Saturday afternoon, the San Francisco Giants will honor two of retired past greats with a spot on their Wall of Fame. Prior to the game, the Giants will commemorate the careers of former ace Jason Schmidt and former center fielder Marvin Benard. Wait a second, Marvin Benard?
In all seriousness, Benard was a solid enough player for the Giants and I recall having a spectacular season with him in the MLB PS2 series. If the Giants are factoring in that season in which Benard hit over .400 for me, I think it's a pretty reasonable inclusion. Other than that, I'm not really sure the inclusion makes sense unless it is an automatic inclusion. Apparently the Wall honors players with nine seasons with the Giants or five seasons including one All Star appearance.
In nine seasons with the Giants, Benard hit .271/.343/.402 with an OPS+ of 96. He stole 105 bases and hit 54 home runs and 21 triples. I've got to assume this is some kind of automatic inclusion for retired players. I also assume this means the Giants do not count Barry Bonds as officially retired. Although, I suppose some may consider Benard a better natural hitter than Bonds. Who knows.
Jason Schmidt is definitely worthy of inclusion following a fairly dominant six years with the Giants. In his time in San Francisco, Schmidt was 78-37, giving him the highest winning percentage (.678) among Giants pitchers with at least 100 decisions since moving to San Francisco. He also ranks among the all-time San Francisco leaders in wins (seventh), ERA (fourth, 3.36), shutouts (tied for 10th with nine) and strikeouts (fourth, 1,065).
Head over to McCovey Chronicles where they're discussing these latest honorees.