Frank Tanana Deserved At Least 1 Hall of Fame Vote!

I previously wrote about a former fire-baller who, midway through his career, became considerably more crafty, and pitched for nearly two decades, winning more than 200 games. My conclusion was that while David Cone may not have had a Hall of Fame resumé, he deserved at more than one year on the ballot.

This week we will look at another former fire-baller who, midway through his career, became considerably more crafty, and pitched for more than two decades, winning more than 200 games. My conclusion, as you will see below, is that Frank Tanana deserved at least one vote on the Hall of Fame ballot.

The then-California Angels made Frank Tanana the thirteenth pick in the 1971 draft. And two years later, at the tender age of 19, he made his major league debut. He threw four innings and gave up four earned runs in his first appearance, taking the loss against the Kansas City Royals. He faced the Royals again five days later, and didn’t relinquish the hill or the ball, going nine innings, giving up one earned run, en route to his first big league complete game and victory. Tanana would finish the season with a 2-2 record and a 3.08 ERA.

Tanana spent eight years in Anaheim, was traded to Boston for a year, then to Texas for three-plus seasons, before being sent to his hometown team, the Detroit Tigers. Tanana finished his career in New York – spending parts of the 1993 season in Queens and then the Bronx. When the final tally was done, he won 240 games against 236 losses, with a 3.66 ERA, 3.79 FIP, and a 106 ERA+. At first glance, with those stats, he was a just-above-average pitcher who played long enough to accumulate more counting stats.

But the truth is harder to parse. When Tanana first came on the scene, he was part of a one-two punch with Nolan Ryan that rivaled Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain (there was a common saying during the time: “Tanana and Ryan, and two days of cryin’”) and other local heroes, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. In 1975, Tanana led the American League in strikeouts with 269 (Ryan had only 186), including 17 in one game against the Rangers, and came in fourth in Cy Young voting. He was an All-Star the next three seasons, leading the league in WHIP in 1976, and ERA and bWAR in 1977. But injuries started to take their toll, and by the end of his tenure with the Angels, he had gone from a fastball pitcher to one who relied on off-speed pitches and deception to get batters out. And yet, from 1981 through the end of his career in 1993, he still averaged 31 starts and 198 innings per season (which would make him a workhorse today). Despite a 138-158 record during that time, he pitched to a 100 ERA+ – perfectly average.

And although it was a different time, it is notable that Tanana completed more than twenty percent of his career starts: 143 of 638.

Unfortunately for the lefty, he only made two post-season appearances, both in the American League Championship Series. In the first, in 1979 for the Angels against the Orioles, he went five innings, surrendering two earned runs, taking a no-decision in his team’s loss. The second, eight years later while pitching for the Tigers against the Twins, he went 5-1/3, giving up three earned runs, and took the loss.

When sizing up Tanana’s Hall of Fame bona fides, he doesn’t really stack up. The average Hall of Fame pitcher has 40 instances of black ink (leading the league in a category) on his Baseball Reference page. Tanana has nine.

Bill James’ Hall of Fame Monitor, which has a score of 100 as a likely Hall of Famer, nets the lefty out at 55.

And according to Jay Jaffe’s JAWS measurement, Tanana comes up short in every category:

• Career bWAR: 57.1 (Avg HOF Pitcher: 73.0)
• 7-Year Peak bWAR: 38.1 (Avg HOF Pitcher: 49.9)
• JAWS: 47.6 (Avg HOF Pitcher: 61.5)
• WAR/162: 3.1 (Avg HOF Pitcher: 4.5)

Tanana appeared on the 1999 Hall of Fame ballot along with his former teammate Nolan Ryan, and other future Hall of Famers George Brett, Robin Yount, Carlton Fisk, Tony Pérez, Gary Carter, Jim Rice, Bruce Sutter, Jim Kaat, Dave Parker (this year), Bert Blyleven, and Minnie Miñoso. Even with Steve Garvey, Dale Murphy, Tommy John, Dave Concepción, Luis Tiant, and Dwight Evans on the same ballot, some writer – from the Orange County Register or the Detroit Free Press – from some publication, could have found some room on their ballot for one measly vote for a pitcher who, at the time, was eleventh all-time in left-handed pitcher wins. Alas, it was not meant to be, and Tanana joins the ranks of very good players who only got one shot at Hall of Fame induction.

PLAY BALL!!