We made it to the end of the list! Yay!
It is Ben Zobrist’s first time on the Hall of Fame ballot. Zobrist played for 14 years in the MLB. He played for four teams, the Rays, Cubs, A’s and Royals, but I only think of him as a Tampa Bay Ray.
He played in 1651 games. Hit .266/.357/.426 with 167 home runs, 116 steals and a 44.5 bWAR. He played every position except catcher (I would have thought someone would have had him catch an inning to complete the bingo card). He pitched one inning (with no hits against and a strikeout).
He made three All-Star teams and got MVP votes three times (the highest finished was 8th).
He bWAR had bWARs above 5.0 four times. He topped out at 8.6 in 2009 and had a 7.6 in 2011.
Zobrist reinvented the utility role. He was more of an everyday player who played many positions, and every team wanted a player like him. Usually, the utility guy was someone you didn’t want to see play. Someone who could handle the glove part of the game and couldn’t hit. Zobrist had OPS+ over 100 in 12 seasons (11 seasons in a row). There were always stories that the Jays wanted to trade for or sign Zobrist when he was a free agent.
And he was good with the glove at most of the positions. Had he played full-time in almost any position, he would have had Gold Glove votes.
I don’t know if he deserves Hall of Fame votes, but he did help change the game. Everybody wanted a player like him. I’ll admit that when I play OOTP Baseball, I want a player like that. But now, most teams have players who play multiple positions.