To me there are clear cut, first ballot Hall of Famers, and there are players with Hall of Fame careers; meaning they were great players and they played long enough to put up Hall of Fame numbers. There are a few Hall of Famers that make me scratch my head at how they got in and then there are other players that had a great career, but will always just fall short of being a Hall of Fame player for various reasons.
A while back I posted about a few 1951 and 1952 Bowman cards that I had picked up at my local card shop. Here is another one. This time it's a 1952 Bowman rookie card of Orestes Minoso.
Orestes is better known as Minnie and to me he is one of those players that was a great player for a period of time, but didn't play long enough, at a high enough level, to acquire the stats needed to get him into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I laughed when I typed "he didn't play long enough" because his career spanned decades. 5 decades to be exact. The seven time all-star would win 3 gold gloves and his career WAR is higher than several Hall of Famers that played his position including Willie Stargell, and Lou Brock. His .298 career batting average is not too shabby, but his .389 on base percentage is good enough for 109th all-time. Think about where he would have ranked when he initially retired after the 1963 season.
Minoso began his career in baseball in 1947 playing for the New York Cubans in the Negro Leagues and made the jump to the Cleaveland Indians in 1949. The bulk of his major league career and his prime would be spent with the Chicago White Sox (1951-1957 and 1960-1961). He would spend 1958-1959 with the Indians would play for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1962 and the Washington Senators in 1963 before returning to the White Sox in 1964. Minoso would suit up briefly again for the White Sox in 1976 and again in 1980, to make him the second player to play in 5 different decades at the major league level. Be the first comment with who was the first and I'll send you a few cards via a PWE.
The only drawback for me on the backs is that you lose about a third of the card to the card number and branding as well as the offer for a "Baseball Cap" and the copyright information. But they still manage to include a lot of good information in such a small space as it stands, so I can't complain.
Minnie Minoso may not be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but he is a member of the Cuba and Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame.
The back of Minoso's 1977 Topps Record Breaker card mentions he broke the record for oldest player to hit safely previously held by Nick Altrock. I'm taking an educated guess Altrock was probably the other guy who played in 5 decades.
ReplyDeleteEarly 50's Bowmans are gorgeous. As for whether or not guys like Minoso should or should not be in the hall of fame, it's hard for me to have an opinion since he played before my time. But the fact that he was able to hit a single off of a MLB pitcher at the age of 50 is pretty darn impressive.
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