Three Twins legends who should be in the Hall of Fame

With every MLB team, there are players who made an indelible impact but have not gotten their respect by the BBWAA voters. The National Baseball Hall of Fame currently has seven players whose primary team is the Minnesota Twins, but you can make the case for more Twins players to be enshirned in Cooperstown.

The BBWAA Hall of Fame announcement will be on January 21st. Here are three Twins franchise icons who deserve more respect by the voters.

Torii Hunter

Hunter is currently on the Hall of Fame ballot for the fifth straight year, and he has notable stats that voters should consider. Hunter is one of five players in MLB history with at least 2,400 hits, 450 doubles, 350 home runs, and 150 stolen bases. There’s also his tremendous defense he showed in the outfield, where he won nine Gold Gloves and had this tremendous catch in the 2002 All-Star game. 

Right now, Andruw Jones is gathering momentum for enshrinement into Cooperstown, and deservedly so, but voters should consider a few statistics between Hunter and Jones. Both players made the same amount of All-Star games (five) in their career and Hunter’s 2,453 hits outclassed Jones’ 1933 hits. Hunter also has more RBIs (1391) than Jones (1289) and 13 seasons with an OPS+ over 100 while Jones had 11.

Hunter is on the ballot after clearing the five percent threshold last year to keep his name on. In his prime, Hunter was one of the premier center fielders in the game for those Minnesota Twins teams in the 2000s. While it is unlikely he will be enshrined at the Baseball Hall of Fame, Hunter has a solid case for a plaque in Cooperstown. 

Joe Nathan

Speaking of those Twins players in the 2000’s, why don’t we talk about the greatest closer in Twins history?

Nathan’s 377 saves is currently 10th all time in Major League Baseball history. Of those 377 saves, 270 came in a Minnesota Twins uniform, which is also a franchise record. If you’re top-10 in MLB history in a category such as saves, and you are the all-time best in saves for your team, you should receive Hall of Fame consideration. 

When we dive into Nathan’s stats, we see that his numbers stack up with some of the best closers in baseball history. For starters, Nathan’s 2.87 ERA is equal to Trevor Hoffman and lower than Lee Smith’s ERA. Unlike Hoffman and Smith, who both had losing records, Nathan has a 64-34 record. 

Unfortunately for Twins fans, Nathan’s candidacy fell off after the 2022 season, which is a shame. As Do-Hyoung Park points out, Nathan’s 237 ERA+ between 2004 to 2009 was equal to Mariano Rivera’s prime six-year stretch. Given what Nathan did as the Twins’ closer during his prime, and how he compares to some of the greatest closers in the game, Nathan should be considered for the Hall of Fame down the road by the veterans committee. 

Tom Kelly

Another Twins candidate for the Hall of Fame would be left-hander Johan Santana, but when it comes to Twins icons, we need to discuss manager Tom Kelly. 

In 1986, Kelly, a former minor-league manager in the organization, took over as manager in September 1986, where he went 12-11 the rest of the season. The 1986 season was the Twins’ seventh consecutive season without a winning record, but that all changed in 1987, where the Twins one their first of two World Series. From 1987-1992, Kelly was one of the top managers in the American League, where he went 515-457.

Kelly is one of 66 managers with over 1,000 wins, and his 1,140 wins are the most in Minnesota Twins history. Critics of Kelly’s induction are quick to point out his overall record that featured eight straight losing seasons between 1993 to 2000, but those seasons in which Kelly was in charge of rebuilding the team. When Rod Gardenhire took over after 2001, we started to see the fruits of Kelly’s labor with the Twins’ successful run in the 2000s.   

Kelly’s contributions with the Twins were paramount to the franchises’ success in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s, and even through the 2000s. It is time he got his dues with the Baseball Hall of Fame.