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Hall of Fame Metrics -- Batters

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	XBH	TB	RC
Ralph Kiner	1424	4728	936	1267	296	23	321	1059	13	5	1082	731	.268	.404	.544	.948	640	2572	1041
Stan Musial	1230	4443	849	1367	244	48	245	843	83	38	639	314	.308	.395	.550	.944	537	2442	963
Minnie Minoso	1359	4732	844	1538	277	59	134	774	141	54	479	498	.325	.390	.493	.883	470	2335	909
Gene Woodling	1570	5684	924	1792	324	57	161	934	108	70	700	612	.315	.390	.477	.867	542	2713	1052
Roy Campanella	1604	5399	946	1504	329	28	266	1008	58	20	579	838	.279	.349	.498	.847	623	2687	938
Gus Zernial	1765	6195	986	1589	375	36	356	1126	83	28	637	1572	.256	.326	.501	.827	767	3104	1013
Hank Thompson	1586	5344	837	1544	219	57	162	765	99	107	683	505	.289	.369	.442	.811	438	2363	850
Nellie Fox	1799	6473	877	1835	351	75	44	645	324	171	401	265	.283	.330	.381	.711	470	2468	795

All-Time Ranking	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB
Ralph Kiner			14		20		8	11			3			3	5	2	20
Stan Musial						18							16	9	3	3
Minnie Minoso						10							4	18	20	10
Gene Woodling		18	15	12	15	11					14		9	16		17	16
Roy Campanella			13		13		14	12							18		17
Gus Zernial	14	13	11		8		6	9							15		10
Hank Thompson						11					16
Nellie Fox	12	12		11	10	4			11

Black Ink Test (Awards points for leading the league in major categories)

	Pts
Ralph Kiner	48
Stan Musial	28
Minnie Minoso	19
Gus Zernial	15
Roy Campanella	12
Gene Woodling	2
Hank Thompson	0
Nellie Fox	0

· Ralph Kiner enjoys a commanding lead in black ink, thanks to his three RBI titles, two OPS titles, and leading the league in walks seven times in eight years.

· Stan Musial ranks a distant second, but his career is remarkable in that he racked up almost all of his 28 black ink points in a three year span, including 15 in 1954.

· Minnie Minoso is the only candidate with two batting titles (1955-56), which along with OPS and run titles in 1957, is enough to vault him into third place.

· Gus Zernial’s two home run titles (1956-57) put him in fourth place and Roy Campanella’s 1955 MVP season (topping the league in RBI, OPS, and SLG) put him in fifth.

· Gene Woodling led the league in doubles in 1958, while the second basemen Hank Thompson and Nellie Fox scored zero on the Black Ink Test.

Hall of Fame Career Monitor (combination of career and single-season records)

	Pts
Ralph Kiner	125
Roy Campanella	109
Stan Musial	107
Minnie Minoso	89
Gus Zernial	63
Gene Woodling	60
Hank Thompson	45
Nellie Fox	39

· Ralph Kiner, Roy Campanella, and Stan Musial, the only three five-time All-ULers on the ballot, stand above the crowd in the HOF Career Monitor.

· Kiner takes the edge due to his two MVPs and seven 100-RBI and 100-run seasons

· Campanella picked up bonus points for playing more than 1,500 games at catcher and hitting over .275.

· Musial got the bulk of his points from his six .300 seasons, five 100-RBI and five 100-run seasons, and his .308 lifetime average.

· Minnie Minoso leads the second tier of candidates with nine .300 seasons, including three over .350, two batting titles, and four World Series rings (more than any other candidate) put him in fourth place.

· Gus Zernial earned more than half of his 63 points from six 100-RBI seasons and and eight 30-HR seasons.

· Sixth place Gene Woodling hit over .300 nine times and played on two World Series winners, and like Minoso, picked up 16 points for his .315 career batting average.

· The second basemen Hank Thompson and Nellie Fox again bring up the rear. Thompson was a three-time All-UL second baseman and played on three championship teams, which account for more than half of his 45 point.

· Nellie Fox won four Gold Gloves, more than any other candidate, but like Zernial, was never picked to an All-UL team.

Hall of Fame Standards (considers only career statistics, awards points for achieving specific thresholds)

	Pts
Roy Campanella	40
Gene Woodling	39
Ralph Kiner	37
Stan Musial	35
Minnie Minoso	32
Hank Thompson	30
Gus Zernial	28
Nellie Fox	26

· The Hall of Fame Standards are much closer, with Kiner and Musial near the top, but below Roy Campanella and Gene Woodling.

· Campanella gets half of his 40 points as a defensive bonus (meant to normalize the batting statistics of catchers and middle infielders to make them comparable with outfielders and first basemen). But he also earns seven points for slugging and four each for RBI and OBP.

· Woodling, barely a blip on the Blank Ink list and a distant sixth on the HOF Monitor, is the big surprise here. He gets nine points each for his very high career batting average and OBP, and another seven for slugging.

· Kiner missed sweeping the three categories by three points. Like Musial, he picked up 19 of a possible 20 points for OBP and SLG, but his relatively low batting average (.268) held him back.

· Musial amassed 26 points for his averages, but only eight for counting stats like hits and home runs, reflecting his short career.

· Minoso .325 career batting average earns him the maximum 10 points and helps prop up relatively high OBP and SLG numbers, but only Hank Thompson has fewer extra base hits.

Summary: Assessing the Candidates

Ralph Kiner

The Hall’s first inductee leads the field in terms of Black Ink and Career Monitor points. Kiner enjoys a commanding 48-28 lead over Stan Musial in black ink, a measure of excellence in individual seasons. What is more, while Kiner put up some big years, his dominance spans an eight year period; his 4^th OBP title in 1958, for instance, came seven years after his first. No candidate has as many MVPs (2), 100-RBI seasons (7), 100-run seasons (7), and only two others match his five All-UL Teams. Kiner is the only HOF candidate to have won both an MVP and a Gold Glove. He led the league in RBIs three times, OPS twice, and walks an incredible seven times in eight years, and ranks 2^nd all-time in OPS, 3^rd all-time in walks and OBP, and 5^th all-time in slugging.

Stan Musial
Stan the Man’s biggest handicap is his short career. Among the eight candidates, Musial ranks dead last in games and at-bats, and next-to-last in hits. There is hope though, the only candidate with fewer hits has already been elected to the Hall! Musial built his Hall of Fame credentials over a four-year period of dominance (1953-56) in which he hit over 35 HR, 100 RBI, 110 runs, and hit .320 and slugged over .590. His six .300 seasons are second only to Gene Woodling, and his .550 slugging average and .948 OPS rank third all-time. However, with each passing year his candidacy weakens as his the limits of his nine-year career become more apparent. As of 1966, he no longer ranks in the top 20 in any counting stat, except triples (18^th).

Roy Campanella
Campanella’s biggest draw as a candidate is his record as the league’s dominant catcher for the better part of a decade. Five times in a row, Campy was named All-UL catcher. No other catcher has won more than two Ullies. Despite playing a physically demanding position, among HOF candidates only Zernial and Kiner have more runs, home runs, and RBIs. Unlike Musial, Campanella’s credentials are likely to improve with age, like a fine wine, because Musial’s accomplishments as a first baseman will be diminished by currently active players.

Minnie Minoso
Minoso’s strongest Hall credentials are his .325 batting average, back-to-back batting titles, and four World Series rings. Despite an MVP-esque year in 1957, in which he led the league in OPS, runs, and doubles, Minoso is unlikely to escape the impression of a “Cuban who collects hits for fun,” as one observer described him. While his .325 average still ranks fourth all time, as of 1966, he fails to crack the top 20 in any counting stat except triples. Perhaps more telling, he was only named to the All-UL Team once, in 1955, in the midst of five such accolades for fellow left fielder Ralph Kiner. Thus, until the Hall gets around to inducting the second best players at each position, Minoso’s candidacy is likely to suffer.

Gus Zernial

Ozark Ike’s claim to fame is obviously the longball. A two-time home run champion and the all-time home run king for a brief spell from 1961-62, Zernial had 500 more total bases and 120 more extra-base hits than the first inductee Ralph Kiner, but he struck out twice as much, walked half as much, and hit just .256. As a result, Zernial’s career OPS is 120 points below Kiner’s and doesn’t even rank in the top 20 all-time. Zernial does, however, rank sixth all-time in home runs, eighth in doubles, ninth in RBI, and tenth in total bases, and his place as one of the great power hitters of the ‘50s is secure.

Gene Woodling
No HOF candidate has more runs created (1052) or .300 seasons (9) than Woodling, and his three Gold Gloves are second only to Nellie Fox. Another corner outfielder who hits for high average, Woodling’s profile closely matches that of his teammate of six years Minnie Minoso. Yet despite Minoso’s two batting titles and two more World Series rings, Woodling is in many ways the superior candidate, at least in the counting stats, with more runs, hits, doubles, RBIs, and walks than Minoso. Woodling was consistently in the top 10 in batting, OBP, and hits – a total of 22 times in those three categories – yet never lead the league in anything except doubles in 1958, and thus never left the impression of dominating his position. He does, however, rank in the top 10 all-time in batting average and was one of the best pure hitters of the 1950s.

Hank Thompson
Thompson won three World Series, two Gold Gloves, and was named to three All-UL Teams and the All-Decade Team, giving him the widest array of major accolades. His career statistics, however, do not compare favorably to his contemporary Nellie Fox, other than home runs, RBIs, and walks. But neither of the second basemen have compelling enough profile to leap frog them ahead of better hitters at other positions, at least in the short term.

Nellie Fox
Fox is the only candidate with four Gold Gloves, but beyond that, his Hall of Fame case has little to stand on. He ranks last in Black Ink, Monitor, and HOF Standards, and although he has 300 more hits than Thompson, his OPS is a full 100 points behind the Monument, and he was never once named to the All-UL team.

Hall of Fame Metrics -- Pitchers

	W	L	Pct	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	H/9	W/9
Billy Pierce	279	161	.634	3.20	554	530	235	42	3	4260	3675	1517	187	1091	3613	7.76	2.30
Carl Erskine	184	80	.697	2.88	311	311	139	29	0	2537	2293	811	26	470	1346	8.13	1.67
Stu Miller	172	140	.551	3.42	378	378	138	24	0	2993	2540	1138	100	1293	2099	7.64	3.89
Hoyt Wilhelm	44	46	.489	3.21	500	12	0	0	297	533	516	190	9	172	336	8.71	2.90

	W	L	Pct	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO
Billy Pierce	1		12	10	10	2	2	3		1					2
Carl Erskine	10		2	3			7	5		17
Stu Miller	11			19		11	9	7		11					11
Hoyt Wilhelm				11	19				1

Black Ink Test (Awards points for leading the league in major categories)

	Pts
Carl Erskine	40
Stu Miller	37
Billy Pierce	23
Hoyt Wilhelm	0

· Carl Erskine was the dominant pitcher of the late ‘50s, winning three ERA titles, two win titles, and three WHIP titles.

· Stu Miller has almost identical Blank Ink numbers, only five years earlier. Unlike Erskine, Miller’s black ink is concentrated in a three-year period of utter dominance (from 1952-54), which included three straight ERA and innings pitched titles, plus league leads in wins, strikeouts, WHIP, winning percentage and shutouts.

· Billy Pierce ranks a distant third, with three strikeout titles to his name, but not much else. He did lead the league in winning percentage, shutouts, and WHIP in his Cy Young year, 1954.

· Hoyt Wilhelm, the all-time save leader, surprising never led the league in saves, or any other category, giving him zero Black Ink points.

Hall of Fame Career Monitor (combination of career and single-season records)

	Pts
Billy Pierce	185
Carl Erskine	112
Stu Miller	96
Hoyt Wilhelm	56

· Billy Pierce leads the Monitor list by a wide margin, thanks to ten 18-win seasons, including five 23-win seasons, and four seasons with 300-plus strikeouts. He also has nearly 100 more career wins than any other candidate.

· Carl Erskine is the only pitcher with four 25-win seasons, three All-UL nominations, and a career ERA under 3.00. He also won two ERA titles and is the only candidate to lead the league in wins twice.

· Stu Miller featured on four championship teams, won three ERA titles, a Cy Young, and led the league in innings pitched three times in a row.

· Hoyt Wilhelm, the only reliever on the ballot, earned half of his 56 points from his ten 20-save seasons another 10 from his 200+ career saves, and 12 more for his three World Series rings and All-UL nominations.

Hall of Fame Standards (considers only career statistics, awards points for achieving specific thresholds)

	Pts
Billy Pierce	63
Carl Erskine	48
Stu Miller	26
Hoyt Wilhelm	N/A

· Billy Pierce leads the group, thanks to commanding leads in career wins and strikeouts, which together account for the margin between he and Erskine. Pierce is the all-time leader in wins and innings pitched, and ranks second in strikeouts, games started, and complete games.

· Carl Erskine’s .697 winning percentage is the second best of all time and his ERA is third best. Erskine also has fewer walks per nine than Pierce, but lags too far behind in wins and strikeouts.

· Stu Miller is in the top 10 all time in complete games and shutouts, but has fewer wins than Erskine, but without the high winning percentage. He leads all candidates in fewest hits per nine.

· The HOF Standards are not designed for relief pitchers, since only two relievers were in the real life Hall of Fame at the time of its development.

Summary: Assessing the Candidates

Billy Pierce

Unlike most of the great hitters of the 1950s, Billy Pierce’s numbers have withstood the test of time. Unlike the best batting candidate Ralph Kiner, Pierce still sits at or near the top of several major pitching categories. As of 1966, he is the all-time leader in wins and innings pitched, second in strikeouts, games started, and complete games, and third in shutouts. Pierce has a Cy Young Award, a 25-win season, two championship rings, and was nominated to three All-UL Teams and named Pitcher of the Decade.

Carl Erskine
Oisk’s Hall bid suffers from the same problem as Stan Musial’s. He only pitched for nine seasons because his career was truncated on both ends by the Korean War and a seasons to the Korean War and a torn elbow ligament. Like Musial, had he played an additional 3-5 years, he likely would have cemented his Hall credentials. He had three ERA and WHIP titles in five years, led the league in wins in back-to-back seasons, and posted a 99-27 record in four seasons from 1955-1958. He leads all candidates will five all-UL nominations and four 25-win seasons and is the only pitcher with a career ERA under 3.00. Yet his counting stats are far below Pierce’s: 95 fewer wins, 96 fewer complete games, and a whopping 2200 fewer strikeouts. Yet for pure dominance, Oisk was among the league’s best for several years.

Stu Miller
Stu Miller is the only candidate to win three straight ERA titles and pitch on four championship teams. He led the lead in innings pitched three times and had five 200-strikeout seasons. He’s also the only Rookie of the Year to make it to the HOF ballot. A back injury in 1955 cut short his most dominant period, and he pitched for losing teams in his last years, hurting his win total. Although he ranks in the top 10 in complete games and shutouts and has the fewest hits per nine among HOF candidates, Miller is clearly dominated by the other two starters on the ballot.

Hoyt Wilhelm
The best relief pitcher in UL history thus far, Hoyt Wilhelm tops the all-time save chart with 297. He has three World Series rings, two All-UL nominations, and pitched ten 20-save seasons, including five 30-save seasons. His 3.21 ERA ranks 11^th all-time and 3^rd among relief pitchers, but Hall voters are unlikely to give the green light to a relief man until at least a few starters are enshrined, so expect Hoyt to remain on the ballot for a few years.