Gary Carter's Most Similar: Who Deserves Induction?

[Cowtipper]

Of the players listed as most statistically similar to Gary Carter, the following are not in the Hall of Fame:

Ron Cey
Lance Parrish
Brian Downing
Joe Torre
Robin Ventura
Ron Santo
Todd Zeile
Tim Wallach

Which, if any, deserve induction into the Hall of Fame?

Here are some career highlights for each, courtesy of Baseball-Reference:

Cey:

6-time NL All-Star (1974-1979)
1981 World Series MVP
20-Home Run Seasons: 10 (1975-1980 & 1982-1985)
30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1977)
100 RBI Seasons: 2 (1975 & 1977)
Won a World Series with the the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981

Parrish:

8-time All-Star (1980, 1982-1986, 1988 & 1990)
3-time AL Gold Glove Winner (1983-1985)
6-time AL Silver Slugger Award Winner (1980, 1982-1984, 1986 & 1990)
20-Home Run Seasons: 7 (1980, 1982-1986 & 1990)
30-Home Run Seasons: 2 (1982 & 1984)
100-RBI Seasons: 1 (1983)
Won a World Series with the Detroit Tigers in 1984

Downing:

AL All-Star (1979)
AL Bases on Balls Leader (1987)
20-Home Run Seasons: 6 (1982 & 1984-1988)
100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (1982 & 1987)

Torre (as a player):

1961 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
9-time NL All-Star (1963-1967 & 1970-1973)
NL MVP (1971)
NL Gold Glove Winner (1965/C)
NL Batting Average Leader (1971)
NL Hits Leader (1971)
NL Total Bases Leader (1971)
NL RBI Leader (1971)
20-Home Run Seasons: 6 (12964-1967, 1970 & 1971)
30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1966)
100 RBI Seasons: 5 (1964, 1966 & 1969-1971)
200 Hits Seasons: 2 (1970 & 1971)

Ventura:

1990 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
2-time AL All-Star (1992 & 2002)
6-time Gold Glove Winner (1991-1993/AL, 1996/AL, 1998/AL & 1999/NL)
20-Home Run Seasons: 9 (1991, 1993, 1995, 1996 & 1998-2002)
30-Home Run Seasons: 2 (1996 & 1999)
100 RBI Seasons: 3 (1991, 1996 & 1999)

Santo:

1960 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
9-time NL All-Star (1963-1966, 1968, 1969 & 1971-1973)
5-time NL Gold Glove Winner (1964-1968)
2-time NL On-Base Percentage Leader (1964 & 1966)
NL Triples Leader (1964)
4-time NL Bases on Balls Leader (1964 & 1966-1968)
20-Home Run Seasons: 11 (1961, 1963-1971 & 1973)
30-Home Run Seasons: 4 (1964-1967)
100 RBI Seasons: 4 (1964, 1965, 1969 & 1970)
100 Runs Scored Seasons: 1 (1967)

Zeile:

30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1997)
100 RBI Seasons: 1 (1993)

Wallach:

1981 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
5-time NL All-Star (1984, 1985, 1987, 1989 & 1990)
3-time NL Gold Glove Winner (1985, 1988 & 1990)
2-time NL Silver Slugger Award Winner (1985 & 1987)
1994 NL Comeback Player of the Year Award
2-time NL Doubles Leader (1987 & 1989)
20-Home Run Seasons: 5 (1982, 1985, 1987, 1990 & 1994)
100 RBI Seasons: 1 (1987)

[dgarza]

Ron Santo and Joe Torre are the only solid HOFers on that list.

The rest are very good, perennial All Stars.

What's with the 3B presence here?

[jjpm74]

Wallach, Parrish and Cey were all very good players but not HOF worthy. Santo and Torre deserve to be there. Ventura had his moments but was never a star.

[Brad Harris]

Santo and Torre: no question.

Good arguments might be made for Parrish and Ventura.

No one else.

[Chickazoola]

Santo and Torre for sure.

I think Cey is worth some consideration too.

[Paul Wendt]

Ron Santo and Joe Torre are the only solid HOFers on that list.

The rest are very good, perennial All Stars.

What's with the 3B presence here?

Yes, these players look seem more similar to Joe Torre than to Gary Carter.

Similarity score puts a lot of weight on career totals. Not many catchers top 8000 PA and not many are good batters with power, to get about 2000 hits and 300+ homeruns if they do get 8000 PAs. Evidently the weight on fielding position isn't enough to put many catchers on the Sim lists of the greatest ones.

Bench has Berra, Carter, and Fisk 1-2-3 and then non-catchers.
Berra has Bench, Carter and Fisk 1-4-5.
Carter has Bench, Fisk and Berra 1-9-11(probably)

Al Lopez was a weak batter for slugging and below average on-base. He has recent longeved catchers Jim Sundberg and Brad Ausmus 5-7, otherwise middle infielders.

[philkid3]

Santo, and I'm close on Torre.

I also think Robin Ventura deserves more attention than he's gotten.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Parrish, Torre, and Santo belong.

Ventura is somewhat comparable to Brooks Robinson except he was better offensively, but inferior, defensively. But the same type of player. The other difference is that Ventura's career was about 40% longer, and he had almost 50% more career hits. That's a BIG difference. I couldn't see Ventura getting in and not Graig Nettles.