Getty Image
As a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan (yes, it does suck), my favorite thing about one of the team’s greatest players, Harold Baines, is the fact that he always looked like he was about to fall asleep in every game I saw him playing in.
Baines’ greatest claim to fame was probably the fact he holds the Major League Baseball record for most games played as a designated hitter, 1,652. Baines did also, at one point, own the MLB records for the mark for career home runs as a DH and hits as a DH until Edgar Martinez and David Ortiz passed him, respectively.
He also hit over .300 eight times, was a six-time All-Star and led the American League in slugging average in 1984.
All in all, Harold Baines had a very, very nice baseball career. Very nice, but certainly not Hall of Fame-worthy.
That didn’t stop the Today’s Game committee (formerly known as the Veterans’ Committee) from selecting him and former all-time saves leader Lee Smith to become the latest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
As if all of that wasn’t enough of a head-scratcher, consider this: Baines was only on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot for the bare minimum five years and never received more than 6.1 percent of the vote (you need 75 percent to be enshrined).
You know who has received more than 6.1 percent of the BBWA vote?
Scott Rolen, Larry Walker, Gary Sheffield, Jeff Kent, Fred McGriff, Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, Davey Concepcion, Steve Garvey, Albert Belle, Orel Hershiser, and Keith Hernandez. All very good players, but none of which should ever be considered Hall of Fame players.
Needless to say, Baines’ selection elicited some very strong reactions from baseball fans.
Harold Baines simply doesn’t stack up to the Hall of Fame’s standards.
His selection is both puzzling and indefensible (by @JATayler) https://t.co/R02GZA1Lfq
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 10, 2018
Harold Baines is in the Hall of Fame.
Marvin Miller isn’t.
And that says everything you need to know about the farcical special committees that chose the former and continue to exclude the latter.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 10, 2018
Let's be frank: The elections of Jack Morris, Lee Smith, and (especially) Harold Baines are fully intended by voters to troll everyone who believes in objective analysis. They've lost power everywhere but here, but by God they're gonna use it. Embarrassing to Hall (or should be).
— Rob Neyer (@robneyer) December 10, 2018
Harold Baines was on the ballot as recently as 2011 and received 4.8% of the vote. It was his fifth straight year with a vote total below 10%. Why, just seven years later, do 16 people get to decide that he's now a Hall of Famer when 95.2% of the voters didn't think he was one?
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) December 10, 2018
Imagine if we now had to put every player better than Harold Baines in Cooperstown. Well, not Cooperstown… they wouldn’t all fit in Cooperstown.
— Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot) December 10, 2018
Many went straight to the stats…
Mike Trout passed now-Hall of Famer Harold Baines in career WAR (38.3) back in May 2016. He still hadn't yet reached 700 career games.
— Andrew Mearns (@MearnsPSA) December 10, 2018
There are 120 players with a higher WAR than Harold Baines *and* Lee Smith combined.
One of them is Lou Whitaker.
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) December 10, 2018
There are 25 right fielders in the Hall of Fame. Harold Baines ranked 105th at that position in 7-year peak WAR. Behind names like Josh Reddick and Alex Rios.
— Beyond the Box Score (@BtBScore) December 10, 2018
Harold Baines has a lower career fWAR than:
Jason Kendall
Chuck Knoblauch
Jesse Barfield
Gary Gaetti
Alfonso Soriano
Reggie Sanders
Ray Lankford
Carl Crawford
Darryl Strawberry
Devon White
Andy Van Slyke
Torii Hunter
Ellis Burks
Mark Grace
JD Drew
Ian Kinsler— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) December 10, 2018
Even Baines himself couldn’t believe it.
Harold Baines says he was "very shocked'' by the news
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 10, 2018
Amazing.
We now live in a world where Harold Baines is in the Hall of Fame and Barry Bonds is not.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) December 10, 2018