bobby grich is in my hall of famer collection

with dave parker and dick allen being elected to the hall of fame by the classic era committee, there should be some room on the ballot when that committee reconvenes in three years. i would expect to see tommy john, luis tiant, ken boyer, and steve garvey on the ballot again, and i am hopeful that bobby grich is added to that list. i've added him to my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that's a 2004 topps retired signature autograph. here's the back:

adding grich to this collection is not something that i considered until a year or so ago when looking at second baseman stats at baseball reference. i had been a fan of grich from my days of growing up in southern california, and i followed his career pretty closely until he called it quits after the 1986 postseason. i have a grich model rawlings glove, and have an affinity towards second basemen and those who wore number 4.

grich was a four-time gold glove winner and a six-time all-star whose lack of counting stats (only 1,800 hits and fewer than 3,000 times on base) is counteracted by his defensive prowess. and, defensive prowess as a deciding factor can't be overlooked when bill mazeroski is a hall of famer. if you trust war, grich has a higher overall war (bwar) than ryne sandberg, roberto alomar, or craig biggio, and his peak war is higher than alomar or biggio as well. among his peers, only joe morgan and rod carew (who moved to first base halfway through his career) are in the hall of fame, and they are no-doubters. by "traditional" means, grich seems like a stretch for the hall, but we are in a new world now.

i saw grich play in person a couple of times, including august 19, 1979 when he went 3 for 4 with a homer and three rbi against the blue jays. i also saw him at the big a once after his retirement. i assume he was working with the team in some capacity, but i didn't ask. we walked out of the stadium at the same time and i could tell he was in a hurry so i didn't say anything to him.

i recently added some of his final tribute cards to my collection - 1987 topps

and 1987 donruss

i'll keep my eye out for an extra 1987 fleer card as well.

i also bought an oddball single to add to my "master" 1978 topps set

that card comes from a sga on bobby grich night at the big a in 1987. cards from his career were printed on a sheet, hence the perforations. the back is a different color than regular '78s

otherwise, it's the same. as the card mentions, grich played shortstop for the halos in 1977 but moved back to second base in 1978 after they traded jerry remy to the red sox.

a hall of fame claim for grich is definitely a "big hall" opinion, and it would add a few more names to the "if he's in then so and so should be in" discussion, but i think he has a solid case. we will see if the era committee agrees in three years time.