Beyond the Boxscore extends WAR in two ways to account for peak performance and MVP caliber seasons, and comes up with an interesting ranking of the current Hall of Fame members and the players on this season’s ballot.

Meanwhile, Peter Gammons makes the case for Jeff Bagwell’s election to the Hall of Fame. Peter and Jeff actually played a pivotal role in the success of STATS, Inc. At the end of the 1990 season, STATS published their second Major League Handbook, the first to have an actual player on the cover. In the back were batter projections for the 1991 season. Under “These Guys Can Play Too and Might Get a Shot,” Jeff Bagwell‘s projection was .318/.400/.436. That was very optimistic for a rookie. Reviewing that book in Novemember of 1990, Gammons wrote that STATS, Inc. picked Jeff Bagwell to win the NL batting title. Now, STATS didn’t do that, but Jeff’s .318 BA was the highest predicted for any NL player that year.

Bill James later told me that Peter’s statement put STATS reputation on the line. In retrospect, Bagwell’s projection should not have been that high. Jeff came through, however, with a .294/.387/.437 slash line and a win in the rookie of the year voting. That vindicated the James projection and helped put STATS, Inc. on the map.