Willie Kamm

[Cowtipper]

Willie Kamm played 13 years in the big leagues. As a hitter, he batted only .281 with an OPS+ of 97. Indeed, he wasn't that good offensively. Sure, one year he batted .308 and another he led the league in walks with 90, but offensively he wasn't incredibly impressive. If there was anything about his offensive ability, it was that he had an excellent eye at the plate: he walked 824 times and struck out only 405 times, and except for his first two seasons he never struck out more that 50 times in a year.

Statistically, he is offensively similar to one Hall of Famer: Rick Ferrell. The other players he is similar to are Harry Steinfeldt, Heinie Groh, Billy Goodman, Deacon McGuire, Ossie Bluege, Billy Nash, Larry Gardner, Milt Stock and Pete Runnels.

It was in the field where Kamm really made a name for himself. He played every single game of his career at third base, and he regularly led the league in assists, putouts (a category he led seven times), double plays, and fielding percentage (a category he led eight times). He was considered one of the best, if not the best defensive third baseman of the 1920s and early 1930s.

He was selected as the White Sox all-time best third baseman back in 1969. He received votes for the Hall of Fame in two elections, and according to The Baseball Page, he is the 48th best third baseman of all time.

So, do you think Willie Kamm should be in the Hall of Fame?

[PVNICK]

When I saw this I was thinking he was a little better hitter than Ken Reitz/Aurelio Rodriguez/Clete Boyer but not at the level of Nettles or Brooks Robinson. Glove wise he probably is up there with anyone based on the numbers. He was also the first $100,000 player (at least based on purchase price from his minor league) FWIW.

[KCGHOST]

Not for me.

[Brad Harris]

Nice player largely forgotten, but no. I would be very curious to hear FM's case for him though. Got a few minutes to share, buddy?

[538280]

Not a bad hitter and a great fielder, but he just didn't do it for nearly long enough. A player like Kamm could be a HOFer if he had a very long career, but his career would be very short for a HOFer, and he has no great seasons. Not even close. There are probably at least 20 3Bmen not in who I'd put in before Kamm.

[Cougar]

It's worth noting that his OBP was .013 above league average.

He may be the best player in his family of superlative fielding/ordinary hitting/non-power hitting/short career third basemen, which includes Kamm, Clete Boyer, Aurelio Rodriguez, maybe Terry Pendleton.

[Fielding Marshall]

Nice player largely forgotten, but no. I would be very curious to hear FM's case for him though. Got a few minutes to share, buddy?

Kamm basically hits three of a number of the areas I use to evaluate a player.

1) I place a high degree of value among players with good batting eyes, and while good batting eyes were more common in his era, his career BB/K ratio still ranks in the Very Good / Exceptional range. In addition, he consistently showed a good batting eye from year to year, indicating that his skills were legit; his run from 1925-1932 indicates his batting eye was truly exceptional.

2) Kamm seems to have been something of a team player. His record doesn't have a lot to say about this, but Kamm was consistently among league leaders in sac hits (not that bunting is necessarily something I look for in a player, but I do evaluate intangibles whenever possible).

3) Kamm was a skilled defender, and as my name suggests, I like exceptional fielders. I'm not entirely certain at this point how much weight I should put upon exceptional fielding, but his fielding in combination with the other factors says HOF for me.

I realize I have quirky evaluation methods, so I can't expect a great deal of support. He's not exactly the ideal HOF choice, but he makes it in my book.

[538280]

Fielding Marshall, I don't understand. Kamm did have a good batting eye, and I have no doubts he was a great team player, but I could say this about probably literally thousands of players who are nowhere near the HOF. As a comparison of a player I watched frequently, Bill Mueller. Mueller was a better hitter than Kamm, he had a very good batting eye, and was as good a teammate as anyone, loved by just about all Red Sox fans. Even with a good batting eye Kamm was essentially an average hitter over his career because he didn't hit for great average or have much power, his OPS+ was 97. He was a very, very good fielder, but in a very short career and not being a great hitter that shouldn't make him a HOFer. Graig Nettles was probably just as good a fielder, a much better hitter, and played a lot longer. If Kamm is in your HOF I would think Nettles would be a slam dunk to you. Kamm was a good player, but just nowhere near the standard of the HOF. I would take Freddie Lindstrom over Kamm and Lindstrom is pretty much the definition of a huge HOF mistake, Kamm would be the same.