Career Hall of Famers
When a kid chooses their favorite baseball player, most of the time the player is on the hometown team. Sometimes, a kid will pick their favorite team based on the fact their favorite player wears that cap and colors. Fans have a deep connection with their favorite teams and favorite players.
Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are unique. These two hall of famers did what so many don’t. They spent their whole playing career with a single team. Derek Jeter amassed 3,465 hits over 20 seasons, earning a rookie of the year, numerous other awards, and 5 rings. Rivera shared in those 5 rings, setting the all-time saves record over his 19 seasons.
These feats are rare in the era of free agency. After 6 or 7 years, players are free to test the market and choose the team and the contract they want. This leaves many in new cities in front of new fans. Of the 263 Major League players enshrined in Cooperstown, only 54 of them spent their entire career with the same team. Only 10 of that group started their career after the advent of free agency.
There is something special to Reds fans about Johnny Bench, to Cardinals fans about Stan the Man or Bob Gibson, and to Dodgers fans about Sandy Koufax or Jackie Robinson.
Joey Votto and Buster Posey have a good chance of making it to the HOF with one team. Is there any way to make Mike Trout an Angel for life? How can we incentivize teams and players to stay with their team, and more importantly fans, for the long haul?
The current qualifying offer system is a disincentive. If a star player is given a qualifying offer, that players will decline and the team will be compensated with a draft pick for losing the player. If they choose to sign that player, they no longer get that draft pick. This essentially penalizes them for keeping that home grown player in front of their fanbase.
This has to change.
A better solution has to neutralize this draft pick effect or even incentivize the team to sign their home grown star. MLB could keep the qualifying offer system somewhat in place where a team losing a player to free agency is compensated with a draft pick. The trick would be to also offer a draft pick to a team that resigns a star to long-term deal. That player would only qualify if they played their entire Major League career with that team. A 5 to 6 year deal could receive a sandwich pick after the 2nd round. A 7+ year deal could receive a sandwich pick after the 1st round.
The number of years to qualify would only count additional years beyond the team’s present control and the average annual value would have to be above the current qualifying offer value for the entire deal.
Below is a list of the 54 Hall of Famers that played for just one team:
