Cooperstown Candidates: Edgar Martinez and Lee Smith

Continuing a series examining the candidates eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The writers' ballots are due by December 31st and the Class of 2013 will be announced in early January.

The Hall of Fame cases presented by Edgar Martinez and Lee Smith revolve around the same crucial point. They both spent their baseball careers as specialists: Martinez as an all-hit, no-defense designated hitter and Smith as a relief pitcher who measured his appearances in outs, not innings.

Martinez was an adequate third baseman in the first few seasons of his 18-year career with the Seattle Mariners, but in a (successful) effort to preserve his health, he was quickly converted into a full-time DH. Without any defensive (or baserunning) value to his name, he built his whole career on the strength of his bat alone. Many baseball writers instantly discount Martinez for being "one-dimensional" or "a one-trick pony," which is one of the reasons why no DH has ever been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Edgar Martinez, however, deserves to be the first.

He didn't play a full season until he was 27 years old, so he's lacking in cumulative stats like hits (2,247) and home runs (309). However, his career line was majestic: .312/.418/.515. It grants him membership to a criminally underrated club. He is one of the 21 hitters in baseball history who maintained at least a .300 batting average, .400 on-base percentage, and .500 slugging percentage over the course of his entire career (minimum of 1,000 games played). Of the other 20 players in the .300/.400/.500 club, 13 are in the Hall, 6 have good cases for future induction, and one (Shoeless Joe Jackson) is ineligible. In other words, Martinez was legit.

There's more. His on-base percentage was over .400 in 11 different seasons. Across his entire career, he walked more times (1,283) than he struck out (1,202). As for his peak: during the seven years from 1995 to 2001, he hit .329/.446/.574 with a total of 38.4 Wins Above Replacement. That ranks him as the sixth-most valuable player in all of baseball during that seven-year stretch, despite not adding any value with defense. In 1995, he led the league in average, OBP, OPS, runs, and doubles, while being recognized with a third-place finish in the MVP voting -- again, without playing defense. His immense value at the plate transcended his defensive and baserunning deficiencies.

Martinez's numbers are Hall of Fame-worthy. The two biggest knocks against his candidacy aren't statistical. They are:
A) He didn't play in enough games (2,055).
B) He was a DH who didn't play defense, and no DH has ever been elected to the Hall.
Valid concerns, but it's not like there's no precedent to draw upon.

Career Games Played:
Ryne Sandberg: 2,164
Jim Rice: 2,089
Edgar Martinez: 2,055
Kirby Puckett: 1,783
Ralph Kiner: 1,472

Sandberg, Rice, Puckett, and Kiner are all in the Hall of Fame. Martinez should be fine here.

Percentage of Career Starts Made as a DH:
Edgar Martinez: 73%
Frank Thomas: 58%
Paul Molitor: 45%
Jim Thome: 39%

Paul Molitor played almost half of his career games as a DH, but he was elected to the Hall on his first try. The careers of Frank Thomas and Jim Thome were also buoyed by the DH and they're locks for Cooperstown. Not one of these players has been burdened by the stigma of the position like Martinez has, evidenced by his failure to win the support of even 40% of the baseball writers after three years on the ballot. When Frank Thomas gets in (it won't take long, he becomes eligible next year) he'll be the first Hall of Famer with more than half of his career games spent as a DH. That should pave the way for Martinez. He certainly deserves the honor.

And then there's Lee Smith, a closer who racked up 478 saves in his 18 seasons with eight different teams. Like Martinez, Smith's value as a player was limited by his role. As a relief pitcher, his job was both easier and less important than the heavier workloads undertaken by starters. His candidacy is mostly hinged on the fact that when he retired, he was the all-time saves leader. The significance of this is ... well, nonexistent. It's trivia. A guy named Jeff Reardon also once retired as the all-time saves leader, and I have no idea who that is. It hardly even matters anyway, as Smith has since been passed in career saves by Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman.

More importantly, Smith falls short when measured against the five relievers already in the Hall. Sure, his career ERA of 3.03 looks worthy compared to the ERAs of Dennis Eckersley (3.50) and Goose Gossage (3.01). But Smith threw less than 1,300 innings. Gossage threw over 1,800 and Eckersley, who was a starter for a while, exceeded 3,200. Hoyt Wilhelm and Rollie Fingers also threw more innings, and they were just better pitchers, period. The only one of the five enshrined relievers who's comparable to Smith is Bruce Sutter. But he is easily the worst of the bunch; the low-water mark. Smith has to be better than that. He wasn't, really.

Not only is Smith an inferior candidate when compared to the specialists already in the Hall; he isn't even the best specialist on this ballot. Edgar Martinez was the best DH of all time and the same can't be said about Smith as a reliever. What's more, Smith faced a hitter just 5,387 times in his career, while Martinez faced a pitcher 8,674 times. Martinez undoubtedly had more impact, and he wins my hypothetical vote. The DH position needs to be represented in Cooperstown.

My Ballot, As of Now
1. Barry Bonds
2. Roger Clemens
3. Mike Piazza
4. Craig Biggio
5. Jeff Bagwell
6. Mark McGwire
7. Edgar Martinez

Out: Sammy Sosa, Lee Smith