COG Round 98 Results: Killer fills resume with COG pick

After remaining on the COG ballot for almost a year, Harmon Killebrew supporters made a late voting charge for a come-from-behind win for their man in the 98th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. The long-time Twins star belted 573 career home runs, not least because (as he candidly admitted after his career) that was his objective each and every time he went to the plate. That singular purpose translated into 14 consecutive 100 game seasons with 130 OPS+, the longest such streak of seasons in the AL.

More on Killebrew after the jump.

Killebrew debuted as an 18 year-old in 1954, but it would be 5 more years before he cracked even 100 AB in a season. When he finally got his chance at age 23, Killebrew made the most of the opportunity, with a 42 home run, 105 RBI campaign for the 1959 Senators, matching Roy Sievers‘ franchise home run record. It would be a sign of things to come as Killebrew would top 40 home runs in a season 7 more times, a feat eclisped only by the Babe‘s 11 such campaigns.

The Killer’s 261 home runs for his age 23-28 seasons topped the record total of 257 by Ralph Kiner and Jimmie Foxx, and has since been eclisped only by Ken Griffey (263) and Alex Rodriguez (275). Swinging for the fences came at a price of course, as Killebrew topped 100 strikeouts in each of those 6 seasons, at the time the longest ever streak of such seasons. Included was a majors-leading 142 whiffs in 1962 to eclipse (by one) the all-time record set the year before by the Tigers’ Jake Wood (Killer’s mark would also stand for only one season, as three players surpassed 142 the next year, led by Dave Nicholson‘s 175 K’s).

His age 28 season in 1964 would be something of a turning point for Killebrew. After those 6 seasons of 100 whiffs and fewer walks, Killebrew put up 8 straight seasons never striking out more than he walked. Included were 5 seasons reaching the century mark in walks, leading the AL in free passes in four of those campaigns. Being more patient didn’t hurt him in the RBI department, as Killebrew also reached 100 RBI in each of his 100 walk seasons, doing so a total of 7 times for his career. Quiz: among players with 7 or more 100 BB seasons and 100 RBI in each of those campaigns, who has more career home runs than Killebrew?

Killebrew was one of the most efficient RBI producers in baseball history, joining Babe Ruth as the only players with 2000 hits and RBI totaling over 75% of hits. Similarly, only Carlos Delgado has matched Killebrew in recording 1500 RBI from fewer than 2100 hits, and only Mark McGwire has also reached 500 home runs with any of the following: fewer than 300 doubles; home runs amounting to more than 27% of hits; or home runs amounting to more than 60% of extra-base hits.

Possibly, Killebrew’s most unusual AB occurred in the 1969 season, on May 18th against the Tigers. Batting in the 3rd inning, Killebrew came to the plate with runners at the corners, but struck out with the bases empty. In between, his teammates (Rod Carew and Cesar Tovar) combined for four stolen bases to score the Twins only two runs of the game (with that example, Killebrew stole 7 more bases that season for a career high of 8, almost half of his career total of 19). Killebrew retired after the 1975 season with fewer than 20 stolen bases and having never recorded a sacrifice bunt. At that time, the next highest career home run total among such players belonged to former teammate Brant Alyea, with 38 dingers. As in many areas of his game, Killebrew was a man ahead of his time, as today the Killer still tops that list, but 25 other retired players have filled in the spots between him and Alyea.

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mosc
mosc
8 years ago

Doug even makes ME feel bad for not voting for the guy.

Wait, nevermind, I looked at his equally historic RBASER, RDP,RPOS, and RFIELD. I’m good.

bstar
8 years ago
Reply to  mosc

At least you didn’t actually call him one-diensional. I’m declaring a moratorium on that for awhile; it needs a rest.

brp
brp
8 years ago
Reply to  mosc

I don’t hold the RFIELD against Killer too much. He played 307 games at 3B between ages 33-35 and that is -30 of his -78 RFIELD right there. He also put up terrible numbers at LF. Clearly the guy should have been at 1B, and he wasn’t able to be hidden at DH until the very end of his career. How much are we going to beat him up for playing where his team asked/made him rather than where he should have been? We put in Frank Thomas and Jim Thome. Do you think Thome still would have been a… Read more »

David P
David P
8 years ago
Reply to  brp

Ah, but I can still call him unidimensional!!! 🙂

BRP – But that lower Rfield is balanced by the higher Rpos he received from playing 3B. Put him at first and he likely has a higher Rfield but a lower Rpos. The net effect of the Twins decision to use Killebrew at 3B is likely zero.

brp
brp
8 years ago
Reply to  David P

Possibly, but you can certainly accrue more negative RFIELD than RPOS. Of course he was one-dimensional, but looking at Doug’s post at 10 there – it was a pretty damn good dimension.

Jameson
Jameson
8 years ago

Quiz answer: Jim Thome. 9 100BB/100RBI campaigns, 612 homers.

Paul E
Paul E
8 years ago

Growing up in a National League city in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the only chance you got to see Killebrew and other AL stars was on the NBC game of the week, the All Star game, or the World Series. That’s it. However, I recall Killebrew was absolutely revered as a ball player. Put him in the context of the 1990’s, and his numbers, including his batting average, go through the roof.
There was some debate concerning Killebrew versus Nettles. Who do YOU want batting cleanup?

mosc
mosc
8 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

Equally absurd question is who do YOU want playing third?

Paul E
Paul E
8 years ago
Reply to  mosc

“who do YOU want playing third?”

KILLEBREW – so he can bat cleanup. The DH was not an alternative for the majority of his career. I just believe a hitter of Killebrew’s ilk can help his team much more than a very-good fielding 3b…and, that goes for Aurelio Rodriguez as well.
It just amazes me how this group blew off the COG candidacy of Darrell Evans yet is enamored with Nettles because of his fielding WAR while at times in the midst of his career he absolutely struggled with the bat.

David P
David P
8 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

Who do YOU want batting cleanup? “who do YOU want playing third?” Neither are helpful/useful questions. The question is: Who will win you more games, all things being equal? Well Baseball Reference’s WAR says it’s Nettles. But when we’re talking about careers that spanned over 2,400 games, the difference between Nettles 68.0 WAR and Killebrew’s 60.3 isn’t much, particularly since WAR obviously isn’t 100% accurate. Fangraphs, by the way, has them in a virtual tie – 66.1 for Killer, 65.7 for Nettles. They were obviously both great players who did lots to help their teams win. One did it entirely… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
8 years ago
Reply to  David P

David P., Mosc, I’ll take the hitter because I trust batting metrics more than fielding metrics. And, I guess that’s my problem. I just think a typical 3B gets 3-3.5 chances/game. And, those typical 3B probably have averaged 20-25 errors/season over the last 45 years. If a great fielder makes only 10 errors, I wonder how many unearned runs resulted form those errors over the course of a season. I think that number pales in comparison to a guy with a 130 OPS+ and 500+ homers in a 14 year span. I don’t believe anyone 40 years ago believed Nettles… Read more »

David P
David P
8 years ago
Reply to  David P

Paul E: I think most people would agree with you that batting metrics are more accurate than the fielding metrics. That being said, the defensive metrics have very little to do with errors (which tend to be subjective). They’re more about turning balls into out. Just doing a quick crude analysis: Nettles had a range factor .15 above the average third baseman per 9 innings. Killebrew when playing third had a range factor of .24 below the average third baseman. So a difference of .39 balls per game. Over the course of a season that’s 63 fewer base hits/63 more… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
8 years ago
Reply to  David P

David P. I understand the math. I just don’t understatnd all the Nettles-love. I believe Nettles to be an ‘accumulator/compiler”. Here with a comparison for two major league 3B. Player 1 versus Nettles: 70.0 WAR 68.0 52.1 oWAR 52.3 20.6 dWAR 20.9 You would think this guy was Nettles’ clone; however, he accumulated those numbers in 1710 fewer PA’s and 3705 fewer innings in the field. I do believe this data, when considered objectively, firmly indicates Scott Rolen to be the superior ball player. But, I don’t think this group of voters would see Rolen as a Circle of Greats… Read more »

brp
brp
8 years ago
Reply to  David P

@21… why on earth do you think we wouldn’t vote in Rolen? A guy with a 122 OPS+ and both a reputation and metrics as a great defender at 3B is a pretty solid candidate.

If some of us vote for Nettles, then why wouldn’t we vote for Rolen? Not understanding your logic here.

David P
David P
8 years ago
Reply to  David P

BRP: I agree. I think Rolen gets in easily. Course it depends a bit on who else is on the ballot. But 70+ WAR and 40+ WAA have been pretty much automatic COG election.

If Rolen and Nettles are someday on the ballot together, my guess is that Rolen get more support than Nettles. The only two negatives I see for him are 1) injury-prone, 2) poor playoff performance.

Joseph
Joseph
8 years ago

I’m glad Killebrew made it–I would have voted for him more, but he always seemed so safe with all those extra rounds of eligibility.

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
8 years ago

Sorry for the huge delay in posting this; things’ve been busy. Vote update! * indicates actively on the ballot; # indicates un-elected player who is off the ballot Craig Biggio – 763 Eddie Murray – 731 Roberto Alomar – 725 John Smoltz – 658 Kenny Lofton – 608 Ryne Sandberg – 607 Harmon Killebrew – 585 Edgar Martinez – 507 Lou Whitaker – 493 *Kevin Brown – 446 Whitey Ford – 382 Bobby Grich – 376 Sandy Koufax – 375 *Roy Campanella – 368 Tony Gwynn – 346 *Dennis Eckersley – 338 Willie McCovey – 336 *Dave Winfield – 328… Read more »

David Horwich
David Horwich
8 years ago
Reply to  Dr. Doom

Killebrew didn’t have the longest wait to get elected. Here’s what I have for most appearances on the ballot:

69 rounds – Biggio
66 rounds – Murray
63 rounds – Alomar
59 rounds – Sandberg
57 rounds – Smoltz
56 rounds – Loftpn
50 rounds – Killebrew

Which, not concidentally, almost perfectly lines up with the above list of most total votes received.

Scary Tuna
Scary Tuna
8 years ago
Reply to  David Horwich

Killebrew survived the first three ballots on which he appeared, before falling off in 1934 Part 2 (Round 45) one month later. He was brought back through Redemption Round #4, reappearing on the main ballot in Round 52 (1928 Part 2) and staying there until his election. If my count is correct, Killebrew is the fifth player elected to the Circle of Greats after having previously been redeemed. Here’s what I found for results from the redemption rounds: RR 1 – Lofton (elected), K. Brown (on ballot) RR 2 – E. Martinez (elected), Lofton – 2nd time (only COG member… Read more »

Scary Tuna
Scary Tuna
8 years ago
Reply to  Scary Tuna

Correction: Round 52 was 1928 Part 1.

Hub Kid
Hub Kid
8 years ago

I’m glad Killebrew got in; I did vote for him several times, and he was easily my second choice among the 4 1893 contenders(or was it 5 who all were leading for a while or tied for the lead?). My feeling was that Killebrew should have been one of the ‘last in’ to really consider him with the rest of the borderline; Round 98 is pretty far along, but obviously I waited too long and didn’t get to vote him in. He sure could draw walks and hit home runs… not a common combination today. I know this is inconsistent… Read more »

mosc
mosc
8 years ago
Reply to  Hub Kid

See, this is what I don’t get. Winfield has more OWAR and did it in the age where at DH his defense wasn’t hurting is team. If you don’t like defensive metrics, Sheffield puts both to shame.

Paul E
Paul E
8 years ago
Reply to  mosc

Mosc,
Check out Sheffield’s 1996 season: 142 BB 66 SO 42 HR 324 TB 189 OPS+

If I did the search correctly, Ted Williams is the only ballplayer to duplicate or better these numbers in a single season (1949). Obviously, neither one of these guys were getting compensated for the fielding skills

bells
bells
8 years ago

I’m a bit late on this thread (just catching up with everything since mid-April, as I’ve been working remotely with little internet), but I just want to acknowledge that Harmon Killebrew was a great player and, by all accounts, a fantastic person. I spent many ballots arguing that Killebrew wasn’t CoG worthy, and by the way I measure things he’s not. But that doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge he was a great player, and respect that enough people thought he belonged to vote him in. There has been plenty of time to debate his candidacy, and if people have heard… Read more »