Larry Gardner

[Cowtipper]

Larry Gardner was a third baseman who played 17 years in the big leagues, hitting .289 with 165 stolen bases and 129 triples. He had a couple of interesting - if not notable - seasons. In 1920 and 1921, although he hit only three home runs each year, he managed to drive in 118 and 120 runs, respectively.

Statistically, Gardner is similar to one Hall of Famer: Jimmy Collins. The other players he is similar to are Del Pratt, Heinie Groh, Ossie Bluege, Willie Kamm, Milt Stock, Pete Runnels, Larry Doyle, Deacon McGuire and Jack Glasscock.

Just as a note...he never really led the league in anything, except for games (which he led once).

The Baseball Page ranks him as the 30th best third baseman of all time, just ahead of Eddie Yost, Robin Ventura and Tim Wallach, and just behind Heinie Groh, Bill Madlock and Ken Keltner.

How do you feel about Larry Gardner? Do you think he should be in the Hall of Fame?

[jjpm74]

Gardner had a very good career and generated a great deal of discussion in the Progressive HOF project. I think he even made it the full 15 years on the ballot. However, from a 2009 perspective, there are too many good thirdbasemen not in the HOF who are better than him:

Ron Santo
Stan Hack
Darrell Evans
Ken Boyer
Graig Nettles
Al Rosen
Ron Cey
Tommy Leach
Buddy Bell
Heinie Groh
Ed Yost
Ken Caminiti

If he did get in, he'd be far better than George Kell, but he's a solid no here.

[KCGHOST]

Even in the context of his times he probably isn't better than Deacon White, Heine Groh, Heinie Zimmerman, Ezra Sutton, Art Devlin, Freddy Lindstrom and Ned Williamson.

[Fuzzy Bear]

There are two things that make Gardner a "maybe" rather than a "no": One is the fact that 3B was a more demanding defensive position in Gardner's time; Bill James puts 3B to the right of 2B on the defensive spectrum prior to 1935. The other is that Gardner appears to have been well-regarded in his day by his contemporaries.

There is some question as to how good a fielder Gardner was. He was sure-handed, as he was above-league in fielding percentage, but his range factors weren't that impressive. I would like to see some discussion on Gardner's defensive value; if he was merely "above average", I can't really see him as a HOFer.

[bambambaseball]

Larry Gardner was a solid 3bman at a time when there werent many good ones. Hm and Lave Cross dont get enough discussion cause they were great in their day but dont do well against the modern guys who were home run guys.