Cooperstown Choices: Julio Franco

With the Hall Of Fame election announcement coming on January 9, 2013, it is time to review the ballot, go over the names, and decide who belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

There are twenty four men on the ballot for the first time 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 2013 menu at the top of the page.

In this article, we take a look at Julio Franco

Julio Franco
Franco enjoyed an extremely long career that spanned 23 seasons in the major leagues, playing for 8 different teams. During his long career, Franco would win five Silver Slugger Awards and appear on three All Star rosters after finishing second for the Rookie Of The Year award in 1983.

Year	Tm	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
1982	PHI	16	29	3	8	1	0	0	3	0	2	4	.276	.323	.310	.633	76
1983	CLE	149	560	68	153	24	8	8	80	32	27	50	.273	.306	.388	.693	87
1984	CLE	160	658	82	188	22	5	3	79	19	43	68	.286	.331	.348	.679	87
1985	CLE	160	636	97	183	33	4	6	90	13	54	74	.288	.343	.381	.723	99
1986	CLE	149	599	80	183	30	5	10	74	10	32	66	.306	.338	.422	.760	108
1987	CLE	128	495	86	158	24	3	8	52	32	57	56	.319	.389	.428	.818	117
1988	CLE	152	613	88	186	23	6	10	54	25	56	72	.303	.361	.409	.771	114
1989	TEX	150	548	80	173	31	5	13	92	21	66	69	.316	.386	.462	.848	137
1990	TEX	157	582	96	172	27	1	11	69	31	82	83	.296	.383	.402	.785	121
1991	TEX	146	589	108	201	27	3	15	78	36	65	78	*.341*	.408	.474	.882	146
1992	TEX	35	107	19	25	7	0	2	8	1	15	17	.234	.328	.355	.683	95
1993	TEX	144	532	85	154	31	3	14	84	9	62	95	.289	.360	.438	.798	118
1994	CHW	112	433	72	138	19	2	20	98	8	62	75	.319	.406	.510	.916	137
1996	CLE	112	432	72	139	20	1	14	76	8	61	82	.322	.407	.470	.877	123
1997	TOT	120	430	68	116	16	1	7	44	15	69	116	.270	.369	.360	.730	91
1997	CLE	78	289	46	82	13	1	3	25	8	38	75	.284	.367	.367	.734	91
1997	MIL	42	141	22	34	3	0	4	19	7	31	41	.241	.373	.348	.720	90
1999	TBD	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100
2001	ATL	25	90	13	27	4	0	3	11	0	10	20	.300	.376	.444	.821	109
2002	ATL	125	338	51	96	13	1	6	30	5	39	75	.284	.357	.382	.739	94
2003	ATL	103	197	28	58	12	2	5	31	0	25	43	.294	.372	.452	.824	113
2004	ATL	125	320	37	99	18	3	6	57	4	36	68	.309	.378	.441	.818	111
2005	ATL	108	233	30	64	12	1	9	42	4	27	57	.275	.348	.451	.799	107
2006	NYM	95	165	14	45	10	0	2	26	6	13	49	.273	.330	.370	.699	81
2007	TOT	55	90	8	20	3	0	1	16	2	14	23	.222	.321	.289	.610	61
2007	NYM	40	50	7	10	0	0	1	8	2	10	13	.200	.328	.260	.588	57
2007	ATL	15	40	1	10	3	0	0	8	0	4	10	.250	.311	.325	.636	67
23 Yrs		2527	8677	1285	2586	407	54	173	1194	281	917	1341	.298	.365	.417	.782	111
162 Game Avg.		162	556	82	166	26	3	11	77	18	59	86	.298	.365	.417	.782	111
		G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
CLE (8 yrs)		1088	4282	619	1272	189	33	62	530	147	368	543	.297	.352	.400	.752	103
ATL (6 yrs)		501	1218	160	354	62	7	29	179	13	141	273	.291	.363	.424	.788	104
TEX (5 yrs)		632	2358	388	725	123	12	55	331	98	290	342	.307	.382	.440	.822	129
NYM (2 yrs)		135	215	21	55	10	0	3	34	8	23	62	.256	.329	.344	.673	76
TBD (1 yr)		1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100
PHI (1 yr)		16	29	3	8	1	0	0	3	0	2	4	.276	.323	.310	.633	76
MIL (1 yr)		42	141	22	34	3	0	4	19	7	31	41	.241	.373	.348	.720	90
CHW (1 yr)		112	433	72	138	19	2	20	98	8	62	75	.319	.406	.510	.916	137

AL (15 yrs)		1875	7215	1101	2169	334	47	141	978	260	751	1002	.301	.366	.419	.785	113
NL (8 yrs)		652	1462	184	417	73	7	32	216	21	166	339	.285	.357	.410	.768	99

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/12/2012.

Why He Should Get In
Franco might get consideration simply on the length of his career. That being said, it is really the sole remarkable number that jumps out about him.

Why He Should Not Get In
His long career boasted very little to brag about, save one batting title in 1991. His career numbers will not lead him into Cooperstown.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

Categorized | Cooperstown Choices 2013, I-70 Baseball Exclusives