Statistically Speaking: World Famous StatSpeak Roundtable: August 20

Billy Beane and the HOF? Well...after that old Johnny Ramone - Billy Beane interview, I don’t see why...oh, the BASEBALL HOF.

Question #4: Does Billy Beane belong in the Hall of Fame?

Pizza Cutter: Oddly enough, I’ll answer this question by referencing Barry Bonds* and Pete Rose* (again).  Consider for a moment that if Bonds* and Rose* were judged solely by what they did on the field, they’d both be in the Hall of Fame with no questions asked.  Rose* looks like he’ll never make it, and I don’t think the odds are looking good for Bonds*.  Why keep them out (and the reason why is important)?  It’s not personal character that seems to keep people out.  The Hall has its share of people with character flaws.  What Rose* and Bonds* did was affect the way in which the game was perceived by the public, and that can apparently trump even obvious Hall-worthy numbers.  Rose* and Bonds* changed the way that people viewed the game… they brought the game into disrepute, so they are out.

Now, suppose that in 10 years, most teams have adopted a Sabermetric worldview.  It might not happen, but it certainly could.  Suddenly, who has affected the way that people see baseball (and may I say positively) by being an early adopter of such methods?  Billy Beane.  His record as a GM (no World Series titles) says that he doesn’t deserve to get in, but really, has anyone else, other than maybe Barry Bonds*, had more of an effect on the way that people think about baseball over the last 20 years?  Even those who don’t subscribe to Sabermetric principles now make a point to say that they are “anti-Moneyball” which means that like it or hate it, Sabermetrics frames the debate.  Had it not been Beane, maybe someone else would have come along and been the poster boy (Theo Epstein?), but Beane is a symbol for the movement.  If one is going to make a case to keep Bonds* and Rose* out for reasons involving what they did to the cultural perception of baseball, is it not proper to vote Billy Beane based on the same arguments?