Spider-Man: Does Torii Hunter Have a Hall of Fame Case?

Torii Hunter was simply fun to watch when he was roaming center field. He was the quintessential “fly-chaser” who would relish a collision with the outfield wall as if he was still playing free safety in high school, colliding with an opposing running back or receiver. The Arkansas native won 9 Gold Gloves in his 19-year Major League Baseball career.

He was not exactly what you would call a graceful fielder but he could range far to both sides to chase a fly ball while also earning the nickname “Spider-Man” due to his ability to scale the walls to rob opposing hitters of home runs. Offensively, he hit 353 home runs while accumulating 2,452 career hits.

Hunter’s defensive prowess was firmly implanted into the brains of baseball fans throughout the world when he robbed Barry Bonds of a home run in the 2002 All-Star Game.

Hunter will be on the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) ballot for the fourth time this December. Last month, Hunter barely earned enough voting support (6.9%) to remain on the ballot for one more year (the Hall has a minimum 5% threshold for players to remain on future ballots). Hall of Fame voters are limited to checking ten names on their ballots.

There are two players who were on the 2023 ballot who won’t be there in 2024: Scott Rolen, who was elected, and Jeff Kent, who exhausted his ten years of eligibility. However, there is one sure-fire Hall of Famer coming to the 2024 ballot (Adrian Beltre) and three others with strong cases (Joe Mauer, Chase Utley, and David Wright). Given the “rule of 10,” it may be hard for Hunter to crack the 5% minimum again.

Does Hunter have a legitimate Hall of Fame case? I’ll take a closer look after a recap of his career highlights and his interesting life story. Life and baseball did not come as easily to Hunter as it did for many other Cooperstown candidates but he persevered and became one of the hardest-playing and most well-liked players throughout the game.

“I’ll do anything to get that little white ball. I’ll put my life on the line.”

— Torii Hunter (Sports Illustrated, May 30, 2005)

Cooperstown Cred: Torii Hunter (OF)

4th year on the BBWAA ballot in 2024 (received 6.9% of the vote in 2023)

• Twins (1997-2007, 2015), Angels (2008-12), Tigers (2013-14)
• Career: .277 BA, 353 HR, 1,391 RBI, 2,452 Hits
• Career: 110 OPS+, 50.7 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
• 5-time All-Star
• 9-time Gold Glove Award Winner
• 2-time Silver Slugger Award Winner

(cover photo: USA Today Sports/Jesse Ferguson)

This piece was originally written in December 2020. It has been updated in anticipation of the 2024 vote.

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Torii Hunter: Before Professional Baseball

Torii Kedar Hunter was born on July 18, 1975, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He and his three brothers grew up in an impoverished neighborhood downtown, where crime and drugs were prevalent. His father Theotis, a Vietnam veteran, often spent his paychecks as a railroad electrician on booze and crack cocaine and would sometimes go missing for weeks. From a McClatchy piece by Joe Christensen (2007), Torii said that he and all of his brothers carried guns for self-protection and that he once shot it to ward off a carjacking: “Everybody had a gun. All my friends — everybody.”

It was their love of sports that kept the Hunter boys mostly out of trouble; Torii idolized his older brother Taru, who he credits for helping develop him as both a football and baseball player.

“Torii, who possessed amazing speed, had a sixth sense for tracking down footballs and baseballs. Taru challenged his little brother to run down long bombs and deep flies. He marveled whenever the ball settled into his little brother’s soft hands, no matter how far he had to run for it.”

— From the Torii Hunter profile on jockbio.com.

Torii entered Pine Bluff High School in 1990; he ran track and played football, basketball, and baseball. His first love was football, where he played quarterback on offense and free safety on defense. Torri’s fearless style of chasing fly balls came from his hard-hitting style on the gridiron: “I liked to lay the hat on guys. That’s why I run into walls, to get that feeling.”

As a sophomore, Hunter was noticed by MLB scouts because of his older teammate Basil Shabazz, a senior who was considered one of the best high school athletes in Arkansas history. Shabazz was a USA Today All-American in football, all-state in basketball, and the state’s 200-meter dash record holder. He decided to play baseball for the first time as a senior “just for the heck of it” and hit .358. After that one season of high school baseball, Shabazz was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 3rd round of the 1991 draft. A $150,000 signing bonus convinced Shabazz to eschew college football. However, Shabazz only hit .233 in five minor league seasons and he never made the majors.

Meanwhile, back to our lead story, after a slow start on the diamond as a sophomore, Hunter blossomed as a junior and senior. He made the U.S. Junior Olympic Team in 1992, writing then-governor Bill Clinton for help with the $500 fee to play for the team. Besides his spectacular speed and outfield play, legend has it that Hunter hit a 550-foot home run.

Torii Hunter: in the Minor Leagues

Torii Hunter was drafted in the first round of the 1993 player draft (the 20th overall pick) by the Minnesota Twins. As Jay Jaffe noted in his profile of Hunter, only the #1 overall selection (Alex Rodriguez) created more value (via WAR) in the majors than Hunter among the players drafted ahead of him.

Although he had been offered a scholarship offer to play baseball at the University of Arkansas, a $450,000 signing bonus convinced him to play professional baseball. It was a tough start for Torii, who began his pro career in the Gulf Coast League. The right-handed hitting Hunter had never seen a slider in high school and thus he struggled mightily at the plate, hitting just .190 in 114 plate appearances with no home runs and 8 RBI.

In the spring of 1994, to boost the spirits of their #1 draft pick, the Twins gave the 18-year-old Hunter a locker in training camp between veterans and future Hall of Famers Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield.

“I thought it was a mistake. I thought rookies and young guys would be off in a corner with someone you didn’t know. But those guys took care of me… He (Puckett) called me all the time in the minor leagues to pump me up. From 1994, he was a like a big brother to me.”

— Torii Hunter (Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2001)

(Puckett died from a stroke at the age of 45, in March 2006).

Playing in Fort Wayne, Indiana (Class A ball), Hunter’s hitting improved in ’94. He hit .293 with 10 HR and 50 RBI in 372 PA.

Torii returned to Arkansas in the offseason; having remained close to Shabazz, the former high school teammates visited friends at Central Arkansas one night and both wound up in jail. While Hunter was finishing a game of dominoes in a dorm room, Shabazz fell asleep in Torii’s Ford Explorer, only to be awakened by a police officer. Shabazz pulled a .380-caliber pistol and was arrested immediately; later the officer found marijuana and rolling papers. Hunter was arrested thereafter when he emerged from the dorm. Hunter and Shabazz spent the night in jail. As it turned out, the drugs belonged to Hunter’s father Theotis, who had “borrowed” Torii’s car a few days earlier. Hunter and Shabazz were released on bail of $2,500 each and the charges were later dropped.

In the next three seasons (1995-97), Hunter struggled at the plate, hitting .246 in 1995 (Fort Myers, FL), .263 in ’96 (New Britain, CT), and .231 in ’97 (again in New Britain, the Twins’ AA affiliate). He did get called up to the big club in August ’97, appearing in one game as a pinch-runner.

While with the Rock Cats in ’97, Torii’s burgeoning reputation as a premier defensive center fielder was enhanced when he literally crashed through the outfield wall in a game in Trenton.

“A guy was on the other side, with a beer in his hand, chatting with a lady. He was like, ‘Dude, where’d you come from?’ I just said, ‘From the game,’ and kept walking, holding my glove up.”

— Torii Hunter (ESPN The Magazine, August 9, 2002)

Hunter was back in New Britain at the start of the 1998 campaign but, thanks to injuries to Otis Nixon and Marty Cordova, was recalled to the Twins on April 29th despite hitting just .250. Hunter was immediately installed by manager Tom Kelly into the lineup, playing center field and batting leadoff. He went 0 for 3 (with a walk), striking out on a pitch above his head in his first MLB at bat. After 7 games (in which he hit .235 with 2 RBI), he was sent back to New Britain when Cordova came off the D.L.

Hunter’s hitting improved upon his return to the Rock Cats. He made the Double-A All-Star Game and earned a promotion to the Salt Lake City Buzz (in the Pacific Coast League), where he hit .337 in 26 games.

1999-2000: Early Struggles in Minnesota

The 1999 Minnesota Twins were in full rebuild mode. 10 rookies made the team’s Opening Day roster, including center fielder Torii Hunter, now 23 years old. He had a few early highlights, including his first MLB home run (on April 15th in Detroit) and his first grand slam (on April 26th at the Metrodome against Boston’s Tim Wakefield) but, overall, it wasn’t a great debut campaign. He and Kelly didn’t see eye to eye;  the veteran skipper was frustrated that Hunter didn’t hit the ball to the opposite field enough. The two nearly came to blows in the clubhouse after Kelly embarrassed Torii on the field in front of teammates and fans.

Were he not playing for a 63-win team, Torri’s rookie season with the Twins would likely have included a demotion back to the minors. His fielding was good (4th in the A.L. in Range Factor per 9 innings) but his bat was not ready for Major League Baseball. His slash line was weak (.255 BA/.309 OBP/.380 SLG), resulting in an OPS+ of 73 (well below the league average of 100). Despite his 6’2″, 220-pound frame, he hit just 9 home runs as a rookie (with 35 RBI) in 422 plate appearances. Despite his speed, he stole just 10 bases (while getting caught 6 times).

As a rookie, Hunter split time between the top and bottom of the batting order. However, he hit just .194 in the leadoff and 2-holes compared to a .306 BA when hitting 8th or 9th. Thus, manager Kelly put his young center fielder at the bottom of the lineup at the start of the 2000 campaign. Torri got off to a relatively hot start, slashing .327/.383/.509 in his first 19 games despite no long balls. Starting on April 23rd, however, Hunter went into a horrific slump, slashing a microscopic .129/.148/.165 in 27 games. The slump earned the 24-year-old Hunter a demotion back to Salt Lake City.

Hunter was frustrated and depressed by the demotion and considered quitting the game of baseball. His high school teammate Basil Shabazz helped to talk him out of it, reminding Torii that he was lucky to be playing and all and to persevere for “his friend who never made it.” (The two remain friends to this day).

General Manager Terry Ryan wanted to pair Hunter with the Salt Lake hitting coach Bill Springman, who Torii had known dating back to high school. Because of his speed and desire to be “coachable,” Hunter had felt that he had to hit the ball into the ground. Springman advocated a different approach.

“He (Springman) just told me to drive the ball through people. ‘Drive the ball through the fence.’ I just started doing that. … He changed my perspective, my mindset, to more driving the ball. It really wasn’t all mechanical. It was just a thought process. Once he changed my mindset, my body followed.”

— Torri Hunter (The Athletic, Nov. 17, 2020)

In two months with the Buzz, Hunter slashed .368/.403/.726 and hit 18 home runs in just 227 PA. He was back in the majors by July 29th (11 days after his 25th birthday) and slashed .332/.374/.485 in his final 53 games. Coach (and future Twins manager) Ron Gardenhire recalled that he saw Hunter “come back with a whole different attitude, like, ‘No one’s gonna stop me.’ No one, himself included.”

Because of his terrible start, Torii finished the season with a mediocre OPS+ of 80 and WAR of 0.2 but he was now established as a full-time Major League Baseball player. Even in his limited playing time (99 games), Hunter led all American League center fielders with 10 assists.

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2001: Big League Regular for the First Time

Torii Hunter, at 25, finally became a full-time player in 2001. After missing 13 games in April due to a strained groin, Hunter played in all but one of the Twins’ final 146 contests. His latent power finally appeared, resulting in 27 home runs, 32 doubles, and 92 RBI. What was still missing from his offensive game was plate discipline: he struck out 125 times while only drawing 29 walks, resulting in a lowly .302 OBP (102 OPS+). Despite his good speed, Torii still wasn’t much of a threat to steal (he had 9 SB and 6 CS).

Defensively, Hunter established himself as one of the elite center fielders in all of baseball. He led the A.L. in both putouts and assists (Total Zone runs puts him 20 runs above average); the league’s coaches and managers noticed, awarding him the first of what would be nine consecutive Gold Gloves.

Tom Kelly retired after the ’01 campaign and it seemed as if the Minnesota Twins’ franchise would be retired as well. In early November, the other 28 Major League Baseball owners voted to eliminate the Twins and the Montreal Expos due to their declining revenues, contracting to 28 teams prior to the 2002 campaign. A couple of weeks later, however, a federal judge stopped it by ordering the team to honor its lease at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for the ’02 campaign.

Although it still wasn’t 100% certain that the Twins would exist in 2002, they had to make plans for the season, starting with the hiring of a manager. The choice was third base coach Ron Gardenhire, making Hunter a happy ballplayer; he called Gardy “one of the greatest guys I know.”

2002: Star Turn

Ultimately, the contraction of the Twins and Expos did not happen (although the Expos were relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005). Under the more aggressive Gardenhire, Hunter and the Twins flourished. Torii hit an Opening Day home run, fueling a torrid start to the season. Minnesota won 13 of its first 19 games, with Hunter slashing .405/.439/.689 (to go with 6 HR and 16 RBI).

He tapered off a bit but still had a slash line of .305/.349/.562 (18 HR, 56 RBI) at the end of June. The fans around the USA noticed, voting him into the starting lineup for his first A.L. All-Star berth. Thanks in part to a grand slam on the third to last day before the break, Hunter finished the first half of the season with 20 HR and 61 RBI.

As noted at the top of this piece, it was in the Mid-Summer Classic (played in Milwaukee) that Hunter became a household name by robbing Barry Bonds of a home run to end the first inning. (This was the year after Bonds had set the all-time single-season homer mark with 73). As the beaming Hunter was jogging in from center field, the spotlight was stolen back by Bonds when he playfully picked up Torii and acted as if he was going to body-slam him.

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In the season in which they weren’t supposed to exist, the Twins won 94 games to take the A.L. Central. Hunter finished the campaign with a .289 BA (124 OPS+), 29 HR, and 94 RBI. Under the more aggressive Gardenhire, he also swiped 23 bases. Although today’s metrics call his defensive efforts in 2002 mediocre, he was awarded his second Gold Glove and a 6th place finish in the A.L. MVP balloting.

In the playoffs, Hunter hit .300 in the Twins’ 5-game ALDS win over the Oakland Athletics before hitting just .167 in the ALCS, which Minnesota lost (to the Anaheim Angels) in 5 games.

In January 2003, the Twins inked their All-Star center fielder to a four-year, $32 million contract extension (with a fifth-year option) to lock up their star center fielder past his 32nd birthday.

2003-05: Regression

If one were to assume that Torii Hunter ultimately does not make the Hall of Fame, his 2003-05 seasons can be identified as primary culprits. From ’03-’05, although he was superb defensively, Hunter’s offensive game was merely above average. In those three campaigns, he slashed .262/.325/.460, translating to a barely above-average 103 OPS+.

In 2003, hitting mostly in the middle of the lineup, Hunter hit 26 HR with 102 RBI but only managed 145 hits and 50 walks in 642 PA (for a weak .250 BA, .312 OBP, and 98 OPS+). Additionally, he stopped running, stealing only 6 bases (while getting caught 7 times).

2004 was better (23 HR, 81 RBI, 21 SB, 105 OPS+) while his 2005 campaign ended early (on July 29th) when he broke his left ankle trying to chase down a fly ball in deep right-center field at Boston’s Fenway Park. The ball was swatted by David Ortiz, who had become a star in the Red Sox’ 2004 postseason run. If you watch the clip, you can see the concern on Big Papi’s face; he and Torii were teammates and friends in the minor leagues (in New Britain and Salt Lake City) and through the 2002 season in the Twin Cities.

The Twins won the A.L. Central in both ’03 and ’04, losing in the ALDS both years to the New York Yankees. Those losses occurred despite robust hitting by Hunter (a combined slash line of .387/.429/.677 with 2 HR and 4 RBI).

The 2004 ALDS, if it had gone differently, could have been known as the “Torii Hunter series.” In Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, Gardenhire gave the ball to Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana. In the second inning, Hunter gunned down Jorge Posada at the plate on a double by John Olerud. Later, in the bottom of the 8th, he made a great catch against the wall on a drive to right-center by Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod’s shot might have cleared the fence or hit off the top of it; it’s hard to tell. Still, Hunter’s two defensive plays were crucial to Minnesota’s 2-0 victory.

In Game 2, the game went to extra innings. In the top of the 12th, Hunter hit a solo home run deep to left field to give Minnesota a 6-5 lead. Unfortunately for Hunter and the Twins, the Yankees scored two runs in the bottom of the frame to win the game and, ultimately, the series.

2006-07: Winding Down his First Tour in Minnesota

Torii Hunter rebounded a bit offensively in 2006. He set a career-high with 31 HR (to go with 98 RBI) and posted a 112 OPS+. Defensively, however, Hunter started to slip (according to various defensive metrics). That didn’t stop him from being awarded his 6th Gold Glove, thanks in part to spectacular plays like this one.

After missing the playoffs in ’05, the Twins won the Central again in ’06 with 96 victories. The postseason was a disappointment again; Minnesota was swept in 3 games by the Oakland Athletics.

As a team, the Twins regressed in 2007, winning just 79 games. This was despite a solid offensive campaign by Hunter in what was officially his age 31 season (he turned 32 in July). Torii slashed .287/.334/.505 (123 OPS+); he also hit 28 HR to go with career highs in doubles (45), RBI (107), and Runs (94). He made his second All-Star squad in ’07, won his 7th Gold Glove, and finished 15th in the MVP vote.

A free agent at 32, Hunter was now out of the Twins’ financial range. He signed a five-year, $90 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels, joining a team that had won the A.L. West in 2007. He boldly predicted that “maybe I can do some damage and get about three rings out of this.”

2008-09: Playoff Years in Anaheim

The 2008 Angels looked like a team that might very well give Torii Hunter his first World Series ring. The team won 100 regular-season games, the most in all of Major League Baseball. Torii got off to a great start in just his 8th game in an Angels uniform. On April 7th (against the Cleveland Indians), Hunter went 3 for 5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI, including a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 9th to turn a potential 4-2 loss into a 6-4 victory.

Hunter didn’t have a great season (21 HR, 78 RBI, 111 OPS+) but it was good enough in a strong ensemble cast. The ALDS continued, however, to be a disappointment to Torii: the Angels lost in 4 games to the Red Sox despite Hunter hitting .389 with 5 RBI.

Hunter’s 2009 campaign (as measured by his 5.3 WAR) was the best of his career to date, despite the fact that he only played in 119 games. At the end of June, he was slashing .306/.384/.576 with 17 HR and 57 RBI. He finished 4th in the All-Star balloting among American League outfielders and was named to the team as a reserve for his 3rd Mid-Summer Classic nod. Hunter had that robust first half despite a sore right groin. He had hurt it while making a superb catch at Dodgers Stadium in late May and aggravating it while crashing into the wall in San Francisco in mid-June. A couple of weeks later, the injury caused him to hit the disabled list and miss the All-Star Game.

“It’s hard to accept the DL — it’s not in my DNA to sit out. But I think I hit one too many walls. I may try to calm it down a bit and play the game a little smarter so that I can be on the field for my teammates.”

— Torii Hunter (Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2009)

Ultimately, the groin injury caused Hunter to miss 32 games. Overall, he finished with then-career highs in BA (.299), OBP (.366), and OPS+ (128) while hitting 22 HR with 90 RBI. Despite the missed time, Hunter earned his first Silver Slugger Award.

The Angels won the A.L. West again (with 97 wins) and, this time, dispatched the Red Sox in a 3-game sweep in the ALDS. Hunter set the pace in Game 1 (in Anaheim) with a 3-run tater to center field off Jon Lester. In the ALCS, the Angels lost 3 of the first 4 games against the Yankees. In the must-win Game 5, Hunter delivered a two-run single in the 1st inning, helping the Halos to an eventual 7-6 win. Ultimately, October would disappoint again as the Yankees took Game 6.

2010-12: Final Years with the Angels

Mike Scioscia‘s Angels did not make the postseason during Torii Hunter’s final three seasons with the team but Hunter earned his free-agent bucks. In 2010, he made his fourth All-Star squad (as a reserve) and posted another solid offensive campaign: he slashed .281/.354/.464 (126 OPS+) to go with 23 HR and 90 RBI. Torii’s streak of 9 Gold Gloves, however, came to an end.

After spending virtually his entire career in center field, Hunter was moved to right for the 2011 season, making way for a young defensive stalwart (Peter Bourjos). Offensively, he slashed .262/.336/.429 (116 OPS+) along with 23 HR and 82 RBI.

On paper, the 2012 Angels should have been a postseason team. Owner Artie Moreno opened up his wallet by signing two highly coveted free agents, superstar slugger Albert Pujols and pitcher C.J. Wilson. Additionally, it was Mike Trout’s rookie season and all he did was post a 10.5 WAR. By that metric, Hunter was the second-best player on the team with his career-high 5.4 WAR. By the metrics, Torii had an outstanding season defensively while setting new career bests in BA (.313) and OBP (.365). Despite decreased power (16 HR), his overall OPS+ was also a career-high (at 129).

Still, despite this troika of offensive stars and ace #1 starter in Jered Weaver, the Angels started the season with an 18-25 record, ultimately dooming their postseason chances. The team finished with 89 wins but that was four shy of what was needed to make the playoff party.

Hunter did finish his Angels’ career in style with a walk-off RBI single on September 26th and a two-out, two-run double in the top of the 9th in a game in Texas on September 30th to turn a 4-3 loss into a 5-4 victory.

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2013-14: Torii Hunter in Motown

Now 37 years old, Torii Hunter had played 1,947 Major League Baseball regular-season games and appeared in the postseason six times but never in the World Series. And so, as a free agent again, he chose to sign a two-year, $26 million deal with the reigning A.L. pennant winners, the Detroit Tigers. Upon the signing, he Tweeted this: “Found a team! Headed to Motown to win that ring!”

Hunter left behind two future Hall of Fame teammates in Pujols and Trout but joined three others in Detroit: third baseman Miguel Cabrera and pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, although Scherzer had yet to show his Hall of Fame form.

In his first year with the Tigers, Hunter had a solid offensive campaign (.304/.334/.465, 115 OPS+, 17 HR, 84 RBI) but slipped a bit defensively. Still, thanks in part to a blistering start (hitting .418 in his first 15 games), Torii made his fifth and final All-Star squad. He also won his second Silver Slugger trophy. The highlight of the year came in late August when Hunter strode to the plate with two outs and two runners on in the bottom of the 9th inning with the Tigers trailing 6-4. On the third offering from Oakland closer Grant Balfour, Hunter delivered a 3-run, walk-off homer to left-center field to give Detroit a 7-6 win.

The Tigers won the A.L. Central and faced the Athletics in the ALDS. Hunter only hit .158 in the 5-game series but, thanks to the brilliant pitching of Scherzer and Verlander, the Tigers prevailed, drawing an ALCS matchup against the Red Sox.

After winning Game 1 by a 1-0 score, the Tigers got off to a 5-1 lead in Game 2, thanks to 7 magnificent innings by Scherzer (1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 13 K). With Mad Max having thrown 108 pitches, manager Jim Leyland went to his bullpen, which didn’t end well. In what is arguably the second most famous play of Hunter’s career, he tumbled into the right-field bullpen at Fenway Park in a futile effort to snare Ortiz’s game-tying grand slam. The BoSox ultimately won the game and the series, with Hunter hitting .231 in the 6 games.

Hunter had another solid campaign with the bat in 2014 (114 OPS+, 17 HR, 83 RBI) but declining defensive metrics gave him a WAR of just 0.9. The Tigers won the A.L. Central again but were swept in the ALDS by the Baltimore Orioles; Hunter hit .200 in his final postseason series.

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2015: Torii Hunter Finishes His Career in Minnesota

Hunter hit the free-agent market again after the 2014 campaign and decided to return to the team with which he spent the first 13 years of his professional baseball career. Now 39 years old, Hunter signed a one-year deal with the Twins for $10.5 million.

Playing for the Twins’ new manager (Hall of Famer Paul Molitor), Hunter’s offensive production declined significantly. He slashed just .240/.293/.409 (91 OPS+) despite 22 HR and 81 RBI. With another poor season in the field, his final-year WAR was in negative territory (-0.7). He retired after the season, putting an end to his 19-year MLB career.

The following summer, Torii was inducted into the Twins’ Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame Case for and Against Torii Hunter

Of course, we’re talking here about the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, not Minneapolis. So, let’s start with the case in favor. By traditional old-school numbers, Hunter has some things going for him, given that he spent most of his career playing in center field. With 353 home runs and 2,452 hits, he has the basic offensive numbers that complement a defensive resume that boasts 9 Gold Gloves.

Those 353 taters are the 9th most in baseball history for a player to spend over 50% of his time patrolling center field. His 498 doubles are the 7th most. Finally, his 2,452 knocks are the 15th most and more than the totals logged by 11 Hall of Famers. Additionally, 11 Cooperstown inductees in center field had fewer than Torii’s 1,391 RBI.

OK, that all sounds good but this is why context matters. Because Hunter only hit .277 and did so in a super-charged offensive era, his OPS+ is just 110, which is not so great. Among the 17 Hall of Famers who played a majority of their games in center field, only early 20th-century stars Max Carey and Lloyd Waner have marks lower than 110. Carey (with a 108 OPS+) stole 738 bases and probably would have had multiple Gold Gloves if they had existed when he played. Waner, with a 27.9 career WAR and OPS+ of 99, is widely considered one of the worst Hall of Fame picks ever; he cannot be reasonably used as a comparative standard.

As for utilizing his speed on the base paths, the data shows a mixed bag for Torri. He stole 195 bases in his career but was caught stealing 99 times for a subpar 66% success rate. Just as he fielded his position with reckless abandon, Hunter was aggressive on the bases, leading to a very good 53% rate of “extra bases taken” (such as going from 1st to 3rd on a single). However, he was also thrown out 124 times when attempting to take an extra base, which negates a lot of that value.

How Much to Count the Gold Gloves

Anyway, now that we’ve fairly established that Hunter’s offensive and base running credentials, while respectable, are not overwhelming, what about those 9 Gold Gloves? Among center fielders, only Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Andruw Jones (also on the current BBWAA ballot) have more Gold than Torii.

The problem here is that the Gold Glove Award (until recently) was as much a popularity contest as a true reflection of defensive excellence. Players who established a reputation early in their careers as premium defenders could often ride that level of respect well past their primes. As I beat to death in my piece about Omar Vizquel’s Cooperstown candidacy, Vizquel’s defensive numbers (excellent as they were) did not justify the 11 Gold Gloves he won.

Torii Hunter clearly deserved his first Gold Glove (in 2001). He led American League center fielders in both Putouts and Assists (and thus Range Factor); his .988 fielding percentage was third-best. By today’s metrics, his 20 Total Zone Runs were the best in the league. In 2002, his Zone Runs plummeted to -6, thanks to 97 fewer putouts in just 60.2 fewer innings. Did Hunter lose his range overnight? That’s hard to swallow but the numbers are what they are. That didn’t stop him from winning Gold again; remember, this was his All-Star year in which he imprinted his Spider-Man abilities on everyone’s brain with his All-Star robbing of Bonds.

Starting with the 2003 season, I rely heavily on The Fielding Bible (written by defensive metric gurus John Dewan and Ben Jedlovic). Hunter won Gold from 2003-05 and Dewan’s and Jedlovic’s analyses back up the hardware. However, in the real world, Hunter kept winning Gold Gloves from 2006-09 while the numbers weren’t close to matching. The best of those years for Torii, by the numbers, was in 2009 when he was 11 runs above average (by Total Zone Runs). However, Seattle’s Franklin Gutierrez had a whopping 29 (thanks to 137 more putouts). You can distrust sabermetrics all you want, but 137 more putouts leave no room for skepticism as to who had the better defensive campaign.

Since 2013, sabermetrics has played a significant role in the awarding of Gold Gloves. Prior to that, however, it was the eye test and basic fielding stats. And, while one must be careful to look at retroactive defensive metrics with some skepticism, they’re much more reliable for 21st-century players than for those who played in the 20th.

The point to this boring story is that Hunter, while an excellent defensive outfielder and one who made the highlight reels with his fearless style, definitely did not deserve all nine of his Gold Gloves. I would say that the most generous number would be five (giving him credit for one he didn’t win in 2012), matching the number of times he made the All-Star team. That’s not a slight. Being the best (or one of the very best) at your position defensively is not an easy thing to do in a 15-team league.

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Comparison to Contemporaries

One of the best ways to evaluate the Cooperstown credentials of any candidate is to compare him to the other players at their position who played at approximately the same time. Let’s compare Torri Hunter’s numbers to four other center fielders whose careers had significant overlaps: Jim Edmonds, Johnny Damon, Andruw Jones, and Carlos Beltran.

Jones won 10 Gold Gloves (to Hunter’s 9); Edmonds won 8, Beltran 3, Damon none.

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Let’s break this down. Beltran is clearly by far the best of the bunch; he was on the ballot for the first time this year and received a 46.5% vote share. I always thought he was an obvious Hall of Famer but there are clearly some writers who are punishing him for his role in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.

Among the others, Jones has the highest WAR because of off-the-charts defensive metrics. Andruw’s defensive numbers are so good that, if you believe them completely, you would have to believe he was twice as good as Willie Mays. (I did a detailed analysis of Jones in this piece). Still, given that both Jones and Hunter are on the current BBWAA ballot, it’s hard to make the case for Torii over Andruw. Their slash lines and OPS+ are very similar but Jones has those 81 extra taters plus defensive numbers that are vastly superior, resulting in the higher WAR.

If you stick to basic defensive numbers, Jones led the N.L. in putouts six times and finished in the Top 10 on four other occasions. Hunter only led his league in putouts once and was in the Top 10 only three times. Andruw got 58.1% of the vote in his sixth turn on the BBWAA ballot in 2023; that would seem to be way above Torii’s ceiling.

What about Edmonds and Damon, who were summarily drummed off future BBWAA ballots in 2016 and 2018 because they got less than 5% of the vote?

Edmonds’ defensive numbers are very similar to Hunter’s but he was inarguably a much better hitter. Yes, Hunter got 503 more hits (thanks to 1,712 more PA) but Edmonds still hit more long balls. Additionally, Edmonds’ entire slash line is vastly superior across the board, resulting in a lusty 132 OPS+.

As for Damon, he did a lot of things really well but nothing spectacularly. Hence, he only made two All-Star squads in 18 seasons. Damon’s chief calling card was his durability: he logged over 140 games played for 16 consecutive seasons from 1996 to 2011. Only Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski, and Brooks Robinson have more 140+ game seasons than the Caveman. Being durable is no small thing: when you show up for work, your team doesn’t have to find someone to replace you. Damon’s 10,917 plate appearances are the 6th most among all center fielders in the history of the game.

If I had to choose a Hall of Famer between Damon and Hunter, I’d call it a coin flip, leaning slightly toward Damon.

That’s part of Torri’s problem here: I’d probably pick him last for Cooperstown among the five center fielders listed.

Torri’s Place in the Pantheon of Twins’ Outfielders

There are two other members of the Twins Hall of Fame that are worth referencing in comparison to Torii Hunter. I’m speaking about center fielder Kirby Puckett, who was a first-ballot inductee to Cooperstown in 2001, and right fielder Tony Oliva, who was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer.

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These three men had very different careers. Like Hunter, Oliva didn’t become a full-time player until he was 25. Unlike Hunter, Tony O was a premier offensive player right out of the gate but was never known for his defensive skills. Oliva had a superb eight-year peak that made the baseball world think he was a Hall of Famer in the making. However, multiple knee injuries limited him to designated hitting duties for the last four years of his career. As you can see, his counting stats fall quite short. Still, Oliva did quite well on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot, topping out at 47.3%. Also, he surpassed 50% on multiple iterations of the Veterans Committee ballots before finally hitting the magic number of 75% in December 2021.

Puckett’s career was also cut short due to injury. After his 10th straight All-Star appearance in 1995, he was forced to retire in the spring of 1996 due to an eye injury that blurred his vision. (Puckett passed away 11 years later at the age of 46).

Puckett did things that Hall of Fame voters like. He made lots of All-Star teams, won six Gold Gloves, hit over .300 eight times, got over 200 hits five times, and was a key contributor to two World Series champions. And so, even though sabermetrics call him Hunter’s equal (due to his WAR), Puckett sailed into Cooperstown on his first try.

Unlike Oliva and Puckett, Hunter’s career was not curtailed due to injury. But it took him a long time to figure out how to hit at the Major League level; he didn’t become a full-time player until he was nearly 26 years old.

The Scribes Weigh In

Torii Hunter hasn’t gotten a lot of support from the writers, and most of them don’t explain their ballots. So, there’s not much to find for votes in favor of a player who is languishing close to the 5% cut line for future ballots. Here’s one vote in support, from 2o21:

“Hunter was a powerful clubhouse leader and incredible mentor. Just ask Los Angeles Angels MVP Mike Trout and Boston Red Sox All-Star J.D. Martinez what Hunter meant to them. There was no more powerful black voice in the game than Hunter, who along with (Latroy) Hawkins, spoke to the inequalities in America and in baseball, when so few had the courage. So, go ahead and scream at me. Call for my head. Send me vile messages.  But considering what Hawkins and Hunter mean to me, personally, and what they did for the game, I’ll never apologize for my ballot.”

— Bob Nightengale, USA Today (Jan. 21, 2021)

And here are a couple of “no” votes:

“Few players were as much fun to watch as Hunter, a dynamic center fielder who won nine Gold Glove awards in a row… The average bWAR for a Hall of Fame center fielder is 71.3, almost 20 points above Hunter’s mark. The average JAWS for a HoF CF is 58.0; Hunter checks in at 40.7. That’s too much of a gap. Hell of a player, but I’m passing.”

— Ryan Fagan, The Sporting News (Jan. 3, 2023)

“I regrettably dropped Hunter this year after voting for him in his first two years of eligibility. I lean heavily on defense, and Hunter is one of baseball’s greatest center fielders. He also was a good hitter and a quality human. So, I wanted to keep considering his case. This year, though, after studying his career even more thoroughly, I’ve decided he is just a step on the wrong side of the Hall line for me. Given Hunter survived the cut last year by only two votes, my decision may push him off for good.”

— Dan Connolly, The Athletic (Jan. 7, 2023)

Conclusion

Torii Hunter was an excellent and well-liked player. He is beloved in the Twin Cities. If he ever made the Hall of Fame, he would be a popular pick. But his career record falls short of meriting a plaque in Cooperstown. A quick look at his Baseball-Reference page tells the story. There’s no black type on his offensive profile, which means he never led his league in any statistical category. Only once did he finish in the Top 10 of the MVP balloting and five All-Star nods are solid but don’t scream “Hall of Famer.” He never got 200 hits; he never scored 100 runs; he only hit 30 home runs once; he never stole 30 bases; he only passed 100 RBI twice.

If you scroll down, you’ll see his postseason batting line: .273 BA/.340 OBP/.414 SLG, 4 HR, 20 RBI (in 48 games). That’s OK but isn’t resume-enhancing when we’re talking about Cooperstown. Scroll down a little farther to the obviously relevant “Hall of Fame Statistics.” Torri’s Hall of Fame Monitor score is 58 on a scale that means 100 is a “likely Hall of Famer.” On Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system, he’s 36th among center fielders, just behind Ellis Burks.

Hunter is as likely as not to be off the 2024 Hall of Fame ballot, given that he barely made the cut for 2023. Still, it wouldn’t stun me if he were to make the Hall in the future due to his popularity in the game of baseball. Throughout the history of the Hall of Fame, the Veterans Committee (now dubbed the Eras Committee) has elected players who were not deemed worthy by the BBWAA. Sometimes, a passionate plea from a player’s former manager or teammate sways the assembled committee voters into voting that player into Cooperstown.

One of the most notable examples of this is Harold Baines, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2019 despite a 38.7 WAR, 121 OPS+, and no value defensively or on the base paths. Did it help that Baines’ former manager (Tony La Russa) was on that committee? You bet it did.

Hunter was a popular player with a flair for the dramatic. He has those basic numbers that are good for a center fielder and compare well against old-time inductees.

353 HR; 2,452 Hits; 9 Gold Gloves at a premium defensive position: that’s a solid one-line pitch for Cooperstown.

Torri has a lot of teammates or former managers who are already in or very likely to make the Hall of Fame in the upcoming years, including Paul Molitor, David Ortiz, Joe Mauer, Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, and Max Scherzer. Some of these men will be on future Eras Committee panels. Food for thought.

Hunter had an excellent career but, to these eyes, he didn’t have a Hall of Fame career.

Thanks for reading. Please follow Cooperstown Cred on Twitter @cooperstowncred.

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