In our third installment of “Why They Should Be In The Hall,” I take a look at Wes Ferrell, one of the best pitchers to ever play for the Tribe. Ferrell played 15 professional seasons, 7 of them with the Indians, the most he’d play for any team. Unfortunately for Ferrell and his time with the Tribe, he played from 1927 to 1933, a time when the Indians were largely a subpar to mediocre team. He didn’t have the opportunity to benefit from World Series contenders, which unquestionably hurts a player’s stock when it comes time for him to finally be voted for, but make no question about it, Ferrell was one of the best pitchers of his time and worthy of Hall of Fame admittance.
When Ferrell became eligible for Hall of Fame selection, the criteria for selection was based on more traditional stats like wins, and special accomplishments like All-Star game selections, and MVP and Cy Young awards. Unfortunately for Ferrell, he only amassed 193 wins, received just 2 All-Star selections, and received votes for MVP in just 4 of his 15 seasons. In short, he does not stack up to the outdated standards that existed before analytics became more popular. If Ferrell were to have played in more recent times when many more writers were considering sabermetric stats like WAR, it’s very likely that he would be enshrined in Cooperstown.
The average total WAR of all 62 Hall of Fame pitchers currently in Cooperstown is 73.9. Ferrell accumulated 61.6 WAR in his 15 seasons of play.While this is 12 Wins Above Replacement lower than the average, the average is substantially skewed by folks like Walter Johnson and Cy Young who amassed 165 and 168 WAR respectively, nearly 20 wins higher than the 3rd place finisher, some schlub named Clemens. Total WAR is also skewed by the fact that some players have lengthy careers and have extra seasons to accumulate lower WAR ratings that pad their career total.
Because total WAR is merely a good jumping off point, looking at a player’s 7 best seasons, and his 7 best seasons averaged with his career WAR total, or “JAWS” rating, give us a more detailed look into his potential Hall of Fame qualifications.
Of those 62 aforementioned Hall of Fame pitchers, the average WAR of their 7 best seasons comes out to 50.3, Ferrell clears this mark with his own total of 55. At his peak, Ferrell was not just one of the best of his day, but better than some of the best all-time. Based on his JAWS score, which was created by Jay Jaffe, he is similarly competitive. The average JAWS rating of all Hall of Fame pitchers is 62.1, while Ferrell comes in shy of that at 58.3. So when we take into account newer means of analysis, Ferrell has to be considered a competitive candidate for the Hall.
Meeting these benchmarks isn’t the be-all end-all of becoming Hall of Fame worthy, but deeper unpacking of these numbers can prove helpful in making Ferrell’s Hall of Fame case. Indians fans rightfully go bonkers over Bob Feller. He’s a worthy Hall of Famer and was one of the greatest pitchers of all-time. I think it would surprise almost everyone to know that Ferrell amassed similar WAR totals in 3 fewer years. Feller’s career WAR totaled 63.6 over 18 seasons, compared to Ferrell’s 61.6 in 15 seasons. Ferrell’s 55 WAR 7-year peak exceeds Feller’s 51.8, I don’t think many people would have guessed that Ferrell’s seven best seasons would beat out Feller’s. Comparing both player’s average of these two totals, Ferrell wins out again with 58.3 compared to 57.7. Feller isn’t the only “without a doubt hall of famer” that Ferrell beats in these categories. Juan Marichal, Carl Hubbell, Don Drysdale, and John Smoltz all fall below Ferrell in 7-year peak and JAWS.
What Ferrell also has going for himself that very few other pitchers can claim, particularly today’s pitchers, was his ability at the plate. He is the all-time leader in home runs by a pitcher with 38.While this in and of itself doesn’t qualify him for Hall of Fame status, the fact that he was one of the best hitting pitchers in history has to count for something. Warren Spahn and Bob Gibson frequently get credit for their abilities at the plate, Ferrell should be no different.
Ferrell was eligible this season for selection by the Veteran’s Committee but he received less than 4 votes for induction as the Committee failed to elect anyone from the Pre-Integration era. What Ferrell has going for him doesn’t exactly mesh with the criteria the Veteran’s Committee would be considering for selection, thus it’s exceedingly unlikely he’ll ever be elected. Former players and executives are typically stubbornly wedded to the older means of analysis and it would not be surprising Bert Blyleven and Bobby Cox didn’t take Ferrell’s WAR totals into account when they placed their votes this year. Regardless of the Veteran’s Committee’s “shortcomings,” Ferrell is clearly Hall of Fame worthy and should be given more consideration for Cooperstown than he has received thus far.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
