on Baseball-Reference.com

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