Hello Fans,
Happy 2014 to all! Tomorrow, we will find out who is going to be inducted into the hall on the last weekend of July. Well, for the second year in a row we’re going to fill out a Hall of Fame voting ballot. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) has its ten year members fill one out and they can list up to ten players for induction. Those are the rules we’ll use too. It’s easy to argue for or against almost any player, but filling out a ballot is not quite so simple. So here goes fans.
I voted for the ten players I thought had the ten best careers based on statistics, playing longevity, and years, along with some consideration to voting percentages received, on past ballots. In order, with one being the best career, here they are: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Jeff Kent, Lee Smith, Mike Mussina, and Jack Morris.
Let’s review the list. Maddux is an automatic first-ballot with 355 wins. WOW! Maddux’ longtime Braves teammate, Glavine, is also in the 300 win club. Piazza hit 427 HRs to go along with a .308 average and 1,335 RBI while catching. Biggio almost got in last year and he’s in the 3,000 hit club. Thomas smacked the same amount of HRs, 521, as HOFers Ted Williams and Willie McCovey. He has 1,704 RBI (22nd all-time) and a .974 slugging percentage too.
Bagwell is Thomas’ N.L. counterpart although he had to play his whole career at first and couldn’t DH. He had 449 bombs, 1,500 ribbies, and swiped 202 ‘bags’ too. Kent hit more homers than any other second sacker at 377 and is in the 1,500 RBI club. Smith racked up 478 saves while playing in an era of multi-inning outings for closers, and his ERA is still 3.03. Mussina tallied 270 wins in the rugged A.L. East during the most offensive era in baseball history. And he’s the only guy to lose two perfect games with two outs in the ninth. Morris has 254 wins, won 20 games three times, and completed 175 games.
SIDE NOTES: Entering 2014, there are only 51 players with 1,500+ RBI and 34 pitchers with 270 or more Wins.
There are my ten players. Obviously, they won’t all get in this year. I believe, ALERT! PREDICTION LOOMING AHEAD!, the 2014 HOF Class will be Maddux, Glavine, Biggio, and Morris. Ironically, Biggio broke in as a catcher so perhaps he can keep those pitchers in line as they go through the thrill of induction if that’s how it pans out. Ha, we shall see soon enough.
Now let’s talk about who I did NOT vote for. The ballot is crowded as this year’s first-timers included Thomas, Kent, Mussina, Glavine, and Maddux. Curt Schilling had a great career with over 3,000 K’s and much fabled post-season success (two titles), but I took Mussina’s additional 54 wins for my tenth slot. It was tough to not give Tim Raines a vote this year as his 808 steals are impressive and perhaps more difficult not giving Fred McGriff’s 493 HR (tied with Lou Gehrig) and 1,550 RBI the nod. However, there were better all-around guys at their respective positions to choose from. I chose to let Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Rafael Palmeiro sweat it out a while longer even though they should be in based on pure statistics. We’ll sort out those guys later. Plus, none of them are in ‘danger’ of getting snubbed by a vote or three this year so why waste a vote when it’s crowded out there?
Palmeiro and Sosa, with just 12.5 and 8.8 percent in 2013, may fail to get the required five percent of votes to even stay on the ballot going forward. McGwire, at 16.9% could join them too. That news may possibly overshadow some the limelight of the inductees themselves. It’s definitely something to discuss at the right time, but here at the VFTD, we’ll be focused on who IS going to be enshrined! Check it out!
Later Fans.