>>even if one resigns to saying hunter was merely the best CF
>>in one league (the AL) over a ten-year period rather than
>MLB,
>>jones had a steep decline and beltran had more than his
>share
>>of injuries after his early 30s, too.
>
>Well Jones was the best CF in the NL over a ten-year period
>(actually in all of MLB but let's just stick to the one-league
>thing here), so by your argument that makes him HOF worthy,
>no? His Dale Murphy-esque fall off a cliff promptly following
>that will hurt him with HOF voters, but a decade-long run as a
>HOF caliber player should certainly make him worthy of
>induction.

I didn't say it was an automatic, I said it meant someone deserved consideration. Jones deserves that but his fall was too hard and too fast.

>Beltran had his injury issues in his early 30s but bounced
>back nicely his last year in NY when they traded him to SF +
>the next couple seasons in St Louis. And as I mentioned
>previously his career #'s are better than Hunter's across the
>board.

He was a better hitter, I don't think he was a better centerfielder. When he has been healthy, he has remained productive, but that's like every three seasons on average since he reached age 32 or 33.

>>we are talking HOF potential, no?

Yes, potential, sure.

>yes: baseball-ref HOF monitor (Likely HOFer ≈ 100)
>
>A.Jones: 109
>Beltran: 104
>Hunter: 58
>
>A.Jones: 62.8 career WAR/46.4 7yr-peak WAR/54.6 JAWS
>Beltran: 67.3 career WAR/44.3 7yr-peak WAR/55.8 JAWS
>Hunter: 50.5 career WAR/31.2 7yr-peak WAR/40.9 JAWS
>
>Avg HOF CF: 70.4 career WAR/44.0 7yr-peak WAR/57.2 JAWS
>(out of 18)
>
>Center Field JAWS Leaders:
>http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/jaws_CF.shtml
>
>Beltran: 8th all-time
>A.Jones: 10th all-time
>Hunter: 30th all-time
>
>Beltran and Jones are pretty solidly HOF caliber. Hunter has
>had a terrific career but he's not quite there.

Hmmm, kind of tough to argue against all that.

>>and i think being the best in one league for a ten year
>period
>>is at least worth a look. for example i'd look at omar
>vizquel
>>for that same reason.
>
>oh yeah he's worth consideration, like walleye said hopefully
>he gets enough votes to stay on the ballot for several years
>and engender conversation about what a terrific career he's
>had. I'm all for that.