The Hall of Fame Case For Evan Longoria

An interesting development has occurred this voting season, with a lot of online support being lobbied for one Mariners pitcher: Felix Hernandez. He finished his first year on the ballot with 20.6% of the vote, the highest total for all first-time players who didn’t make it into the Hall this year, and it does make sense why he would garner some Hall of Fame attention. He was one of the primary faces of the sport during the 2010s, but due to a relatively short peak, he doesn’t quite have the counting stats to back up a complete Hall of Fame resume. He did win the American League Cy Young in 2010, but he only won 169 games in 2,700 innings, accruing only 49.7 WAR and 2,524 strikeouts. Hernandez had a very impressive career, that much is sure, one that will be remembered for years to come, but it’s not the sort of case that typically garners Hall of Fame attention. Which is why the support for Hernandez has come as such a surprise. It’s expected, of course, for Seattle fans to support him, as he is undoubtedly the franchise’s best pitcher to this point, but still, similar candidates who made their mark on one single franchise like David Wright and Jimmy Rollins aren’t getting a sniff of Hall of Fame interest. It makes one wonder if a similar player to Felix could get support when he enters the ballot. One like him, who played the majority of his career for one team during the late 2000s and early 2010s, who had a strong peak but lacks the counting numbers of a typical Hall of Famer, one who embodied the era he played in. Maybe someone like…Evan Longoria?

The case for Evan Longoria isn’t quite parallel to Hernandez’, as his mostly lies in the evolving standards for pitchers as their role in the sport changes, but still, the two players have a lot in common. Both hit their peak in the late 2000s and early 2010s, both were two of the best players in the sport during that time, and both remain key pillars of their respective franchises. The two also share a surprisingly similar statistical peak. Hernandez’ began in 2007 and ended in 2015, and over that span he put up 45.8 WAR with nearly 2,000 strikeouts and an ERA+ of 131. At third base, Longoria’s peak started in his rookie season of 2008 and ended around 2016, a period where he posted 48.1 WAR with 241 home runs and a 128 OPS+. And truthfully, when looking at long-term value, Longoria was the better player, and is the more viable candidate for the Hall of Fame. Behind Adrian Beltre, he was the best third baseman in the league, and compared to Hernandez, he was a lot more present throughout the sport. Hernandez spent his peak on middling Seattle Mariners teams, while Longoria went to the World Series in 2008 and the Rays were almost always in contention during his time with them. While things like this shouldn’t matter, since it isn’t the players’ choice as to which team drafts them and how well they end up doing, it is the sort of thing that sways BBWAA writers to voting for certain players. Longoria was also a great defender. He won three Gold Glove awards and was worth 7 DRS over his career, continuing a legacy of great defensive and offensive third basemen who were shafted from the Hall of Fame (Graig Nettles, Buddy Bell, and, for a while, Scott Rolen). Third base in itself is probably the most fascinating position for Hall of Fame voting. Only 19 have been inducted, making it the position with the least amount of Hall of Famers besides designated hitter, which was introduced a century after the other positions and until recently has been exclusive to the American League. The third base situation is even odder once you consider the amount of worthy inductees that just aren’t in. Nettles is the most glaring omission, with his 390 home runs and 67.9 WAR paired with some of the best defense the position has to offer being kept out for an inexplicable amount of time, but even his contemporaries like Buddy Bell, Sal Bando, Darrell Evans, and Ken Boyer (who we’ll talk about later) all have strong cases to be inducted and fill the lingering void at third base. Longoria could be the most compelling case until modern stars like Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado retire to bridge the gap. However, Longoria’s case is more substantial than just his statistical accomplishments and the logistics of the position he played. Longoria’s case lies in a bit of sentimentality. See, for as long as it had existed, baseball in Tampa Bay had been a dreadful experiment. The Devil Rays, from their inception in 1998 up through 2007, recorded no winning seasons. Then Longoria arrived in ‘08, the Rays took the devil out of their name, and they went to the World Series, putting them on the trajectory as one of the most successful franchises of the century. He delivered possibly the most iconic moment in Rays history when he hit a walk-off home run to send them to the playoffs to end the 2011 season. He’s the statistical leader in virtually every offensive stat for Tampa Bay, a franchise still trying to shape out their identity in the wider baseball world. They don’t have anyone donning their logo in the Hall of Fame, a status only them and the Marlins currently hold. But they do have Evan Longoria. That’s the real reason why he should be a Hall of Famer. He is the Rays. He’s their whole identity, their savior who helped lift them into the mainstream and let them experience success for the first time. Let’s be honest, Longoria probably doesn’t have the statistical makeup to be a proper Hall of Famer. He doesn’t have 2,000 hits, he didn’t win that many awards, he was basically a league-average player after his age-31 season. You can compare him to the lower Hall of Famers inducted years ago who, truthfully don’t deserve to be there, point at guys like George Kell and Freddie Lindstrom and Pie Traynor and say, “well, he’s better than them,” but in terms of the guys who actually deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, like a Scott Rolen or a Ron Santo, he simply doesn’t have the numbers to stack up to them. But maybe it doesn’t always have to just come down to a stats page when we look at the Hall of Fame. Maybe, every once in a while, it can mean a little more, and I think Longoria’s case really proves that.

To further analyze the case of Evan Longoria, let’s look into the profiles of three players with a similar skillset to him, some of whom made the Hall of Fame, and some who didn’t. Induction into the Hall is a very arbitrary process, and everyone has their own take on who deserves to be in, but comparing Longoria to players already inducted can help shape the argument for Longoria in either direction, so let’s see if these three players hold any answers.

Similar Players to Evan Longoria

Ken Boyer: Boyer is perhaps the most apt comparison to Longoria simply because they played the same position and put up similar numbers; Boyer had 62.8 WAR, 282 home runs, a 116 OPS+, 2,143 hits, and 2,245 runs contributed (this is a stat I invented, you just add RBI and runs together), while Longoria had 58.6 WAR, 342 home runs, a 119 OPS+, 1,930 hits, and 2,176 runs contributed. Both had great peaks, but struggled towards the end of their careers. Longoria’s has already been mentioned, but Boyer had 56.2 WAR through his age 33 season before peteering off. Both were great defenders, winning five and three Gold Glove awards respectively, and both were remembered primarily for playing with one team, Boyer with the Cardinals and Longoria with the Rays. Boyer does set himself apart in the regard that he does have both a World Series championship and an MVP, as well as better counting stats overall, but still, the two are very similar in terms of their overall value. Boyer had plenty of chances to be voted into the Hall of Fame, but he never quite got there. He stuck around on the writers’ ballot for years after he retired, up until 1994, and even earlier this winter he was included on the Veterans Committee ballot but failed to get enough votes for induction. He died in 1982, so there’s no rush to get him in, but he probably has the numbers to qualify as a low-tier Hall of Famer.

Joe Mauer: his contemporary in the American League for years, Mauer was inducted on his first try in 2024, in what was honestly pretty surprising. Mauer was one of the premier catchers in baseball during his career until he was forced to move to first base due to injury. His career stats don’t scream inner-circle Hall of Famer due to his short 15-year career, but he managed to convince enough voters that he was worthy of induction his first time on the ballot, a status usually reserved for elite players. The induction of Mauer showed that BBWAA voters’ standards were evolving to emphasize the peak of a player more (though however, this shift clearly did not transfer to the Veterans Committee based on their induction of Dave Parker, a chronic accumulator). And Mauer and Longoria are fairly similar statistically and culturally. They both won three Gold Gloves and both played for competitive teams throughout their tenure. Mauer was a Twin his entire career and was a St. Paul native, making him, like Longoria, one of the most beloved players from his franchise. Longoria even has the edge over Mauer in terms of power and overall value. If Mauer is able to be inducted so quickly, Longoria might have a fighting chance.

Gil Hodges: a final and, I believe, very interesting comparison to Longoria can be found in the career of Gil Hodges, who played with the Dodgers from 1943-1961 before finishing his career with the expansion New York Mets. Hodges, like Longoria, had less than 2,000 hits and won three Gold Gloves, and a lot of their other stats are similar; they both have over 340 home runs and their OPS+ totals are separated by a single point. Hodges was a popular Hall candidate for a long time, staying on the writers’ ballot and bouncing around Veterans Committee ballots before finally being inducted by the Eras Committee in 2022. Hodges’ overall value was negated due to the fact that he played first base, one of the least valued defensive positions on the field, and he never had a major breakout season most Hall of Famers have, but he still put up good enough numbers and was a likeable figure during his playing career, all which contributed to his election. Hodges’ case shows that everyone’s path to Cooperstown is different, and maybe if Longoria doesn’t get elected on the BBWAA ballot, he can still find a different way to get inducted. Besides, if there are people who think Gil Hodges is worthy of being a Hall of Famer, there’s no reason why they should disregard Longoria, who was, simply, the better player.

All this is to say that while Longoria may not have the traditional makings of a Hall of Fame baseball player, I think it would be really nice to see him get some support when he debuts on the ballot in 2029 and maybe even get inducted one day. He’s done a lot for the sport of baseball, and has the statistical resume to be at the very least a lower tier Hall of Famer. Next time you see Evan Longoria, maybe tell him, “hey, someone wrote a really cool article about you on Substack.” And honestly, that’s probably about as good as making it into the Hall of Fame.