Quote:
Originally Posted by Superdude
So does Dunn have a case for HOF if he tops 500? It seemed like 500 was losing some mystique ten years ago, but with the steroid links and suppressed power in recent years, maybe the cachet of the 500 club will still be strong enough to push Dunn in? Or maybe I'm way off base.
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Adam Dunn will be a long shot to make the HOF even if he reaches 500 career HRs. Right now his Hall of Fame Monitor Score is 73, well short of the 100 score of the "average" member of the HOF.
500 HRs has definitely lost its mystique. When I first started following baseball way, way back in 1965, it was headline stuff when Willie Mays became only the fifth member of the 500 HR club, joining Ruth, Foxx, Williams and Ott. In the 1960s and 70s it was routine to hear media types exclaim that a player had guaranteed himself a place in the HOF when he hit HR no. 500, as if Mays or Mantle or Aaron hadn't already earned first ballot HOF honors prior to hitting no. 500.
That's not the case anymore. We already have several members of the 500 club who have thus far been denied the HOF. If all Dunn ultimately brings to his argument is 500 HRs and little else, he will not and should not gain HOF membership.