Gained a small measure of recent attention recently, when Ichiro ran down his season hits record. Before that, most casual fans would have had trouble figuring out who he was. I'm not entirely sure where to put Sisler. He is somewhat one-dimensional, offering batting average and speed, without a whole lot of power or much in the way of intangibles. Batting average, as I have said elsewhere, is probably the most over-rated statistic in baseball, and while Sisler's averages are pretty spectacular, his career on base percentage of .379 is nothing special, and well behind a lot of pretty mediocre first sackers. Baseball historian Bill James has called him "perhaps the most over-rated player in baseball history", and while I think that's a little strong, I certainly wouldn't put him among the elites of the game, or even at his position. He deserves to be in the hall, but he's not among the truly annointed.

Sisler was certainly one of the best players in the league through 1922. He was a fine fielder and hard as it may be to believe for modern fans, despite playing first base, usually a slugger's position, one of the fastest guys in baseball, stole a lot of bases. Like most St. Louis Browns players, his averages were boosted by playing in a park that greatly favored the hitters, that's why you'll often see big collective totals by that team and generally, outside of '22 when they had an aberrational great year, mediocre or bad results. He had the misfortune of playing for mostly woeful clubs, but his lack of power is a tad exaggerated, he did come in 2nd behind Ruth in homers in 1920 with 19, and that would've set an A.L. record prior to Ruth of course. I guess the most comparable player today would be, IF HE WAS A 1B, Ichiro Suzuki. While his numbers are a little deceiving, and after eye surgery in '23 which cost him the whole season, just a pretty good player, I do feel that his performance from 1916-22, when he was one of the best players in the league warrants induction... I'minterested in what irishgit says about him.