Originally Posted by
notin
Bancroft was the original example of cronyism. He had several teammates in the Hall, and they were the ones who elected him. Statitisically he was rather bland, and his main accomplishment seems to be that he played for a long time.
Mazeroski had the defensive reputation, but his career totals are not much better than Lou Whitaker as a 2B. Whitaker did play 2 more seasons, but he also was an offensive contributor. Really, there are arguments for and agaist Mazeroski, especially over other players. But what are the arguments against Tiant, Mays and Hodges?
And if you had to rank the 4 players I mentioned for Hall worthiness, how do you rank them? I know this is tough, since none of us saw most if not all of them play. But then I would also bet that most of the people who elected Mazeroski never say Mays pitch either, yet they didn't vote him in.
In fact, doesn't letting Hall members vote create an obvious bias towards players the members played with and against?