Election Results

Well, the HOF votes are in, and pitcher CC Sabathia will be going to Cooperstown. Go figure. Sabathia was 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA over nineteen seasons. Seven of those seasons he had an ERA over four and one season over five. Yet that translates to a baseball-reference.com WAR of 62.3 and all sorts of love from the baseball establishment. In comparison, Tommy John went 288-231 with a 3.34 ERA over the course of 26 seasons. John did not have an ERA over four until he reached age 40. Sabathia pitched to age 38, John to age 46. But new-age analytics doesn’t like longevity, so John has a WAR of 61.6. The difference between the two is a mere seven-tenths of a point. You be the judge.