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Rich StoweTim Wakefield Is Not a Hall of Fame Pitcher
Posted by Rich Stowe on June 16, 2011
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When I looked at Bleacher Report this morning, one article caught my eye. Dmitriy Ioselevich asked the question, "Is Tim Wakefield a Hall of Famer?" and I was really surprised when I read the article and saw that his answer was "yes."
By all accounts, Tim is one of the game’s nicest players and a true ambassador of the game. He has also played for almost 20 seasons in Major League Baseball. However, a quick glance at his player page on Baseball-Reference.com will show you that he is not a Hall of Famer, and it’s not even close.
What Baseball Reference shows us is Tim led the league in a pitching statistic category a grand total of four times: once in losses, once in home runs allowed and twice in batters hit by pitch. Not exactly the categories you want a Hall of Famer leading the league in.
If you scroll further down the page on Baseball Reference, you’ll also see the Hall of Fame statistics section. What this tells us is that based on the formula they use, which was developed by Bill James, you’ll see how Tim’s career stacks up to other players and Hall of Famers.
