Trevor Hoffman! Yes, of course, the one who is not a baseball player.
Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome were all judged one way or another on the traditional five tools:
- hit
- hit with power
- run
- field
- throw.
Each satisfied voters enough to be elected. Pitchers, on the other hand, need only throw well. Pitchers are not judged at all on the four other skills.
Starting pitchers play part time, maybe once every five games. In those games most of the outs are recorded by the other players even though the pitcher is credited with innings pitched even if the pitcher retires no batters.
Relief pitchers are part time pitchers. They appear in about twice as many games as starting pitchers but throw less than one third as many innings. Trevor Hoffman appeared in 1,035 games, all in relief, and pitched 1,089 innings. That means he threw one inning per appearance in the overwhelming majority of his games. Babe Ruth threw 1,221 innings in 147 starts plus 16 relief appearances.
Electing pitchers is bad enough. Electing relief pitchers is a joke. And Trevor Hoffman was no Mariano Rivera, who also should not be elected when he becomes eligible in the next election.
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