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| Category: Sports |
(requires Adobe Reader)
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| About the Book | |
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Over one third of the 20th Century major league players who are in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown do NOT have the career numbers that would justify their being there. To be precise, 35% of the Hall of Famers fall short of having produced Hall of Fame numbers during their careers. Who belongs in baseball’s Hall of Fame? That is, which players have EARNED the right to be there? This book answers that question and tells you precisely how good a career the player had compared to the other great players. For example, at the end of the 2011 season, Derek Jeter was the #6 best shortstop of the modern era (since 1920). And the #51 best player among ALL position players of that period. Dr. Michael Hoban earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Columbia University. He has been a fan of the game for more than 60 years. The professor has been a serious baseball analyst since 1998 when he joined SABR (Society for American Baseball Research). Dr. Hoban says that from a mathematical point of view Bill James’ Win Shares system is the best tool available to judge how good a season a player had – because it includes offensive, defensive and pitching contributions and also adjusts for all reasonable variables such as era and ball park. In this book, Professor Hoban uses Win Shares to come up with a formula that assigns a numerical value to a player’s entire career. The system, called the CAWS Career Gauge (Career Assessment/Wins shares), ranks all the great players of the 20th Century according to their career numbers. And it establishes career benchmarks for each position – to determine if a player has obvious HOF numbers. Some conclusions from the book (after the 2011 season): 1. Only 169 major league players actually posted Hall of Fame numbers during their playing careers in the 20th century (118 position players and 51 pitchers). 2. There are presently 63 players in the Hall of Fame who do not have HOF numbers (47 position players and 16 pitchers). Professor Hoban’s Hall of Fame Blog appears on the web at seamheads.com. An article in the NEW YORK TIMES on November 19, 2011 identified Professor Hoban as an expert on baseball’s Hall of Fame.
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| About the Author | |
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Michael Hoban, Ph.D. is a retired mathematics professor who has been a serious baseball analyst since 1998. This is his fifth book dealing with baseball. An article in the NEW YORK TIMES in November 2011 identified Professor Hoban as an expert on baseball’s Hall of Fame. |