The Melk Man Left Us a Diamond King
One with only a slightly better Cooperstown fate
1985 Donruss Diamond Kings Claudell Washington (#11) - Card of the Day
Take a look at the list of players who last took to a major league diamond in 2019 — and thus could have been eligible for Hall of Fame election in 2025 — and any number of notable names pop out at you.
Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia lead the charge, of course.
And then you see big names who are a little more iffy when it comes to Cooperstown: Dustin Pedroia, Felix Hernandez, Ian Kinsler, Curtis Granderson, Troy Tulowitzki.
We ran through all of them in some way or another over the last few weeks.
But there’s also another tier of players…men who were once big stars or at least big-time prospects, but who didn’t quite put together the sort of career that garners serious HOF consideration.
Yasiel Puig (only seven seasons), World Series hero David Freese, slugger Mark Reynolds.
And former Yankees prospect Melky Cabrera.
For as much hype that comes with that label — “Yankees prospect” — and for as much press as Cabrera generated when he broke into the majors at age 20, his current situation is sort of stunning.
To wit, though he played for 15 seasons and hit .285 with 144 home runs, 854 RBI, and 101 stolen bases, Cabrera didn’t even make it to the Hall of Fame ballot. No doubt his PED suspension and Biogenesis ties contributed to his absence.
Truth is, though, Cabrera didn’t stand much of a chance at Cooperstown even without the steroid taint. For evidence of that, consider his closest batting comp, by measure of Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores.
Claudell Washington played in the majors for 17 seasons and hit .278 with 164 home runs, 824 RBI, and 312 stolen bases. Neither player was stellar in the outfield, but Washington holds a 2-to-1 advantage in All-Star selections.
For his efforts, Washington did make it to the Hall of Fame ballot in 1996, but he failed to pick up a single vote. One and done.
That might be a fitting Cooperstown fate given Washington’s final career numbers, but it doesn’t necessarily jibe with the image he built among fans and collectors during his peak years.
Though Washington was never really the best player on his own team, he provided solid thump and speed on the bases for teams from coast to coast. From the A’s in the mid-1970s to the Braves in the mid-1980s to the Yankees late in the decade, and including several productive stops in between, Washington was a constant on the diamond and in collections for most of two decades.
And, on occasion, he’t put together a true star-level season, like he did in 1984. That summer, he hit .286 with 17 homers, 61 RBI, and 21 steals for the Braves. It was a performance that left him behind Dale Murphy in the Atlanta pecking order, but one that landed him his second All-Star selection.
It also landed Washington the nod as the team’s Diamond King in the 1985 Donruss set. Hall of Fame artist Dick Perez did the honors, as always, forever linking Washington to Cooperstown in at least one very visible way.
No matter what the ballot result says.