Filling out this year's Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot while learning that somehow, Mike Wallace and Roger Clemens have been friends for years...- Rich "Goose" Gossage: Perhaps the biggest oversight in the Hall's rich history this side of Buck O'Neil. Not to mention how emotional and fun the Goose will be at the podium, he was easily the most dominant reliever (never mind closer) in baseball for 11 years. He's going to get in this year because the class of wannabes is so slim. He should have been in 10 years ago. There's no riding the fence with Goose. I only wish he would go in as a Padre instead of a Yankee. Plus think of all the Pine Tar Highlights we'll get to see over the next 7 months(Baseball-Reference HOF Monitor: 126 -- anything higher than 100 means they should be in).
- Jim Rice: I don't know how I never thought of him as a no brainer. The only excuse for him not being in is that he hated the media. Christ, he played in Boston on some very good Boston teams. And Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and company are going to get votes just because they played in Boston (although Manny would be a shoe-in if he played in Tampa Bay). Rice had an incredible run, was on two Sox teams that were thisclose to winning the World Series, and surly bastard or not, he deserves a plaque (Baseball-Reference HOF Monitor: 146.5).
- Mark McGwire: He doesn't have a prayer because of the media's witch hunt on steroids. But it's called the Hall of FAME people, and for a good period of time, there was no player more famous than McGwire. Neither the A's or Cardinals have given out his #25 to another player since he left those teams, even though neither has officially retired the number -- yet. The more likely story is that McGwire will actually lose votes this year and fall completely off the ballot (Baseball-Reference HOF Monitor: 169.5).
- Dale Murphy: For all of those years when the only baseball you could watch on cable were Braves or Cubs games, we forget that Dale Murphy was really fucking good, and an argument can be made that he was the best player of the 1980's. Turned into a Gold Glove Center Fielder after starting out as a CATCHER. If he played in New York there'd be an annual outcry as to why he never gets voted in (Baseball-Reference HOF Monitor: 115.5).
- Andre Dawson: Another guy who, when you go back and look at the numbers, was incredible for his time. I remember when he went to the Cubs how Harry Carey and Steve Stone would always brag about how we were watching a Hall of Famer in action. I get why some people hold a grudge against McGwire because of that grease fire he made in front of Congress a few years ago. But to forget about the Hawk is just silly (Baseball-Reference HOF Monitor: 118).
By the way, poor old Chuck Finley's HOF Monitor is only 53.5. He did get to engage in sexual congress with Tawny Kitaen though.
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6 comments:
Okay, Im not a big Mcgwire fan obviously, but I will go with you on the other ones. You may be one of the few bloggers to envy my Christmas present from the wife. I am going to NYC in Sep. to see 1. The second to last regular season game to be played in Yankee Stadium, and 2. Cub's at Met's which at this point in the year should have playoff implications all over it. Just for fun I may gun down a gangster in front of Spark's Steakhouse.
Oh I am jealous of that. Mac and I are planning a trip to Yankee Stadium for sometime in 2008. We went and saw the Yankees/Mets there in 2005. As much as I love Wrigley Field, and HATE the Yankees, I think Yankee Stadium is the best place to watch a game. There's something about it, and I have no idea why they're tearing that thing down.
Click on the links to those other four should be HOFers. Their numbers are outstanding, I have no idea why so many don't vote for him. Especially the Hawk and Murphy. They get NO love from the voters, and they were outstanding playing in big ballparks.
What surprises me about the hawk is what a good base stealer he was early in his career, shit hestole 39 bases one year, didnt see him steel a lot as a cub.
BTW, Lee Smith 135. Lead the league in saves 3 times and has nearly 500 career saves.
I'm reading a lot of voters are voting for Lee Smith this year, even though if you look at his numbers, they don't really blow you away (yes, he had a ton of saves but he never had a lot of innings).
I still can't get over how good the Hawk was. I went and looked at his baseball-reference page again -- think if he played his entire career at Wrigley instead of suffering all of those years in that monster ballpark in Montreal. He'd have had his 3,000 hits for sure, and would have cruised past 500 homers. And you're right about the steals. I think he's only one of three people to have over 300 steals and 300 homers in his career.
Another sidebar about the Hawk. When he signed with Cubs, he signed a BLANK CONTRACT and had the Cubs fill in the money. How crazy is that? If that happened today, Peter Gammons and company would annoint the player to saint hood.
man, there was nothing like watching andre dawson leg out a triple at wrigley with a pair of bad knees.
by the time he was around second you just felt bad for the guy.
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