Evaluating Minor League Feats

While the minor leagues today exist solely to feed the Majors, that was not always the case. From the dawn of the 20th century until the 1950's, the quality of play in the high minor leagues, particularly the Pacific Coast League, was comparable with the Major Leagues. Many high-profile MLB players, including Ed Konetchy and Del Pratt, chose to play in these leagues for a number of reasons, including better location, competitive pay, or a longer season, when they were still quite productive in the Majors. Despite continuing their highly successful careers against quality competition, these years in the minors are often forgotten by history and the common fan. 

    This all begs the question: how important are minor league achievements in the Hall of Fame discussion? As I recently wrote in my piece on Konetchy, I don't believe these feats should count for nothing. For one thing, they provide evidence that these players could still play at a high level, and for another, the players were still helping their teams win, even if they were not Major League teams. Local leagues had pride, and players genuinely cared about representing their local clubs and helping them win (unlike today, when any players of meaningful talent use collegiate and minor league teams merely as a path to the high-paying Majors). After all, the shrine at Cooperstown is the National Baseball Hall of Fame, not the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, and leagues like the Pacific Coast League and the Texas League used to be a major part of baseball in America (especially considering that there were no MLB clubs West of St. Louis until 1957). If baseball back then were what it is today, then very few, if any, Major League stars would jump to rival leagues, but would instead compile their career statistics in the Majors, where the Hall of Fame would pay attention to them. 

    When evaluating Hall of Fame candidates who continued playing well in the high minors, I tend to use their Major League records as the baseline for their cases and look to their minor league numbers to fill in the cracks. For example, I would not advocate for Johnny Bassler due to a short MLB career, but Konetchy and Pratt could be considered borderline candidates for their Major League achievements alone, and their minor league feats can provide an extra boost to their cases. Although I give precedence to MLB statistics, being more mainstream and of somewhat higher quality, the records of the minor league stars are truly significant, both historically and statistically, and they should be recognized as such by the Hall of Fame.