Snubbed! Who deserves to be in the Reds Hall of Fame?
Doing the hard work for the 2024 Reds HOF Veterans Committee
Over the summer, I wrote about the latest class to be inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame: pitchers Bronson Arroyo and Danny Graves, and executive Gabe Paul. In that newsletter, I predicted that Brandon Phillips would be the next player inducted on the “Modern Player Ballot;” that election will take place next year (with induction the following season).
I don’t think that election will be very dramatic. There are a number of players who are eligible and may have a shot at being elected some day, beginning with the players who were on the ballot last time but weren’t elected: Aaron Boone, Francisco Cordero, Aaron Harang, and Scott Rolen. Others who we’ll see on a Modern Player Ballot someday include Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier, and Zack Cozart, and the not-yet-retired crew of Johnny Cueto, Luis Castillo, Aroldis Chapman, Eugenio Suarez, and Joey Votto.
It’s now time to do a deep dive into the top candidates for the upcoming deliberations of the Veterans Committee. This is my service to that committee, but I also wanted to make sure to write about this in plenty of time for the Reds Hall of Fame to come to their senses and add me to the Veterans Committee. More on that later.
When we talk about the top candidates for enshrinement by the Veterans Committee, what we’re really talking about are the players who were snubbed the first time around. This is the moment where I usually talk about Reggie Sanders. I mean, come on. No one else is even close, as I’ve written about in great detail. I won’t repeat those arguments. Instead, let’s focus on other deserving Reds who have been ignored up to this point and who may have a shot at some point in the future.
I’m a “big Hall” kinda guy — let’s induct anyone who is a reasonably good candidate — but that’s almost a moot point now. If we were starting the Reds Hall of Fame today, I’d probably lean towards not including a number of players who have already been inducted. That ship has sailed. Players like Harry Craft (career: .253./294/.380, 3.9 WAR), Mike McCormick (.278/.324/.349, 3.0 WAR), and Larry Kopf (.250/.305/.309, 5.2 WAR) are already in the Reds HOF. The bar for admission is relatively low.
Given that fact, the omission of Reggie Sanders and a number of the players I discuss below is a disgrace. That’s probably overly dramatic, but an opportunity does exist to add a bunch of new names in the coming years and, in the process, bring even more attention to the Hall of Fame and Museum, which is the best of its kind among American sports franchises.
Here’s how the Reds Hall of Fame describes the “Veteran Players and Executives, Managers and Contributors” committee:
The Veterans Committee considers the candidacies of executives and managers as well as players whose Major League careers ended more than 15 years prior to the induction year. The Committee consists of select Reds Hall of Famers, baseball historians, members of the media and other qualified candidates. The composition of the committee changes for each election cycle.
The Reds Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors recognizes that circumstances may, from time to time, warrant the induction of others who did not play, manage, or serve in an executive capacity related to team performance. Consideration for such must be due to extraordinary contributions to the Cincinnati Reds over a prolonged period of time. In those rare cases, the Board may consider and induct such a candidate directly into the Hall of Fame.
I didn’t play, manage, or serve in an executive capacity for the ol’ Redlegs. But according to the rules, technically I’m still potentially a candidate for future induction into the Reds Hall of Fame. And so are you! But these players are better candidates:
John Franco. Remembered mostly for his 14-year career with the Mets, Franco actually made three of his four All-Star teams during his six-year tenure with Cincinnati. That alone makes him an excellent candidate for the Reds HOF, but his 2.49 ERA over 393 appearances with 148 saves and 12.8 bWAR are his best arguments. Franco’s 148 saves ranks third all-time in Reds history, behind Graves and Cordero.
Kevin Mitchell. Only played 225 games for the Reds, but I will always contend that Mitchell was the greatest hitter I ever saw in a Reds uniform. Over parts of three seasons, Mitchell hit .332/.414/.631 with 55 home runs. I don’t know how else to describe Mitchell. If you saw him, you understand.
Curt Walker. Barely remembered today, Walker was a star left-handed hitting outfielder in the mid- to late-1920s for the Reds. He was remarkably consistent over his seven years in Cincinnati, hitting .303/.378/.441; his 18.8 wins above replacement is the second-highest among hitters who haven’t yet been elected to the Reds HOF. Walker’s .378 on-base percentage is seventh-best in franchise history, and higher than Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, and both Griffeys.
Ed Bailey. Catcher Lonas Edgar Bailey has the third-highest WAR total (18.7) of any hitter who isn’t in the HOF, ahead of Chris Sabo and Sean Casey, among others. Only Johnny Bench and Ernie Lombardi top him among Reds catchers. A six-time All-Star (four of those with Cincinnati), Bailey hit .261/.359/.437 over nine seasons. Unfortunately for Bailey, he was traded to San Francisco in early 1961, and was not on the club for Cincinnati’s dash to the World Series that year.
There are a number of fabulous Bailey stories; writer Earl Lawson described him thusly: “For sheer brashness and cockiness, there has been no big-leaguer to top him since the days of Dizzy Dean.” But my favorite Bailey story was related by Jules Tygiel in Baseball’s Great Experiment:
…after being removed from a game, [pitcher Brooks Lawrence] and catcher Ed Bailey entered the stands to watch the remainder of the contest. A rope separated the black and white sections and while Bailey sat on the white side, Lawrence sat next to him on the black. “Boy, this is stupid,” exclaimed Bailey, a Tennesseean. “I’m gonna change this.” The catcher removed the rope and, according to Lawrence, no one ever reattached it.
Kal Daniels. Kalvoski’s star shone bright, but dimmed quickly, and he represents the eternal argument when it comes to HOF discussions: how do you compare players with short, brilliant careers to those who have longer, more distinguished careers. Kal’s 149 OPS+ is the third-best in Reds history (if you drop the qualifier down to 1000 plate appearances), ahead of Joe Morgan and Joey Votto. Over 3.5 seasons in Cincinnati after being drafted 7th overall, Daniels hit .301/.406/.506. He led the league with a .397 OBP in 1988 and looked like a future superstar before injuries ended his career at age 28.
Babe Herman. Called “a left-handed colossus” by The Sporting News while still in high school, Herman is another star who shined in a very short stint in Cincinnati. After a distinguished career with Brooklyn, Herman spent one season with the Reds, leading the league with 19 triples while hitting .326/.389/.541. Three years later, he returned for a couple more seasons; his total Reds slash line was .315/.379/.510.
Herman was legendary for his lapses on defense and mistakes on the basepaths. John Lardner once wrote: “Floyd Caves Herman, known as Babe, did not always catch fly balls on the top of this head, but he could do it in a pinch. He never tripled into a triple play, but he once doubled into a double play, which is the next best thing.”
The Babe was annoyed by his reputation for fielding balls with his skull. “Never once did I get hit on the head by a fly ball,” Herman said. “Once or twice on the shoulder, maybe, but never on the head.”
Bobby Tolan. Acquired — with Reds Hall of Famer Wayne Granger — from St. Louis in exchange for another Reds Hall of Famer, Vada Pinson, Tolan was magnificent for the Reds until off-the-field issues forced the Reds to trade him. He compiled 5.3 and 5.4 WAR in his first two seasons in Cincinnati, at ages 23 and 24, leading the league in stolen bases with 57 in his second campaign as a Red. Tolan hit .316/.384/.475 with 16 homers and 80 RBI in that season, most often hitting second in the lineup behind Pete Rose as the Reds won the NL pennant.
He missed the entire 1971 season after rupturing an Achilles tendon playing basketball during the off-season.* He was never quite the same**, though he did post 4.9 WAR along with a slash line of .283/.334/.386 in 1972, when the Reds once again advanced to the World Series.
*Remind me to write about that topic one of these days.
**An interesting note: Tolan actually compiled 13.6 wins above replacement in his four seasons for the Reds. He was below replacement level for his other nine seasons, finishing his big league career with just 10.1 WAR.
Miller Huggins. Already in the Baseball Hall of Fame for his brilliant managerial career (he helmed the 1927 Murderer’s Row Yankees), Huggins actually had a fine career as a player during the Deadball Era. His first six years were in his hometown of Cincinnati, where he was a durable second baseman who hit .260/.362/.310. He led the league in walks twice, and his .362 OBP remains one of the twenty-best career marks in Reds history.
Frank Dwyer. I don’t expect to see Dwyer, a right-handed pitcher who pitched in Cincinnati from 1892 to 1899, ever elected to the Reds Hall of Fame, but he does have the highest pitching WAR (37.3) of anyone who hasn’t been inducted. He actually debuted in Cincinnati in 1891 with the American Association “Kelly’s Killers” club, then went 133-100 with a 3.77 ERA (121 ERA+) over the next eight seasons. His best campaign was in 1896, when he won 24 games.
Bug Holliday. Ninth on the Reds all-time OBP list, center fielder Holliday played his entire ten-year career in Cincinnati from 1889 to 1898. Also unlikely to be inducted any time soon, Holliday was diminutive but led the league in homers twice, including his rookie season when he banged 19. For his career, he hit .312/.377/.449, and in 1894, he posted a tidy .376 average. He probably would have ended up in Cooperstown if it weren’t for an 1895 appendectomy that effectively ended his career as a productive player.
Billy Rhines: Rhines was a 21-year-old pitching for a minor league team in Iowa when the Reds discovered him. One of the earliest pitchers to utilize a submarine delivery, Rhines would go on to lead the league in ERA twice. Dolf Luque and Bucky Walters are the only others Reds pitchers to accomplish that feat; they’re both in the Reds HOF. Sure, pitching was different in those days, but still…
Arlie Latham. I don’t know if Arlie Latham, who played before the turn of the century, is a great candidate. By WAR, he’s top-50 in Reds history (among hitters), and his total of 14.4 is higher than many current HOFers, including Billy Myers, Cesar Geronimo, and Gus Bell, as well as Todd Frazier. But he is reportedly the reason coaching boxes were created. And he was nicknamed “The Freshest Man on Earth.” That’s certainly a Hall of Fame nickname.*
*I love this narrative from Redleg Journal: “One of the most colorful players in big league history, Latham played for the Reds until 1894. He was nicknamed “The Freshest Man on Earth” because of his sarcastic wit, which often rubbed teammates the wrong way. Latham was immediately named team captain, an important position during the 19th century when rules didn’t permit non-playing managers like Tom Loftus on the field. Latham’s legendary rallying cries and insults rattled opponents from the bench and the coaches’ box. In 1890, a Cincinnati merchant recorded Latham’s voice on an early phonograph during a game to sell in his store. It was probably the first time in history a big league player was recorded. After his career ended, Latham lived in England for 16 years, became a close friend of King George V, and was appointed the country’s Administrator of Baseball in a failed attempt to make the sport as popular in the British Isles as it was in the American colonies. At the end of his life, at the age of 92 in 1952, he was a press box attendant for the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.
Other potential candidates: Ken Raffensberger, Heinie Peitz, Ivey Wingo, Elmer Smith.
It seems pretty clear that there are a number of good candidates for enshrinement still awaiting that call. I would love to be a fly on the wall for the robust discussion about the names above.
(Here’s where I complain about the fact that the Hall of Fame hasn’t actually asked me to serve on the Veterans Committee yet. What an injustice!)
As you know, I’d prefer to be much more than a fly on the wall. The members of the Veterans Committee include “select Reds Hall of Famers, baseball historians, members of the media and other qualified candidates.” I’ve reached out once again to the Reds, inquiring about the actual names of the members of the committee. No response yet. I’ll update here if they get back to me.
In the meantime, I will re-up my request to be added to the Veterans Committee for the upcoming election. Is there anyone currently writing who has penned more words about the Reds Hall of Fame, in our book (second edition coming soon!), in my Cincinnati Magazine column, and here at The Riverfront.
A member of the media? I dunno, but I have written a weekly column about the Reds for Cincinnati Magazine for ten full seasons.
A Reds historian? I dunno…how do you earn that title anyway? I mean, I co-wrote a book about Reds history. And is there anyone else who is currently writing about Reds history? From the time Babe Ruth visited Cincinnati to the moment when the Reds acquired a baseball legend for a hundred bucks (and then just gave him away) to an ode to the exciting 1999 Reds, where else are you getting stories from the history of baseball’s oldest franchise?
If the Castellinis have a say, I have no doubt that I’ll be snubbed once again for inclusion on the Veterans Committee. And that’s fine…as long as they don’t snub Reggie Sanders once again.
What’s Chad Watching?
Four films worth your time recently. The Holdovers was simply brilliant, but it’s from Alexander Payne so you shouldn’t be surprised. Just gorgeous; if you didn’t know better, you’d think it was filmed in 1970. Highly recommended.
Hot Potato is a documentary; if you have kids roughly the age of mine, this will bring you to the brink of tears. The Wiggles are important to a certain generation, and this documentary from Sally Aitken does a good job of explaining why.
NYAD is, in some ways, a typical sports movie. It rises above most of the genre thanks to a couple of great performances by a couple of America’s greatest performers: Annette Bening and Jodie Foster. Recommended.
And then there’s Napoleon. I dunno, I think I need to watch it again. I like Ridley Scott and I like Joaquin Phoenix and the battle sequences were filmed beautifully and there were some really funny moments and Vanessa Kirby was great. But there were also long stretches where the film was, to put it simply, boring. I’d wait to watch it on streaming if I were you; there is reportedly a four-hour director’s cut available. I’ll probably end up watching that one and hoping for the best.