Bob K:

Keith:

Good to hear from you again, Bob.

The Ralph Kiner/Albert Belle comparison is an apt one; all of us at Baseball Evolution think of the two as similar players, even causing one Asher Chancey to lump them together into one über-player in his surreal 2003 Top 100 list.  Both men were ridiculously excellent hitters yet feeble fielders.  Neither was fast by any means, but they could each surprise you with a stolen base and rarely got caught.  As you say, both both sluggers had their careers shortened by injuries, and both players were disliked by fans and media.  Albert Belle did it to himself, while the once-popular Kiner had his image gradually tarnished by Branch Rickey to the point where the average Pirates fan has never even heard of him. 

Chicago Tribune sportswriter Teddy Greenstein went so far in January to claim that the 40 votes that Belle received in January's election were too many because of the way that Belle treated the media, mainly.

But I don't believe that your other comparisons are particularly illustrative in terms of injuries.  Johnny Mize was an effective hitter well into his late 30's.  His career was shortened by serving in World War II for three years.  Even if you don't want to give him credit for that missed time, his numbers blow apart Albert Belle's and all but about three dozen players in the history of the game.  He's a no-brainer Hall of Famer no matter what.

Numbers-wise, so is Albert Belle.  Kirby Puckett, on the other hand, comes up short if you don't give him some extra consideration for the way his career ended.  He tends to be overrated because of his batting average, over-the-fence catches, and his postseason heroics.  But his OBP was just .360, and he only drove in or scored 100 runs three times each.

Here is the Hall of Fames official criteria for voting: "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."       

So leaving Belle out of the Hall of Fame due to his poor integrity, sportsmanship, or character does have some merit.  However, since Kirby Puckett had been accused of death threats to his wife and sexual assault of another woman, his character can be called into question as well.  And considering how much better of a playing career that Albert had, if Kirby's in, so too should Albert be.

PS - Belle wasn't a liability in the field?  Are you sure that you're not thinking of Jay Bell?  The two do look kinda similar...