Roberto Alomar: Hall of Fame?

ESPN.com - Roberto Alomar Retires

I'm somewhat surprised by this, but, these days, when former superstars retire, we break out the HOF debates immediately. So, it bears the question: is Robbie Alomar a hall of famer?

Similarity scores seem to favor him: Ryne Sandberg, Joe Morgan, Charlie Gehringer, and Frankie Frisch are 4 of his top 7.

"Most similar batter" looks good, too: he was most similar to Robin Yount for most of his 30s.

Two Bill James stats: HOF Monitor and HOF Standards, have him in the Hall.

Looking at career stats, to me, is an unfair way to evaluate a player's Hall of Fame credentials. Eligible players, in my mind, are players who were probably the best or second best in the league at their position and who were legitimate stars for an extended period of time. Then you evaluate their peak.

I'll put Alomar's career peak from 1991-2001. Here are some stats from those 11 seasons:

BA: .313
OBP: .389
SLG: .477
SB%: 82.4%
Gold Gloves: 10
MVP Top 10s: 5

That's the career peak. His last 3 years were pretty devastating to a lot of these numbers. The counting stats, on the other hand:

Alomar's career declined 2 years early for him to be a "lock," considering the 3,000 hit mark to be a "lock" level. Another standard holds that 2500+ hits and a .300 BA gets you in, too. Alomar's right there, with 2,724 hits and a .3003 (not a typo) batting average.

For some reason, 2nd basemen tend to have very steep drop-offs. Here's one....

Year A (33): .288/.417/.478
Year B (34): .236/.347/.385

That's Joe Morgan, from 1977 to 1978. He established a new norm for himself in those years....1979, 1980, and 1981 were very similar to that. (For some reason, he had a major resurgance in 1982, but the drop-off at Age 33-34 happened.)

Another one:

Year A (33): .318/.384/.511
Year B (34): .247/.337/.380

That's Robin Yount, in 1989 and 1990. Another Hall of Fame second baseman falling apart at the 34-year old cliff.

And a final one:

Year A (33): .336/.415/.541
Year B (34): .266/.331/.376

That's just Robbie Alomar in 2001-2002. I don't know what it is about turning 34 as a second baseman, but it hurt these three guys a lot. All three started playing in the bigs at very young ages, too....it could have something to do with wear and tear.

Alomar was a perennial All-Star and arguably the best second baseman in the game from 1991-2001. I'm pretty tough on my HOF picks, but I've gotta say that Robbie Alomar gets in, as a dominant player for that coveted 10-year stretch. I'll cut him some slack on those final years....players get old. It happens.