r/baseball • u/jonahkeri Senior sportswriter • Mar 25 '14

Feature Hi Reddit, I'm Jonah Keri. AMA.

Howdy hey!

My name is Jonah Keri, I'm a baseball writer for Grantland and author of the book, "Up, Up, & Away", a really fun (and occasionally autobiographical) look at the history of the Montreal Expos, told via ~130 interviews with ex-players (Pedro Martinez! Andre Dawson! Tim Raines! Rusty Staub!), managers, owners, and many more.

The book comes out today and is available at bookstores near you, online (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307361357/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307361357&linkCode=as2&tag=jonahkericom-20), as an e-book (https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/up-up-and-away/id707326028?mt=11), and in various other places.

Though baseball is my vocation, I'm also a native Montrealer with strong opinions about everything from bagels to standing desks. So go nuts. I'm excited to chat.

454 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

336 comments sorted by

View all comments

42

u/DonDraperMan New York Yankees Mar 25 '14

Question that has been bothering me for a while- Do you think Vladimir Guerrero is a Hall of Famer? His numbers are the definition of borderline.

9

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14 edited Mar 26 '14

I'm not Jonah Keri, but after looking at it, I'd actually be kinda surprised if he didn't get in. I love Jim Rice, but if he got him, Vlad absolutely does. Vlad had more hits, HRs, RBIs, and a better average (.318 for Vlad, which I was actually a little surprised about) and OPS+. We all know Vlad was an impatient hitter, but he even had a better OBP than Rice. If you want to even look at WAR, Guerrero has him beat. Even when you look at a guy like Molitor, Vlad doesn't have the amount of hits obviously but beats him in every other major category. I don't know if Vlad will get in right away, but he definitely deserves it.

9

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '14

The benchmark for the HoF shouldn't be Jim Rice. That was a mistake, but hopefully the writers will make it a one time mistake (fat fucking chance).

6

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '14

So was Paul Molitor also a mistake?

1

u/LeMunson Boston Red Sox Mar 29 '14

Jim Rice wasn't half the player Molitor was