Double Down: Hall of Fame Week 21

Hosted by SIBR, written by BNN contributors

James Mora

If you’ve heard of James Mora, you probably already know why you are or aren’t voting for them. For those that haven’t, this blurb is for you.

On the field: James started out as a pitcher for the Fridays, and stayed there for several seasons. As a pitcher, they relied on defense but were never bad, especially by Discipline standards. When James feedbacked to the magic for Jaylen Hotdogfingers, their arrival was celebrated as an improvement over former slot occupant Yeong-ho Garcia.

Once the Move will was introduced, getting Mora onto the lineup became a major priority for the Magic. And once James got on the lineup (after a few failed attempts, like giving Chorby Short Homebody instead), they were without question the best batter on the team and remained thus until their untimely vaulting.

Jimmy was only the best hitting idol for about a season due to a dramatically ensmallened lineup, but their batting had a strong peak that didn’t overly rely on O No like other Magic batters (ie Bevan Wise) and consistent output for the rest of their time in the lineup.

External narrative: For the Fridays, Mora was a Discipline Era staple, one of their better pitchers during a time when the Fridays, like most of Wild Low, struggled to keep up with only sparse blessings to rely upon. During the Expansion Era, the Fridays were subject to significant roster changes, and losing James was a significant blow to them as an original pitcher who was often lored as in a relationship with fellow pitcher Stevenson Heat.

For the Magic, James represented an end to the chaos Jaylen would wreak within their rotation, a beloved player who was both a good prospect and fit in well with the chill vibes of Yellowstone.

Following the storm of redactions, Mora became a symbol of the Magic’s ability to keep up with the league during peak ruthlessness meta in spite of a seriously damaged lineup. Unfortunately, the tiny supply of batters on the team meant Mora became an instant idol sensation, dooming him to eventual vaulting off of momentum alone.

James, thus, is famous most often as an amusing what-if, when he dropped the force field meant to shield him from vaulting (although it could have instead caused a superposition) and when a secondary scheme to give him the Fifth Base didn’t trigger during that season’s election.

Conclusion: While James Mora might not be the best player on the ballot, or one who spent the majority of their time in the right place, their cultural and gameplay impact is significant, and they’re still a very impressive player. Anyone who dreaded matchups against the Magic from seasons 17 through 21 has Mora to thank for many, many of the runs they racked up.

-Beatrice

Jenkins Good

The Most Nominatively Determined Player

Jenkins Good is as borderline of a case as you can get here. 3.77 ERA and .954 WHIP overall. Acceptable numbers, if not inspiring. “Borderline” might actually be a slight bit of homerism on my part. But I love Jenkins, so I’m gonna try.

Jenkins Good sits upon the career Wins list, at #9. Now I’m the first to admit that wins aren’t the best measure of success. But, in order to pile up wins over a career and beat everyone but 8 players in the entire league, you have to be pretty good right? Gotta stick around a while and consistently win games.

A notable fact is that Jenkins Good did not get a single positive pitching statistical boost from season 2 elections until season 18, Day 68, when Jenkins picked up a Weird Arm Cannon. They did not get a single party, shadow boost, blessing, decree, will or item that bumped their stats an iota until well into Season 18, stuck at 3.05 pitching stars. During this period, Jenkins Good compiled 41 WhAT, the most gained without statistical changes in Blaseball.

And now my favorite Jenkins story. During season 23, Jenkins Good struggled a lot, notching an ERA of 6.31, finally paying for their lack of growth. In the s23 playoffs, however, they summoned a vintage Jenkins Good game – a pitcher’s duel with the Garages’ Arturo Huerta that ended in a 1-0 shutout to put the Talkers up 2-0 on the series. If you’ll recall, the season 23 Talkers had 9 pitchers of widely varying quality and a ridiculously cracked lineup. Jenkins Good was completely washed at this point, but they had one more game left in them, and pitched a gorgeous one.

Here’s the thing – I only just now realized how special that game is. Maude (Moderation) has a tendency to, uh, lie about the margin of victory. What looks like a 4-3 game was actually 8-3, etc. You get it. Anyways, Talkers fans have largely been desensitized to close games.

However, this shutout was actually a 1-0 game. The Talkers bats were unusually quiet in this iconic playoffs performance that normally completes a legacy and caps a hell of a career, but few Talkers fans fully appreciate the necessity and audacity of the performance even now.

And really, that’s Jenkins Good in a nutshell. They’re an excellent pitcher who toiled in the rotation under the shadow of PolkaDot Patterson and Greer Lott, never getting the credit or the spotlight. It’s time to give them their due. Vote Jenkins Good for the Hall of Fame.

-Cora

Fitzgerald Blackburn

Fitzgerald Blackburn has been on the Houston Spies since Season 3, Day 76, stepping in as an incineration replacement for Agent Miki Santana. Haven’t heard of them? Of course you haven’t, they’re a spy. Despite being noticed by SIBR for their Seed & Hot Dog viability in S19, they, as any good spy should, narrowly avoided gaining any Ego. Being this good took time, though. Blackburn has been the lead off hitter for the Spies for many of their 8.4k plate appearances (except for that one season on the Lovers), and has managed to keep up with the star increase of the league and the Wild Low despite the Spies’ policy on not partying. Blackburn has had the longest contiguous reign as ILB Pope (highest divinity in the league, from S7D95 to S14D01), and was chosen as the third lineup player for the Americano Water Works – one of the best Americano drinkers at the end of the Discipline Era. They’ve had two batting seasons in the top 10%, with their highest wrc+ hitting 171 in S16 (and a career average of 117). Their career WHaT sits at 38.9 – in the top 15% of the league. This [description redacted] is a vital part of the Spies lineup, and their multiple consumer attacks in the S20 Overbracket had a noticeable effect on the overall performance of the team.

It’s their last week, and your last chance to bet on Blackburn.

-agent kit

Rigby Friedrich

Rigby Friedrich was the greatest Expansion Era player by performance metrics.

They batted from S21 to S23: their career clocks at a fantastic 160 OPS+, meaning they were 60% better at getting on base than the league average. That ranks 12th all time, above such names as Alston Cerveza, Jacob Haynes, Commissioner Vapor, Fish Summer, Baby Doyle. When you account for what they actually did on base, their production is incredible: thanks to how good of a base stealer and base runner they were, they rank fifth all time in career WhAT_PA, meaning they generated an absurd amount of value for each plate appearance. On a rate basis, having Rigby in your lineup was worth more than having Jaxon, Nagomi, or Conner.

As a pitcher, they were also fantastic: career 67 era-, meaning they were 33% better than league average. Their career regular ERA of 2.76 is the 10th best in league history when counting Underhanded pitchers; if we invert the home run values of those, and rank all pitchers by overhanded ERA, it jumps to an outstanding 6th, ahead of Gabriel Griffith, Jaylen Hotdogfingers, Burke Gonzales, Elvis Figueroa.

They were a legendary player on both sides of the plate, and are likely to be the only Georgias lifer to be inducted. Vote for them.

-Dargo4

Sosa Hayes

With a BsR of 116.4, Sosa Hayes is the 9th best baserunner of all time. But how did this normal human adult reach this peak? Let’s start at the beginning.

Sosa Hayes started their Blaseball career on the Mexico City Wild Wings, a team well known for being bad except for that one season where they won the entire league. They quickly became beloved by the fans as well as by the sim, becoming the only player to gain stars due to the introduction of stat caps (they gained 0.5 stars when their patheticism was reduced to 0.990 at the start of season 2). Despite their maxed path, Sosa managed to hit when and how it counted, sporting an average OBP+ of 109 and an SLG+ of 101. During their time batting before season 10, Sosa had a BsR of 21.2, and it was looking up as they feedbacked to the Houston Spies.

The Spies were then hit with, by stars, the worst full team reverb to have occurred as of the end of the Expansion Era. Sosa’s 1.48 pitching stars were put to the test. And they did exactly what the Spies needed: they became a slightly above average pitcher (average ERAAA of 0.078). Beyond just being a winning pitcher over their 9 pitching seasons, Sosa also netted an average ERA+ of 106, FIP+ of 123, and WHIP+ of 106.

As Sosa’s stats increased, the Spies shifted them to hitting. From season 19 to season 24, Sosa batted for the Spies, the Atlantis Georgias, the Miami Dale, the Georgias again, and the Spies again. Sosa was an incredible batter during this period, with an average OPS+ of 140 and SLG+ of 134. In fact, all of those + stats are above 100, making it too hard to list. For peaks, 2 of these seasons were in the top 10% of batters by WhAT, and Sosa’s season 23 was the 10th best season by BsR EVER, at 29.9. As this list includes Don Mitchell 3 times, Collins Melon 4 times, and HOF snubs Mindy Kugel and Engine Eberhardt, this means Sosa’s best baserunning season was better than Beck Whitney’s, Richardson Games’, Rigby Friedrich’s, Forrest Best’s, and Hewitt Best’s. This is also when Sosa stole home and killed Hype Train.

Sosa represents a true success story: a player who came from just around average, managed well in a position they were worse in, and came back to become a phenomenal player with 47 WhAT, 2 rings for 2 teams, and the 9th best baserunning score of all time. Vote Sosa Hayes for Hall of Fame!

-AKAFishy