Mark Teixeira challenged for the Hall of Fame. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
Recently, Disney Films and Marvel launched the “What If…” animated series to explore just how much impact major events in the Marvel Multiverse might have if there are slight changes. Among the players who have challenged the Hall of Fame in recent years, there is probably no one like Mark Teixeira who makes you wonder: if the time has returned and the injury has not dropped the first base gun who opened the arc, what kind of career would he have?
During his 14-year career, Teixeira hit .268/.360/.509 with 1,862 hits, including 408 doubles, 18 triples and 409 homers. He was also a three-time All-Star, three-time Silver Bat and five-time Gold Glove first baseman winner. If Teixeira’s performance and awards were compared to Bill James’ Hall of Fame Monitor score, he would have scored 109 points, which is roughly between “very likely” and “certain inductee.” included between. As a first baseman who won the Golden Glove five times, Teixeira and nine other players became the all-time hitters with five Golden Gloves and 400 hits at one time. And of those ten players, all but Teixeira, Andruw Jones, Adrian Beltre and Barry Bonds are Hall of Famers.
But at the end of the day, Hall of Fame results, whether traditional or advanced, are the data that matters. Although Teixeira’s data performance is not bad, but looking at first basemen who entered the hall of fame in major league history, such as Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Jeff Bagwell, Jim Thome , etc., many of them were the like Teixeira. Teixeira’s 409 homers are “only” 19th at first base. But if you compare the annual home runs of these first basemen, Teixeira hits 29 home runs per year on average, ranking sixth. Additionally, Teixeira, who opened the arc left-to-right, finished fifth in the home run standings for two-hitter hitters.
In terms of WAR, Teixeira’s career totals 50.6 bWAR and 44.7 fWAR. Among them, the bWAR ranking ranks 32nd among first basemen in history. And his bWAR7 (a seven-season career high) of 38.0 ranks 27th. If you look at the Hall of Fame averages (66.0, 42.4), Teixeira is a significant distance from the average, especially for the career total. But it’s also because of Teixeira’s early retirement.
Thinking back to the peak of Teixeira’s career (2004-2010), he posted .289/.382/.544, 1184 hits and 249 homers in those seven years. His 138 wRC+ is the fifth-best first baseman in the period, and Teixeira’s 38.0 bWAR and 33.6 fWAR are second in the majors over the period due to his run and lineup above the average, just behind To Albert Pujols, the first man in the world at the time.
If we compare the stats of first basemen before age 30, Teixeira’s 40.7 bWAR before age 30 ranks 12th among all-time first basemen, even more higher than the Hall of Famers, including Jim Thome and Willie McCovey. In other words, Teixeira’s performance and growth chart before the age of 30 actually has a strong chance of becoming a Hall of Famer.
Unfortunately, Teixeira has been plagued with injuries big and small since 2012, and what was once the league’s most reliable first baseman instantly became a regular on the disabled list. The most serious of these was an injury to my right wrist while training for the 2013 Classic. At first I thought it was just a strain, but it turned out to be a a torn tendon sheath in the right wrist! And he played before fully recovering that year, only to have the injury worsen and his performance was badly damaged. He only recovered in 2015 after surgery, but was hit in the calf by a foul ball during a match in mid-August. Teixeira, who was initially diagnosed with a contusion, was on the injured list after just two games. Shortly after, doctors discovered that Teixeira’s right tibia had been fractured for a long time and Teixeira again ended the season early. After that, Teixeira suffered injuries big and small in 2016, culminating in heroic tears in August announcing he was leaving the pitch.
The result of the early retirement was that Teixeira was unable to achieve records such as 500 circuits and 2000 amps as he had hoped. To his disadvantage, of all the players who haven’t reached 2,000 amps since 1960, only Tony Oliva was voted into the Golden Age Committee this year. Inducted into the Hall of Fame. Along with the injury at the end of his career, Teixeira also suffered a drop in performance as the team started to line up. Under the double team of these two factors, the end of Teixeira’s career looks very dark.
Even so, Teixeira might stand a chance in future committee votes even if he is not selected. His 50.6 bWAR is better than five non-Black league first basemen, including Orlando Cepeda and Gil Hodges; his 38.0 bWAR7 is better than those two and Tony Perez and other Hall of Fame first basemen; If we look at the JAWS (career and average peak WAR) created by Jay Jaffe, the authoritative author of the American Baseball Hall of Fame, Teixeira ranked 31st in history with a JAWS of 44.3 , only one point behind Perez and “Dad” David Ortiz, and higher than Yu, included five Hall of Fame first basemen. In other words, Teixeira’s peak performances and cumulative record make him a worthy candidate even if his career is cut short by injury early on.
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It’s too bad that Teixeira likely loses the writer’s vote qualifications based on the current 0.6% vote rate, and can only hope the committee votes in the future. He was once the Hall of Fame’s next great first baseman, but Teixeira couldn’t resist the pain and tide of modern baseball. But as Hall of Famers open their minds, perhaps one day Teixeira’s impressive top and good hands in attack and defense will convince these goalies to let him pass Cooperstown and become the one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
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