Hello Fans,
Sorry for the long layoff, those holidays sometimes start early and end late. Yeah, something like that. We’ll have to catch up on the Winter Meetings highlights as the reporting date of pitchers and catchers gets closer (Feb. 12th). Anyway, tomorrow is an EXTRA LARGE day for MLB and the Hall of Fame in particular as the 2013 Hall of Fame inductees will be announced for the July 28th ceremony. Remember, the Hall is its own entity, and not controlled by MLB. The panel consists of over 600 writers who belong to the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). There is plenty of controversy of who belongs in (due to stats, longevity) and who should perhaps never get in (due to PED’s later in careers), so let’s get to it. If the VFTD had one of those numerous BBWAA ten-nominee card votes, here is the lineup and accompanying reasons why.
1. In 2013, my number one guy is Jack Morris. I think he should have been in before this year, his 14th and second last attempt. I just learned that he would become the first A.L.-only pitcher to compete entirely in the DH era and qualify. Interesting. He also pitched eight innings or more in over half his starts in a 14 year period. WOW! He also had 254 Wins, over 2,400 K’s, and a 3.90 ERA. For a reference, in just two more seasons than HOFer Whitey Ford, Morris compiled over 500 more K’s and 18 victories. And if you’re a big postseason-is-important-type (I think of it as an added plus, not an above all stat), Morris did pitch a 10-inning complete game 1-nil victory in Game 7 of the ’91 Series for the Twins. How do you like that gem!? Plus, he won titles with the ’84 Tigers and ’92 & ’93 Blue Jays.
2. Jeff Bagwell gets the nod here. He received 56% of the votes last year and is worthy to approach the mandated 75% this year. He smashed 449 bombs, 488 2Bs, 1529 RBI, a .408 OBP, .297 AVE., and threw in 202 SB for added fun to his power numbers. He played just 15 years due to chronic shoulder problems, perhaps stemming from that strong swing from the most uncomfortable ‘squatting’ batting stance in MLB history. Hey, it worked, right? He also won the Rookie of the Year (’91), MVP (’94), and a Gold Glove and three Silver Sluggers. The key here is averaging 100+ RBI for 15 seasons.
3. Craig Biggio. Yup, I’m not only putting him in with ‘Bags’, but also on his first try too. Why? Here’s why: 3,060 H, 291 HR (great for a table-setter type), 668 2B (5th all-time), 1,175 RBI, 414 SB, five Silver Sluggers, and 4 Gold Gloves. If that can’t get you in on the first try, you need to be Ruth or Cobb or Mays apparently. He was a great two-way player and came up as a catcher and shifted to 2B to preserve his body and hitting skills. Critics say he was a ‘longevity guy’. Yes he was, as are all of the greats. If you’re dominant when you’re young, you have a great shot at being above average when you’re older too, barring injury. He played for 20 seasons and averaged 150 games per year even in his last five seasons. That’s not exactly indicative of a guy ‘just hanging on’.
4. Mike Piazza. Many think he should be a first-ballot guy. Some speculate dabbling with PED’s. That goes for Bagwell too, but the Mitchell Report is mostly glorified, professional (supposedly) speculation and if we didn’t hear others back that up by now, it needs to be disregarded. NOW. Anyway, I don’t buy EITHER line of reasoning as a first-timer or a PED guy. He’s getting in and easily should, but I can’t put in him in first-time for one reason: D-FENCE. At least that’s a BIG reason. Half the game (or more for a masked man). Bench, Berra, Campy, Fisk, Carter, and Co. played the game great on both sides of the dish. Piazza had zero Gold Gloves. I hated the way he blocked the plate (squatting, mask on) for plays at home and he was one of the worst at throwing out runners (though his staffs weren’t great at the slide-step to home either). It should cost him one year, but no more. His offense is ridiculously dominant. TEN Silver Sluggers! His 427 HRs and .922 OPS are beyond impressive, not to mention his .308 AVE and 1,335 RBI. He played the game extremely hard too and often in the three-spot in the lineup.
5. THRU 10. In no particular order, I’ll take Larry Walker (.313 AVE, 383 HRs, .400 OBP, 230 SB, 7 Gold Gloves), Fred McGriff (2,490 H, 493 HRs, 1,550 RBI), Tim Raines (2,605 Hits, 1,571 Runs, and 808 SB), Curt Schilling (216 W, .597 Win %, 3,116 K, 1.13 WHIP), Lee Smith (478 S), and Edgar Martinez (.312 AVE, 309 HRs, 1,261 RBI). Some of these guys may never get in, but they were great in unique ways and need to stay within range. Lee should already be in, but that’s for another day.
My ballot is obviously and purposely missing all of the most controversial PED guys who are now eligible. Do I think they should be in? YES, for various reasons. Right now though, I’m not sure they actually will so I didn’t ‘waste’ the votes to get each of them the necessary 5% so everyone can buy time to mull it over. Here is the BIGGER problem: believe it or not, Mark McGwire (583 HRs, .394 OBP) is already in his 7th year on the ballot. He’s hovering around twenty percent of the votes and has just eight more tries after this. Rafael Palmeiro (joined Mays, Aaron, Murray in 500 HR-3,000 H Club) is in his 3rd year and got a whopping 12% last year. What are we going to do with these guys and now Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa? At the current rates, there is no room for all of them on the ballot. I don’t want to lose some of the clean guys mentioned above, who are worthy regardless of what happens with the PEDs, just to save some others who may not be savable anyway. We’re going to lose Dale Murphy (398 HRs) this year as he has sunk to under 20% and this is his last vote, but that’s how it goes. If he played on better teams, the supporting talent surely would’ve aided his numbers. Still, that doesn’t free up much space in a ten man ballot. Regardless of the PEDs situation lingering over the Hall, the ballot is very, very full with awesome resumes. And it only gets more crowded as Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Mike Mussina, Jeff Kent, and Frank Thomas become eligible in ’14 too. These guys are big, big legends.
It is easy to say who should or should not be in the HOF. Every year I have had an opinion on the vote. However, this is the first year I’ve ‘filled out a ballot’. It’s extremely difficult. In a perfect world, I would like a 15 man ballot just to keep guys eligible longer, not to lower the standards. I said above that I think the PED guys should get in and here are my reasons. One, there is too many of them ‘suspected’ to be tainted. The whole in the wall of the Hall would be the equivalent of the Hoover Dam collapsing; a catastrophic flood of the lost recordings of an entire era’s greats would create a huge gash in the purpose of the HOF. The game didn’t keep itself in order and things got wild. You can’t change that, it’s history. We’ve recognized that, learned from it, and have made positive changes.
Two, the punishment of keeping guys out of the HOF based predominantly on writers’ suspicions of PEDs, etc. is unfair and just as uncontrolled as the era was itself. Plus, many of the greatest greats (Mantle, Mays, Aaron, etc.) of the game’s glory eras have acknowledged players using amphetamines. Those are just as illegal and ‘unfair’ as any ‘cream’ or ‘clear’ of the modern era. These guys are baseball legends, and not necessarily role models. As fans and/or writers, we need to sift through that. Besides, who are we kidding? Energy drinks are just as effective as a ‘yellow’ or ‘greenie’ as they all give ya the hop in your step (and concentration) following a hangover or charlie horse in the summer heat. There is a responsibility on the part of the Writers and Hall to announce to the fans who the best players of ALL eras are. (And how fast one gets in theoretically ranks the HOFers too).