Tommy Leach..Eligible?

[jboosted92]

2,000+ hits, HR titles, First WS HR, Stolen base guy, Triples guy..

Overshadowed by Honus Wagner.

Does he deserve? is he eligible by Veterans Committee?

[KCGHOST]

Leach was somewhat above average, but that's about it. As a 3B/CF his offensive productivity is way too low. Good player, though.

The VC could vote him in if they had a mind to in 2007, but that will be the third time the VC has voted under the new format and in neither of the prior occasions have they felt the need to consider him past the first round of their deliberations.

[Brad Harris]

Yeah...one of the forgotten stalwarts of his era. Not quite great enough, IMHO.

Will continue to have permanently eligibility, but not make the final ballot for the Veterans Committee's biannual elections.

Agree with KCGHOST...handy player to have on your team in the 1900's.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Putting Tommy Leach in the HOF would be like putting Gil McDougald or Tony Phillips in the HOF.

That's not as ridiculous as it sounds. McDougald played every position in the infield during the fifties, and played it well. He hit for power, and played every position well. Bill James' essay on McDougald in 2000 states that Casey Stengel could move McDougald to any position in the infield, and he'd be a Gold Glover at all of them. McDougald's ability and willingness to be a regular without a single position made him a key to success on what was the greatest period of Yankee success ever. Phillips was an OBP machine, who probably could have played a few more seasons had he not had a run-in with the law over drugs. Had McDougald been on the Red Sox, and installed at 3B, or even SS, he'd have played into the mid-60s and been a HOFer, hitting over 300 HRs. Had Phillips been given a steady position earlier in his career, he might have scored 1,800 runs. (Phillips struggled a bit with Oakland, but the A's didn't seem to know what they had.)

Leach played 3B at at time when 3B was to the right of 2B on the defensive spectrum. He also played CF, an equally difficult position, but one that requires different skills than 3B. I honestly don't know what to make of him. In truth, I think he falls a bit behind Phillips and McDougald.