The Colorado Rockies seek Cooperstown legacy

Denver – With Larry Walker making a big leap in the 2019 voting in his penultimate year on the ballot and Todd Helton making a good first showing with nine more opportunities on the way, it stands to reason that these gentlemen will be the first two members of the Colorado Rockies organization enshrined in the Hall of Fame in the near future.

Even if it takes a veterans committee.

This year’s ballot had the names of five former Rockies on it’s list, the most since 2013 when eight former Rockies were up for vote.

In order to be considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, players need a minimum of ten years in the majors and be in good standing (i.e. not be on the ineligible list). Considering not all ten year veterans even make the ballot, merely garnering consideration on the list beside several future Hall of Famers is an accomplishment of its own.

So, after Walker and Helton, who could be next?

The first name that comes to mind is current third baseman Nolan Arenado. Regardless which color pinstripes he wears in 2020, there’s no doubt that Arenado has made an indelible mark on the only franchise he’s know since being drafted in the 2nd round in 2009.

Depending on what happens next in his career, there’s a strong chance Hall of Fame senior staff and research team will chose the interlocking “CR” to be placed upon Arenado plaque.

At the turn of the millenium, the Hall of Fame and President Jeff Idelson changed the plaque policy on how the logo on a player’s cap would be selected. While a player’s wishes would be given careful consideration, the days of the inductee deciding on the logo are over.

If we conservatively suggest that Arenado plays another ten seasons and retires at 37-years-old, he’ll be eligible for the 2034 Hall of Fame election. (Book your reservations now!)

While some active Rockies’ players – both current and former – still have several years left in their careers, many of their best candidates for the Hall retired years ago, have never been eligible for vote and have fallen off ballots when receiving less than five percent of votes.

At this stage, many of the best candidates will need to be selected via a special or veterans’ committee, such as the Today’s Game Era Committee that recently selected reliever Lee Smith and designated hitter Harold Baines in December at the Winter Meetings.

In the sixteen years between now and January of ‘34, these are a few former Rockies that have already received consideration and could receive further:

 

Catcher

Sandy Alomar, Jr. – 2013 ballot: 16 votes, 2.8%

Colorado acquired former Cleveland backstop Sandy Alomar, Jr. from the White Sox via trade at the deadline in 2002 for the final two months of the season.

Alomar was National League Rookie of the Year with the Padres in 1990 and was selected to the All-Star Game six times. He was a mainstay with Cleveland during the 90’s and contributed to five straight playoff appearances with the organization.

He’s been a coach with Cleveland since 2010 and if his number 15 is retired for his contributions to the franchise, it could go a long way for earning himself a place in Cooperstown via a veterans’ committee.

Honorable Mention: Charles Johnson, 2011 ballot, 0 votes

 

Future Consideration: Chris Iannetta

Iannetta may have only a few years left as a player to further fill out his resume. Going into the 2019 season, he’s considered the 103rd best catcher of all-time by JAWS, a metric created by Jay Jaffe to quantify a player’s Hall of Fame qualifications.

Considering fellow catcher Brad Ausmus, ranked 99th by JAWS, was able to make the ballot in 2016 – and receiving no votes – it isn’t within the scope of reason that Iannetta could see himself on a ballot some time in the next decade or so.

 

Starting Pitchers

Bret Saberhagen – 2007 ballot, 7 votes, 1.3%

Jamie Moyer – 2018, 10 votes, 2.4%

During the lockout shortened 1995 season, the Rockies acquired Mets starter Bret Saberhagen in their push to win the NL West and fortify a rotation that would use twelve different starting pitchers.

In a dubious distinction that season, Saberhagen may have been the first Rockies’ player with more than a decade of experience to have worn two different uniform numbers in the same season during his brief two month tenure with the club.

Before his stint in the Centennial State, Saberhagen won two American League Cy Young Awards with Kansas City and made three All-Star teams.

His year in 1985 goes down as one of the most complete seasons for a starting pitcher in baseball history. Winner of the AL Cy Young Award, Saberhagen carried his success into the playoffs aiding the Royals to the first championship in franchise history, winning the World Series MVP in the process.

He would join Ralph Terry (1962) and Jack Morris (1991) as the only pitchers to have thrown a Game 7 shutout in the World Series.

At age 55, Jamie Moyer – a full decade after Saberhagen, who’s younger by over a year –  appeared on his lone Hall of Fame ballot in 2018.

Though Moyer is more known for pitching well into the 40’s, one of the strongest cases can be made for this Colorado player’s place in Cooperstown.

His 269 wins is 35th most all-time and is more than Hall of Famers Jim Palmer, Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal, all of whom pitched sixteen or more seasons.

Moyer pitched in twenty-five seasons over twenty-six years, a feat only eclipsed by four men, two of whom are already enshrined in the Hall: Nolan Ryan, Cap Anson, Deacon McGuire, and Tommy John.

He received Cy Young Award votes in three seasons, all after the age of thirty-five, and earned his first All-Star selection at the age of forty.

According to JAWS, his rating of 134th for starting pitchers makes it improbable that Moyer will gain entry via a veterans’ committee after receiving just ten votes (2.4%) last year.

Honorable Mention: Bruce Hurst, 2000 ballot, 1 vote (0.2%); Darryl Kile, 2003 ballot, 7 votes (1.4%); Mike Hampton, 2016 ballot, 0 votes; Kevin Millwood, 2018 ballot, 0 votes; Roy Oswalt, 4 votes (0.9%)

 

Future Consideration: Kyle Freeland

As the first Rockies pitcher to place in the top 4 in the Cy Young Award voting since Ubaldo Jimenez in 2010, the Colorado native has a long way to go to build up his candidacy, but there’s not doubt Freeland is off to a great start.

 

Relief Pitcher

Jose Mesa – 2013 ballot, 0 votes

Todd Jones – 2014 ballot, 0 votes

While only twenty-nine relievers to have ever accumulated 300 saves in a season, just six of those firemen have been enshrined in the Hall.

Four on that short list have suited up for the Rockies. Considering current Athletics reliever Fernando Rodney (325 saves) has accumulated a career WAR of just 7.9, according to Baseball Reference, and is ranked 348th by JAWS, reaching 300 saves hardly ensures automatic induction.

Two of those gentlemen in the 300 saves club are Jose Mesa and Todd Jones, who coincidentally saved just one game each with the Rockies during their tenures.

Mesa recorded 321 saves and was selected to two All-Star teams, finishing second in the AL Cy Young Award voting with Cleveland in 1995. Jones put up 319 saves with just one All-Star appearance. Both Mesa and Jones received 0 votes in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

It should be noted that Doug Jones, while never playing for the Rockies, does suit up with them each Spring Training as an instructor. The current Grand Junction Rockies pitching coach, Jones made five All-Star teams and received MVP votes in four separate seasons. His 303 saves is 27th all-time and is ranked 43rd by JAWS. He received two votes on the 2006 ballot.

Honorable Mention: Darren Oliver, 2019 ballot, 0 votes

 

Future Consideration: Huston Street

Street notched 84 saves as Colorado’s closer during the 2009-11 seasons after being acquired with Carlos Gonzalez in the Matt Holliday trade. Drafted in the first round by Oakland in 2014, Street won the American League Rookie of the Year in 2015, made two All-Star squads and received MVP votes in two seasons seasons on his way 324 career saves, 19th most all-time.

A native of Austin, Texas, he retired in March of 2018 via Twitter after a thirteen year career, and should appear on the 2023 ballot.

 

Infielder

Walt Weiss – 2006 ballot, 1 vote, 0.2%

Andres Galarraga – 2010 ballot, 22 votes, 4.1%

Vinny Castilla – 2012 ballot, 6 votes, 1.0%

Andres “Big Cat” Galarraga revitalized his career with Colorado after two lackluster seasons in Montreal and St. Louis in 1991 and 1992, respectively. In five years with the Rockies, he amassed more WAR than his eight seasons with Montreal.

As part of the Blake Street Bombers, Galaragga received five All-Star Game invites, two Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger Awards during his career. After leaving Colorado at the age of thirty-six, he continued for parts of six more seasons in the majors.

Current Special Assistant to the General Manager Vinny Castilla got his first chance to start with the Rockies and made the most of it after two brief stints with Atlanta in 1991-92. He was selected to two All-Star Games, won three Silver Slugger Awards at third base and tallied MVP votes in four separate seasons.

Before Walt Weiss was the manager at 20th and Blake, he was the shortstop for four seasons between 1994-97. The 1988 AL Rookie of the Year made one All-Star Team in his fourteen year career, albeit with Atlanta at the age of thirty-four.

Honorable Mention: Howard Johnson, 2001 ballot, 0 votes; Todd Zeile, 2010 ballot, 0 votes;Lenny Harris, 2011 ballot, 0 votes; Tony Womack – 2012 ballot, 0 votes; Royce Clayton – 2013 ballot, 0 votes; Todd Walker – 2013 ballot, 0 votes; Jeff Cirillo – 2013 ballot, 0 votes

 

Future Consideration: Jason Giambi, Justin Morneau, Troy Tulowitzki

Ranked 25th greatest at first base ahead of Hall of Famers such as Tony Perez and Orlando Cepeda, Giambi will appear on a Hall of Fame ballot for the first time next year.

As a five time selection the mid-Summer Classic and 2000 AL MVP, Giambi is much remembered for his public apology for use of performance-enhancing drugs after the BALCO scandal.

Recently retired Justin Morneau had a solid fourteen-year career, earning a spot on the AL All-Star Team four times and winning the 2006 AL MVP.  Struck down with post-concussion syndrome during the prime of his career, Morneau was not even mentioned on the Baseball HOF website highlighting future first-timers on the 2023 ballot.

Tulowitzki, a recent signee by the New York Yankees, has also had numerous injuries impact his ability to stay on the field throughout his career. Traded to Toronto in 2015, Tulowitzki racked up five All-Star nods, two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers, and MVP votes in six seasons.

Though ranked 26th by JAWS for shortstops at this point in his career, he is just out of range for the class of Hall of Famers at the position of the past sixty years.

 

Outfielder

Dale Murphy – 1999-2013 ballot, 18.6% in final year

Dante Bichette – 2007 ballot, 3 votes, 0.6%

Ellis Burks – 2010 ballot, 2 votes, 0.4%

Making his mark with Atlanta for fifteen seasons, Dale Murphy is one of a handful of players to have won back-to-back MVP Awards (1982-83). The center fielder from BYU was an All-Star seven times, and won five Gold Gloves to go along with four Silver Sluggers.

Just two home runs shy of four hundred for his career and the first of five original Rockies from 1993 to find their way onto a ballot, Murphy was respected so highly by BBWAA voters that he received more than 5% of the votes for a full fifteen years, then the maximum at the time. He was the first player to stick around for more than one ballot until Larry Walker and Todd Helton, respectively.

Jaffe’s metric places Murphy as the 25th greatest center fielder, just behind Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett at twenty-three. He’s a prime candidate to be go to Cooperstown via veterans committee at some point in the future, especially when considering an era like the ’80’s is under represented. 

Much like contemporaries Galaragga and Castilla, Bichette came to life during his time in Denver. The four-time All-Star won a Silver Slugger and came up just short of being the NL MVP in 1995, finishing second to Reds shortstop Barry Larkin.

According to JAWS, Bichette does not fare well, ranking as the 241st best right fielder all-time, twenty-nine spots behind Mariners Mitch Haniger, who’s played just under two seasons of baseball in his young career.

Burks played four-plus seasons in Colorado and celebrated his best season at age 31 with the franchise, earning an All-Star nod and third place in MVP voting in the process.

A center fielder for much of his career, Burks is ranked as 32nd best at the position, one spot ahead of Torii Hunter and one spot behind Curtis Granderson.

Honorable Mention: Ron Gant, 2009 ballot, 0 votes; Greg Vaughn, 2009 ballot, 0 votes; Jeremy Burnitz, 2012 ballot, 0 votes; Steve Finley, 2013 ballot, 4 votes, 0.7%; Juan Pierre, 2019 ballot, 0 votes

 

Future Consideration: Michael Cuddyer, Matt Holliday, Carlos Gonzalez

While Cuddyer played just three seasons with Colorado, he’s remembered for winning the 2013 NL batting title with a .331 average and will appear on the 2021 ballot.

Holliday just wrapped up his fifteenth season and sixth with the Rockies. Though he could be considered more of a Cardinals player – he hit more home runs, runs batted in, accumulated more WAR and won a World Series while in St. Louis – he’ll long be remembered sliding head first into home to win Game 163 against the Padres in 2007 for Colorado.

Ranked 35th by JAWS among left fielders, he’s out of reach for what might be considered the lowest rung of Hall of Famers at the position. Though Lou Brock, enshrined in Cooperstown in 1985 on his first ballot, ranks one spot behind Holliday in this metric, fans and voters will have a lot to argue about in regards to Holliday’s candidacy.

With three All-Star appearances to go along with three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers, the man known as CarGo has had an excellent showing in his first eleven seasons. Though he’s currently short of the greatest corner outfielders of all time, Gonzalez may have a few more years left and has done enough to earn a spot on the ballot when he hangs up his spikes.

 

Coach

Dwight Evans – 1997-99 ballot, 49 votes (‘98), 10.4%

Ken Griffey, Sr. – 1997 ballot, 22 votes, 4.7%

Few may be able to list the names of Rockies coaches over the years, but the organization has seen several talented former ballplayers aid with the development of their players.

Dwight Evans, hitting coach in 1994, stayed on the ballot for three years after a twenty year career primarily with Boston. Dewey won eight Gold Gloves in right field and is considered the 15th greatest to play the position by Jaffe’s metric, just behind Tony Gwynn and ahead of other Hall of Famers such as Dave Winfield and Vladimir Guerrero.

Mostly known for his offspring, the original Ken Griffey served as bench and first base coach for the 1996 Rockies after nineteen seasons in the majors that saw him win back-to-back World Series with the Big Red Machine.

Honorable Mention: Carney Lansford, 1998 ballot, 3 votes, 0.6%

Considered the 41st on the greatest third basemen of all-time according to JAWS, Lansford played fifteen years primarily with Oakland, winning a ring with them in 1989. He served as Colorado’s hitting coach in 2011-12.

 

Future Consideration: Don Zimmer

A baseball lifer if there ever was one, Zimmer spent forty-four years in professional baseball, twelve as a player and thirty-two as a manager and coach. He was Don Baylor’s right-hand man for the organization’s first three seasons, serving as the bench and third base coach from 1993-95.

As a manager with Boston during the ’70’s, Zim won 91 games or more in three straight seasons, missing playoffs each year without the benefit of a Wild Card. While at the helm of the 1978 Red Sox, his squad lost the second ever Game 163 after squandering a 14-game lead in mid-July to the Yankees.

Zimmer did win the 1989 NL Manager of the Year with the Cubs and went on to his greatest success after leaving Colorado when he would four championships with the Yankees as bench coach during a five-year stretch, reaching the World Series six times in an eight-year span.

Popeye, as he was affectionately referred to due to his likeness to the cartoon character, also won two rings as a player with the Dodgers, once in Brooklyn (1955) and once in Los Angeles (1959).

 

Manager

Managers, much like executives, pioneers, and umpires, are voted into the Hall of Fame only through veterans’ committees.

With a World Series ring in 1997, three NL Manager of the Year Awards and 1769 career wins, Jim Leyland’s one year as Rockies manager in 1999 is far from his finest.

As a manager in Pittsburgh, Leyland took the Pirates to three consecutive NLCS appearances from 1990-92, and later steered the Tigers to two World Series in 2006 and 2012.

Leyland ranks 17th all-time in manager wins, ahead of Hall of Famers Tommy Lasorda and Whitey Herzog. While Lasorda has two rings, Herzog has only one, along with 488 less wins and two less playoff appearances.

He also is second most in wins all-time by a manager without major league experience behind Joe McCarthy of the Cubs, Yankees and Red Sox.

The first catcher in Rockies history, Joe Girardi, is just shy of 1,000 wins in his career as a manager. The winner of the NL Manager of the Year for a Marlins team that was 80-82, the 54-year-old has a ways to go until he’s considered one of the greatest skippers of all-time, but with a .554 winning percentage and six playoff appearances, including the 2009 World Series with the Yankees, Girardi is on the right path.  

He never appeared on a ballot as a player, but he did receive votes in nine consecutive seasons from 2009-17 for AL Manager of the Year. By comparison, the best Bruce Bochy (11th most wins all-time) could string together was votes in four consecutive years; while Bochy has also received votes in nine seasons, it’s been over the stretch of twelve years.

Honorable Mention: Don Baylor 1994-95, 12 votes, 2.6% (‘95)

Before becoming the first manager in franchise history, Baylor was the 1979 AL MVP with the Angels and won three Silver Slugger Awards over a nineteen year career.

Future Consideration: Craig Counsell, Gabe Kapler, Jerry Dipoto

Though early in the managerial careers of former Rockies Counsell and Kapler, the two field generals lead have largely been successful thus far. Counsell took Milwaukee to within one game of the franchise’s first World Series appearance since 1982 and Kapler lead a young Philadelphia squad to a strong showing during the early parts of 2018 before the wheels fell off during his first year as a manager.

Dipoto, a former reliever with Colorado from 1997-2000, has been at the helm for Seattle as their General Manager since 2016. Dipoto also served as the GM with the Angels from 2012 to July 2015 when he resigned due to tension between the front office and coaching staff over the use of analytics.