The Other Dude That's Retiring

Today, I’m doing a quick blog that will hopefully distract you from the Jeter love-fest that’s been going on.  Don’t forget, there is another dude retiring – Paul Konerko.  Konerko has been a solid, consistent player for the past 15 years with the Chicago White Sox.  While I don’t really have time to go into a full on examination of his career, I wanted to find out if Paul Konerko was a Hall of Famer.  I really wanted it to be closer, but when you compare against a few other players, the answer is a solid probably not.

Comparing him against fellow White Sox' teammate and Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, Hall of Fame hopeful but probably not Fred McGriff, another fellow White Sox' teammate Jim Thome, and Hall of Famer Johnny Mize, you can see that Konerko doesn't really stack up against those guys.

Konerko just didn't have the combination of things that really puts some of these other guys over the top.  He didn't hit 500 home runs.  That's not necessarily an automatic entry into the hall nowadays, but it certainly would have helped.  He didn't strike out an excessive amount - his career high was 117 in 2004 - but that being the case, the voters probably would want a higher batting average.

Mize didn't get into the hall through regular voting.  He was elected by the Veteran's Committee.  You have to remember that Mize lost three full seasons to military service though.  And look at that strikeout to walk ratio.

In 1998, the Cincinnati Reds traded Konerko to the White Sox for Mike Cameron.  What if instead the Reds had traded him to the Yankees?  Maybe for Ricky Ledee?  Come on Reds fans, doesn't that sound like a trade they would make?  Or maybe for Paul O'Neill.  Bring him back to Cincinnati to finish his career and provide some veteran leadership.

So, if Konerko went to the Yankees, would he be a Hall of Famer?  The Tino Martinez era was pretty brief in New York.  He would be gone by the end of 2001.  The Yankees then wouldn't have had to sign Jason Giambi.  Konerko would have just been able to hit in the best lineup in the first half of the 2000's.  He almost certainly would have had better numbers, and the shine associated with playing in New York and the number of World Series rings would had definitely bolstered his cause (Don Mattingly would like to point out that BOTH of those things are necessary).

No, Paul Konerko isn't a Hall of Famer.  But let's not just sit back and watch #2 get all the glory these last few days of the season.