Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
I will say that him being in the HOF is questionable, though. He had a number of excellent years, but it was mostly in the mid-late 70s. Before and after that, he was just good, aside from a brief resurgence in 1985-86.

The basic standard is "10 year dominance", and he didn't meet that.

He also didn't finish with eye-popping career numbers, hitting .290 with 338 HR. He played through age 40, so you can't say he was cut off early, either.

On the plus side, most of his seasons he hit .280 or higher, so it's not like he was alternating between being great and sucking. He was more alternating between being great and being good. It's also notable that his "great" years were never record-setting, and his one MVP year didn't stand out compared to other MVPs. Also, he played OF, so he's expected to hit at that position.
He has effectivly the same stats as Johnny Bench, many more hits a few less home runs, but similar. But Johnny was a catcher, white and was not suspended for drugs, so yeah I get it.