Cooperstown Choices: Tim Salmon

With the Hall Of Fame election announcement coming on January 9, 2012, it is time to review the ballot, go over the names, and decide who belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

There are twenty seven men on the ballot this year and we will take a look at each one individually prior to official announcements. You can find all of the profiles in the I-70 Baseball Exclusives: Cooperstown Choices 2012 menu at the top of the page.

Tune in Saturday, January 7, 2012 as I-70 Baseball Radio will host a panel of writers discussing the Hall Of Fame Ballot in a 2-hour special.

In this article, we take a look at Tim Salmon

Tim Salmon
An outfielder that spent his entire 14 year career playing for the same team, though the team would change it’s name three times during that span, Tim Salmon grew up in Long Beach, was drafted by the Angels, made his major league debut for the team in 1992 and retired after the 2006 campaign. He is on the ballot for the first time.

Year	Tm	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
1992	CAL	23	79	8	14	1	0	2	6	1	11	23	.177	.283	.266	.548	55
1993	CAL	142	515	93	146	35	1	31	95	5	82	135	.283	.382	.536	.918	142
1994	CAL	100	373	67	107	18	2	23	70	1	54	102	.287	.382	.531	.912	132
1995	CAL	143	537	111	177	34	3	34	105	5	91	111	.330	.429	.594	1.024	165
1996	CAL	156	581	90	166	27	4	30	98	4	93	125	.286	.386	.501	.887	125
1997	ANA	157	582	95	172	28	1	33	129	9	95	142	.296	.394	.517	.911	134
1998	ANA	136	463	84	139	28	1	26	88	0	90	100	.300	.410	.533	.943	142
1999	ANA	98	353	60	94	24	2	17	69	4	63	82	.266	.372	.490	.862	119
2000	ANA	158	568	108	165	36	2	34	97	0	104	139	.290	.404	.540	.945	135
2001	ANA	137	475	63	108	21	1	17	49	9	96	121	.227	.365	.383	.748	98
2002	ANA	138	483	84	138	37	1	22	88	6	71	102	.286	.380	.503	.883	133
2003	ANA	148	528	78	145	35	4	19	72	3	77	93	.275	.374	.464	.838	122
2004	ANA	60	186	15	47	7	0	2	23	1	14	41	.253	.306	.323	.628	67
2006	LAA	76	211	30	56	8	2	9	27	0	29	44	.265	.361	.450	.811	109
14 Seasons		1672	5934	986	1674	339	24	299	1016	48	970	1360	.282	.385	.498	.884	128
162 Game Avg.		162	575	96	162	33	2	29	98	5	94	132	.282	.385	.498	.884	128

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/30/2011.

Why He Should Get In
Salmon was the 1993 Rookie Of The Year and won a Silver Slugger award in 1995. He found himself in the top 15 of Most Valuable Player voting three times during his career. He finished with 299 home runs and 1016 runs batted in, while compiling a .282 batting average over his career.

Why He Should Not Get In
A star rookie and solid career do not ensure you a place in Cooperstown. Salmon was a good player for a franchise desperately searching for an identity, but he was not a stand out player across baseball. All of his counting numbers fall short of the standards for Cooperstown.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
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Categorized | Classic, Cooperstown Choices 2012, I-70 Baseball Exclusives