[nanwynnfan]

Since McGwire is being considered on this thread foe HoF credentials now, we're talking about a first-ballot HoF qualifier.

We tend to stereotype position-by-position performance expectations; and given that, 1B is increasingly seen as a power position, with desfense relegated to a very secondary weighting. However, it's worth noting that McGwire was a solid defender much of his career; and counting GG Awards is a farce.

Fooling around with stats other than the obvious (HR, RBI) I looked at 15 1B from over the last 50 years, including more than a few known for their physical size and power and a few less so noted but often mentioned in "should he be in the Hof?"-type discussions. In the bunch are two guys who are in the HoF; the rest are not. I cut off the list @ 2000, so no active players are included.

Player............Career OB%........Career SLG.....Yrs>250TB.....Yrs>300TB

Hernandez........... .384............. .436............... 5.............. 1
Mattingly............ .358............. .471............... 7.............. 5
Murray............... .359............. .476............... 12.............. 4
Joyner................ .362............ .440............... 4.............. 0
J. Clark............... .379............ .476............... 4.............. 1
McGriff................ .377............ .509.............. 14.............. 2
Grace.................. .383............. .442............... 6.............. 0
Galarraga............. .347............. .499............... 8.............. 4
Bagwell................ .408............. .540.............. 12.............. 8
Palmeiro............... .371............. .515.............. 14.............. 9
Olerud................. .398............. .465.............. 6.............. 2
Hodges................ .359............. .487.............. 9.............. 2
Killebrew.............. .376............. .509.............. 9.............. 6
F. Howard............ .352............. .499.............. 6.............. 3
McGwire.............. .394............. .588.............. 8.............. 5

The reason I looked at these stats is a combination of factors:

-TB/season, career gives immediate information on how sound the player was for full-time play throughout his career; and 250 TB is very solid production, while 300 TB seasons gets you into rarefied air;

-IMO OB% is an enhancement to SLG, based largely on a bias that expects increased OB% due to power ferar factor on pitchers, the expectation being the more awesome the hitting threat [OR, the greater the combined discipline+power] the higher the OB%/SLG combo.

From the above, I can see McGwire in the HoF but not on the first ballot.