Cooperstown Cred is primarily focused on the credentials of current or potentially future candidates for the ultimate honor in sport, induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

As the Hall of Fame debate is by definition an exercise of comparative analysis, of course we also take a look at exising Hall of Fame members.

The content on Cooperstown Cred contains a blend of sabermetric and comparative analysis with old-school thinking. WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is not the be-all everything statistic but it’s important: it’s an indicator that points us towards further study. In the meantime, we still give a batter credit for his RBI and a starting pitcher for his Wins. Remember, it’s the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of WAR.

The articles here are designed to appeal to both the old-school fan but also those who like to take a deep dive into the numbers.

Most of the statistics on this site are the ones you grew up with but there are some new ones that we’ve embraced. In particular, OPS+ and ERA+ give us the ability to compare players from different ballparks and different eras across history. For the limited number of advanced metrics like those that we use, there’s often a link in the piece to explain and you can always look in the Glossary, many categories of which are featured in the sidebar on the right of the page.

The author, Chris Bodig, a longtime enthusiast of the Hall of Fame since first visiting at the age of 13 in 1980, is a former Producer for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight and Coordinating Producer for Up Close.