General Forum

Yadi on the first ballot?  Maybe I'm completely wrong and I hope he eventually gets in, but he seems like a borderline HOF'er to me (and I'm a big hall guy). 

Are you kidding me? 2 WS rings in 4 chances, constant Gold Gloves, and a great BA. His numbers as a catcher on offense and defense easily put him in the HOF.

Not kidding at all.  His traditional counting stats aren't that impressive.  His advanced stats aren't that impressive.  If he died today, I don't think he'd get in anytime soon.  He still has work to do and he's getting older.  Eight gold gloves are impressive but there are a lot of players with 8 or more that aren't in the Hall of Fame.  I'm not saying he won't get in, I just don't think he's a shoo-in.

I was already collecting their cards thinking they had a good chance to make it in (and because I liked them as players). I would think many PC already had them in, at least Morris.

I must be lucky, got the Morris RC when I bought a box of about 5000 commons on my recent trip to NJ. It's even in rare condition as one of its owners decided to draw facial enhancements on Morris and one of his comrades on the card. Maybe we can log it in as an SP variant, or a 1/1.

Yadi: first ballot, no question. He’s a catcher. The best of his generation. Compare him to other catchers and find someone better. They’re all in the Hall. If Ted Simmons is close, Molina is a shoe-in. 

V3

Buster Posey & Joe Mauer

Yadi is closer to AJ Pierzinski than Pudge on the spectrum in my opinion. 

But I also tend to like to stir the pot so that might be at play here as well.
 

The whole "first ballot" thing is inconsequential. That has as much to do with what other players retire in the same year as it does to a specific player's abilities.

Posey will likely get in too. Mauer hasn't caught a game since 2013, and hasn't caught 100 games since 2010.  He was an everyday catcher for about 6 years.  Depending on how long he plays, he could end up with more games logged at 1B than C.  Which isn't a criticism; mixing in a lot of 1B over the course of his career is no doubt lengthening his career.   And he will be a very strong candidate too.

Totally agree with everything Switzr1 said. And Mauer has three gold gloves, Posey has one. Again, Molina has eight. It's not ALL about offense, especially at some positions. Like catcher, for example. (Pierzinski has zero gold gloves, by the way, is a career .280 hitter whose only MVP nod was to finish 30th one time. Hoping the Molina/Pierzinski comparison was just to get people's goat...)

The first ballot thing is fairly silly. As is the percentage of the vote thing. Hall of Famer is Hall of Famer. I was just engaging the debate as presented. And it still seems to mean something to some people. And Molina is first ballot. Posey and Mauer both have legitimate shots, as well.

v3

Catchers get a bum rap regarding hall of fame consideration.  Offense tends to take center stage, while defense and calling pitches for an entire career trying to keep their team in the driver's seat are often on the back burner.  I do think that Molina will be inducted within the 10 year time frame on the ballot though.  He's a huge piece of that Cardinals organization, and a big contributor to their success.