A brief whine session
I did not want this not
be the typical whine session of why Terry belongs but I have reviewed other peoples thoughts as to why their pet candidate
belongs in the Hall of Fame and they all make good points. A combination of stats
is truly helpful to put things in perspective (which I have included) but it is apparent that the Hall of Fame does not live
on stats alone as there are many others from the 19th century that do belong. Just look at the numbers of Caruthers,
Buffington, Stivetts, Weyhing. They are not in but obviously belong on numbers alone. My spin is to put Terry on an equal
plain with certain inductees of Terrys era and early 20th century without using some bizarre and confusing formula.
Basically, I am bringing the Hall of Famers down to earth. Don't get me wrong, each of these players were great and are deserving
of Hall of Fame status, but if they are in then so too should Terry. If you dont agree with what I say - so what - this is
my web site - create your own.
19th century
Hall of Fame pitchers - The era of exemption
Of the 11 Hall of Fame pitchers
from the 19th century, only two ventured into 1893. Why is 1893 so important? Baseballlibrary.com says
"the most significant rule change in ML history" was to move the pitching box back
ten feet. Kid Nichols and Amos Rusie were the only Hall of Famers to dare both sides with any success. This was devastating
to many pitchers in that time period. Either perform or die. Terry survived. He won over 140 games before 1893 and more than
50 from 1893 to 1896.
Dead ball, spitball, weak league and the drunkard
This will be simple. What does
dead ball, spitball, weakened league (the advent of the American League and the Federal League) and a drunk have in common?
Chesbro, Coveleski, Faber, Grimes, Marquard, Walsh and Waddell - all Hall of Famers.
The
Babe, the Iron Horse and longevity
What would Terry's career been
like if he had the likes of Ruth and Gehrig and the rest of the Yankees of the 1920s to give him some offense or have a manager
appreciate your drawing power and be so concerned about your pitching arm so as to let you pitch only once a week and extend
your career? It probably would have been like that of Hoyt or Lyons.
Western League or American League - pile it on!
Ok, this is a stretch but since
the American League is really just the Western League renamed, we can add 33 more wins and 8 more losses to Terrys record
to bring him to an unofficial record of 230 -204, does that help? Terry finished his professional career by playing two years
in the Western League just prior to becoming a major league.
The
"wow" factor
What Terry does not lack is what
the baseballcrank.com calls the "wow" factor or what the Hall of Fame calls the intangibles. As noted on the first
page of the web site, Terry was a player who kept himself in shape, practiced good temperance habits, a fan favorite and was
an umpire too - during and after his playing days! Terry is a pioneer and a Hall of Famer.