Hall of Fame Poll: Carlos Delgado

You could get whiplash going from Roger Clemens to Carlos Delgado. One is an asshat and one is just a great person.

Anyway, Delgado was a one-and-done on the Writers’ ballots. He was on 3.8% of the ballots, which is pretty much criminal.

The reason?

He protested the war in Iraq by not standing during ‘God Bless America. He said, “I just feel so sad for the families that lost relatives and loved ones in the war. But I think it’s the stupidest war ever.” That may have cost him votes among the Hall of Fame voters, but one would think that all the charity work he did would have offset that.

The BBWAA are a pretty right-wing group. How dare Delgado point out the obvious? I think it is fair to doubt that Carlos is a Hall of Famer, but he should have gotten more than 5% of the vote, so the debate could go on.

Anyway, I don’t need to tell you about Carlos, but I’m going to anyway.

He played 17 seasons in the MLB, hit 473 home runs, had a .280/.383/.546 batting line in 2035, with 1109 walks and 1512 strikeouts. He had a 44.4 bWAR.

He got MVP votes seven times, finishing as high as second. Had three Silver Slugger awards and played in two All-Star games. He also won the Roberto Clemente Award for general good-guyness twice.

Carlos played 12 seasons with the Jays, before they let him leave as a free agent. He played a season with the Marlins and four more with the Mets.

Defensively? Well, he was a very poor defensive first baseman. He learned the position at the major league level, after coming up the minors as a catcher. The Jays tried him in left field, before settling on first base as his place. His best position was DH.

He is a very close call for me. I’d give him a few extra points for being a good guy, but is it enough? Fred McGriff made it with similar numbers (tho a better defensive player).

You can see his career numbers here.