Chili Davis

[Cowtipper]

Over 19 years in the majors, Chili Davis collected 2380 hits - 350 of which were home runs - and put together a .274 batting average. A three time All-Star, he was one of the most intentionally walked batters of all time - in fact, his 188 career IBBs are 16th all time. He is also 43rd all-time in sacrifice flies.

Statistically, he is similar to Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda.

When he retired, he had more home runs than any other switch hitter except for Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray.

So, should Chili Davis be in the Hall of Fame?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Here are Chili's comps:

Don Baylor (887)
Luis Gonzalez (886)
Dwight Evans (878)
Ruben Sierra (865)
Andres Galarraga (864)
Orlando Cepeda (861) *
Joe Carter (857)
Ron Santo (855)
Dave Parker (853)
Steve Garvey (851)

Cepeda's a HOFer, Santo should be, and the other guys have threads in this forum discussing them. Hmmmm . . .

Chili Davis was a good player. He was not a great player, never once. He spent half his career as a DH, and that was the BETTER half of his career. If Chili had spent his entire career in CENTER field, and hit what he did for the second half of his career all the way through, then he would be on a par with, say, Jim Edmonds. Of course, those are "ifs"; Chili did NOTHING in his career to suggest to anyone that he has a plausible HOF case. There may well be a thousand players ahead of him in the Cooperstown line.

[Rotoprofessor]

I have to agree. Davis never came off as anything more then an average player to me. He was a good player that did his job, but that was about it. I wouldn't fear him when he came up to the plate and he was never a dominant player. I wouldn't expect him to get more then a handful of votes, so I would say hands down, no, not a Hall of Famer.

[Los Bravos]

Here are Chili's comps:

Don Baylor (887)
Luis Gonzalez (886)
Dwight Evans (878)
Ruben Sierra (865)
Andres Galarraga (864)
Orlando Cepeda (861) *
Joe Carter (857)
Ron Santo (855)
Dave Parker (853)
Steve Garvey (851)

Cepeda's a HOFer, Santo should be, and the other guys have threads in this forum discussing them. Hmmmm . . .To me, that suggests he has enough of a case to discuss, so I voted "Maybe."

If nothing else, he had a better carer than a lot of people seem to realize.

[Paul Wendt]

If nothing else, he had a better carer than a lot of people seem to realize.

For sure, a good player for a long time.
But none of those comps is a close comp (max score 887).

[Fuzzy Bear]

For sure, a good player for a long time.
But none of those comps is a close comp (max score 887).

The lack of close comps is due to Chili's uniqueness as a player. He spent half his career as a speedy outfielder with medium range power, and the back end as a slow DH with significant power. Chili isn't really comparable to most of those guys, but he isn't better than them, either.

[KCGHOST]

I remember him from his KC days and he had a reputation as just being out for his own stats. The numbers suggest a guy who had a pretty good career with the bat, but not that good.