Hall of Fame Ballot

[Head 2 Head]

Yup, it's time for a look at the players eligible for selection to MLB's Hall of Fame in 2010...



Should be in…



Roberto Alomar- Overrated in the argument of best 2B ever (he's nowhere near Joe Morgan or Eddie Collins), but maybe a Top 5 of All Time. Would be first ballot except he's a spittin'-on-umps, AIDS-infected, jackass…still should be in.



Alan Trammell- Yes, he was as good as Ozzie and Ripkin, and Larkin and Jeter, and should be in already...



Barry Larkin- The evolutionary link from Alan Trammell to Derek Jeter, and all three should be in...and, if you check baseball-reference.com and look at the similarity scores, you’ll find Trammell (921) as most similar and Jeter (901) as #4 (#2 among SS, as the ones between him and Tram are second basemen…score over 900 meaning very similiar)



Tim Raines- As leadoff men go, there's Rickey, there's Raines, and then there's a big dropoff to #3 in the history of baseball.



Bert Blyleven- So you have to be better than Blylevin to get in? That leaves out everyone since Bert except Maddux, Unit, and Pedro (Clemens was another steroid cheating idiot who should be banned), and means you should kick out a bunch of guys in there already...



Andre Dawson- He was better overall than Rice, and had years when he might have been the best player in the game. He's was a better version of Torii Hunter, and I'm convinced that you don't have to be too much better than Hunter to get in the Hall.



Edgar Martinez- Toughest call here. Is there really any difference between DH'ing and being hid in the lineup in LF because you suck defensively? Edgar was a better third baseman than Jim Rice was a left fielder. I'll say yes because his all around hitting was truly HOF caliber and he was a very effective player for a very long time...the only other DH'ish guy in the Hall is Paul Molitor, and I think Edgar stacks up against him pretty well.





Borderline- Maybe yes, maybe no…



Jack Morris- Been on the fence with him, but his career numbers just don't make it, and never was really dominant, even for a short time. Now my thinking is, "If I have to question whether he should be in, then he shouldn't" as opposed to Edgar Martinez, where I felt, 'Why shouldn't he be in?"



Fred McGriff- Lots of HR's and RBI, and not a whiff of steroid abuse. Good fielder, too. He's right around the cutoff line with Mattingly- I would say no, but he wouldn't be the worst first baseman in the Hall if he made it...





Significant No’s



Mark McGwire- He cheated. In doing so, he cast doubt on the integrity of the outcome of games and, therefore, on the season. That's against the rules. He's out- and so is Bonds, Palmeiro, Sosa, Clemens, and the rest of them. Don't care if they were HOF players beforehand- so were Joe Jackson and Pete Rose. Don't care that Babe Ruth would have used steroids if they had been around- they weren't. Don't care that Willie Mays used uppers or that Mickey Mantle drank- those are not PED's. McGwire and the rest cheated. End of story.



Harold Baines- Not even the best DH up for vote with Edgar Martinez on the ballot…



Dave Parker- If anyone thinks that cocaine is a PED, just look at how this guy's career collapsed.



Don Mattingly- Cursed back injury! For the want of 2 more great years, which he would have had. But he didn't, so he's out.



Dale Murphy- The NL Don Mattingly- both great players, credit to the game, never any scandals, but just not great enough long enough, nor a long career of being very good…



Lee Smith- I've said it before, and I'll say it again- the only reason he's even being considered is because he once held a record which is useless. He wasn't that good- he was Jose Valverde, not Mariano Rivera. Smith is currently 3rd on the all time saves list- John Franco is 4th, Randy Myers is 7th. Want to put them in, too? Smith’s career ERA is 3.03. A closer with that as a career ERA is worse than having Morris in there with his almost 4 as a starter. (Franco’s is much better, by the way- 2.89…) Hoffman (2.75)and Rivera (2.33) both have significantly better ERA’s as well, as do Fingers (2.90, including his first two years when he was a starter), Gossage (3.01, even with his last years of scrounging around and his time as a starter early), Eckersley (as a closer) and Sutter (2.83)- the modern HOF closers. Maybe if Smith had a great post season record he would have an argument- ooops! Two post-season years, 4 appearances total, ERA of 8 one year and 9 the other. Rivera’s been in the post season like 13 years and has an ERA of 0.77. Aside from Saves, Smith’s numbers are a lot closer to Jeff Reardon and Robb Nen than to the HOF closers…



So why is Lee Smith still being discussed? Simple- saves. He once held the record in that one category. Now some of you may think, “Well, anyone who hits over 500 HR’s should be in the Hall, so maybe anyone who saves 400 games should be there, too.” This is wrong on two fronts- 1. John Franco has over 400 saves, and he’s not getting in, and 2. Saves and HR’s are distinctly different stats. Hitting a baseball over a distant fence 30 or more times a year is a talent that few have. Every pitcher in the bigs has the talent to get three outs in an inning. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in the bigs. Closers get hurt or demoted all the time, and someone else steps in to gather up the saves. You lose a 30+ hr guy and you just don’t roll another one into the lineup off the bench…



In conclusion, once and for all, let the argument be settled- LEE SMITH IS NOT A HALL OF FAME BASEBALL PLAYER!, and it is an indictment on the entire selection and voting process that he gets more votes than Alan Trammell and Tim Raines…

[huskyfan88]

Dawson should be in.

[headhunters]

nice post head to head. the problem was rice getting in- to make all the boston people happy. dawson was an out maker- but he was better in many ways than rice. rice is gonna get some guys in.