My Hall of Fame Ballot
I just submitted Baseball Bloggers Alliance Hall of Fame ballot so I'll post my results here.
Roberto Alomar: Yes. The only real reason he didn't get in the first time was because voters didn't think that Alomar was "first ballot worthy", whatever that even means. His career was essentially over by the time he was 34 but up to that point Alomar was one of the best second basemen of all time. He should get in easily this time, but you never know. People see to be coming around on yearly award voting, it may be a few years (or decades) until we're on a similar page with the Hall of Fame
Carlos Baerga: No. In the early 90s Baerga was a key part of the Cleveland Indians awesome hitting briggade but then he was traded to the Mets where he forgot how to hit (just like Roberto Alomar!), got hurt, retired, then came back as a solid pinch hitting/ sub option.
Jeff Bagwell: Yes. His inability to age even somewhat gracefully and the fact he played during the "Steroid Era" will hurt Bagwell but he's definitely HoF worthy for me. His first 10 years in the league Bagwell was essentially Frank Thoms but with great defense and speed. Did you know that Jeff Bagwell stole 30 bases twice?
Harold Baines: No. Whether or not he's "the best designated hitter ever" or not is irrelevant, Baines just wasn't all that great. His impressive hit total is more a product of sticking around than, you know, actually being really good. If Chili Davis played a few more seasons he would be Harold Baines and he would also not be worthy of the Hall of Fame.
Bert Blyleven: Yes. He juuuuuuuust missed the cut last year but he'll surely get in this year, I hope. According to Baseball-Reference.com WAR, only 12 pitchers have been better than Blyleven. The same people who didn't vote for him for the Cy Young are the ones blaming him now for not having one, so that argument is simply not fair and should be dropped. It's hard to knock a guy for wins when he has 287 of them, he's essentially Don Sutton but better.
Bret Boone: No. Bret Boone's WAR before 2001: 3.1; Brett Boone 2001 WAR: 9.3; Bret Boone's WAR from 2002-on: 9.0. Boone's 2001 season is probably better than several players in the Hall of Fame have done in an individual season, but just one season isn't enough.
Kevin Brown: No. This was a tough one and as I write this I may have already changed my mind but my initial reaction was no, so I'm sticking to that for now. If you want to go back and re-award players who deserve Cy Youngs, I think Kevin Brown can make a case for 1996. 17-11 1.89 ERA but lost to John Smoltz and his impressive W/L of 24-8 with a 2.94 ERA. Brown is more similar to Schililng and Mussina than he is different, but unfortunately for him he pitched in a time full of all-time greats, and since he didn't play on the Sox or Yankees (when he was good) he may be getting screwed. Hmm, why did I vote no?
John Franco: No. In my opinion, if you are a reliever you have to do something special to be HoF worthy and being a solid closer for a decade + just doesn't qualify.
Juan Gonzalez : No. When you don't get on base and you don't play defense your career totals aren't quite as impressive as they may sound. Juan Gone is like Bobby Abreu, well actually he's the complete opposite, but they've put up similar production at the plate just did it in completely different ways. Bobby Abreu got on base and stole bases, Juan Gonzalez ripped homers. Just because one did it flashier doesn't make him a Hall of Famer.
Marquis Grissom: No. Although his name may deserve entry into my Sweet Player Name list, Grissom just isn't HoF material.
Lenny Harris: No. Hell no. I haven't been to Cooperstown in a long time, but if they want to add a little section about pinch hitting and talk about how good Harris was at it then fine, but that's it. If Lenny Harris was good he would start. There are probably 1,000 hitters who are better than Harris.
Bobby Higginson: No. A college buddy of mine from Detroit had a poster in his dorm room with the Detroit Tigers big 3 hitters, Tony Clark, Damien Easley and Bobby Higginson. While there was a small window where Higginson was poster-worthy, HoF worthy he is not.
Charles Johnson: No. A fantasy team killer after his one great season in 2000. His 31 from the catcher position that year must have disappointed fantasy owners for at least the next 4 years looking for a repeat performance which never came.
Barry Larkin: Yes. He's won an MVP, a World Series and a ton of (deserving) Gold Gloves at shortstop. If he was on the Yankees they probably wouldn't have sucked in the early 90s and he'd be a no brainer.
Al Leiter: No. Took a little while to get going and wasn't but didn't have a long or good enough peak. He was, however, a solid 2nd starter on 2 teams that went to the World Series, so he's got that going for him.
Edgar Martinez: Yes. Supremely underrated. Didn't really get going until he was 27, suffered injuries and a strike and still is deserving. That's how good his bat was. For all the talk about Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar was the best hitter on those Mariners teams. Look at his 1995 season: .356/.479/.628, 29 homers, 113 RBI, 52 doubles and a 185 OPS+. Wow.
Tino Martinez: No. Helped the Yankees forget about Donnie Baseball and was a key piece on their 90s dynasty but only really had one legitimately good season, when the Yankees didn't win.
Don Mattingly: No. First basemen just need to have to have a better or longer career than he did. For what it's worth, his peak from 1984-1987, where he averaged .337 30 homers and 121 RBI is basically what Edgar Martinez did, over the course of his career. Mattingly was awesome for 4 years, good for 2 and OK for 6, solid but nothing really that special.
Fred McGriff: No. Reaaaaaaal close though, whatever that means. Even if McGriff had 500 homers I would maintain this position, (admittedly that's easier to say since he hasn't) I just think he didn't dazzle enough at a position where it's necessary to.
Mark McGwire: Yes. This guy definitely dazzled. From 1996-1999 he averaged 61 homers. Enough time has passed where I have forgotten how crazy that time was for power hitters. I don't pretend to know the entire history of steroid users so I'm not going to go down that road here, he's in for me.
Raul Mondesi: No. When I was a kid I collected baseball cards and played RF, safe to say I thought Raul Mondesi was AWESOME. And he kind of was for a little but as you get older you realize there are other things that players do that are important besides having a good arm and hitting homers. Raul Mondesi never learned those things and stopped doing the stuff he was good at by the time he was in his early 30s.
Jack Morris: No. If intangible "clutch pitching" was a Hall of Fame qualifier then El Duque Hernandez would be a shoe-in. Sorry Jack, you're out.
Dale Murphy: It seems like the 70s and 80s produced 25 borderline Hall of Fame outfielders. I can't speak for having seen him play, but from my angle I'm not going to dimple his chad.
John Olerud: No. He's the standard case of the OBP machine who's better than you remember him being but he's still not a Hall of Famer. He might have been robbed of the MVP in 1993 though, lead the league Average, OBP, OPS+, and doubles but finished 3rd.
Dave Paker: No. Same as Dale Murphy.
Rafael Palmeiro: No. He's a Eddie Murray clone, great for a long time but never awesome, except he used steroids and is an a-hole.
Tim Raines: Yes. He's like 75% of Ricky Henderson, but Ricky Henderson was so damn good that he's still deserving. If a few of his walks were cheap singles than he would be in by now. That wouldn't make him a better hitter but it would make people realize how good he actually was.
Kirk Rueter: No. In 2003 I was naive and thought Rueter would be a sleeper after he had a 3.23 ERA the year before. If only I knew of BABIP back then...
Benito Santiago: No. He played the hardest position on the diamond for a long time, just he wasn't all that great at it.
Lee Smith: No. Glad Hoffman broke his record, otherwise people would have a stupid reason for letting him in.
B.J. Surhoff: No. He's played every position in baseball which is something a lot of players can't say.
Alan Trammell: Yes. It's like Omar Vizquel but 10% worse defensively and 30% better offensively.
Larry Walker : No. Another one I thought about that I may regret. But even though was great before playing in Colorado, good on the road during, and good after he left on St. Louis it's hard for me to get over the fact his peak coincided on the Rockies in the midst of a huge hitting era. He did provide one of the best fantasy seasons of all time though in 1997: .366 average, 49 homers, 130 RBI, 143 runs and 33 steals. If that happened this year he would have finished first in average, 2nd in homers, first in RBI, first in runs and 12th in steals.
Recap: I said yes to Robeto Alomar, Jeff Bagwell, Bert Blyleven, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Tim Raines and Alan Trammell. The close calls were Kevin Brown, Fred McGriff, Rafael Palmeiro and Larry Walker. And I lol'd at Lenny Harris.
What do you guys think?
Harold Baines was my hero as a kid but is not deserving. He played at a B+ level for a long time but was never elite. No planet on which Paul Molitor, Edgar Martinez, and Frank Thomas live can claim that Baines is the best-ever DH.
ReplyDeleteMy choices:
Yes (the "Duh, obviously" kind): Alomar, Bagwell, Raines, E. Martinez, Blyleven. The last 3 may never get in but it's so obvious they should it isn't worth debating.
No (the LOL WTF kind): Harris, Mondesi, Johnson, Surhoff, Santiago, Rueter, Higginson, Grissom, Leiter, Boone, Baerga. None of these guys should even be on a ballot.
Marginal yes: Trammell, Larkin.
Steroid no: Palmerio, McGwire
Close call no: Walker, Lee Smith
Solid no: Franco, Murphy, Mattingly, Tino M, Parker, Olerud, Morris, McGriff, Franco, Brown.
The problem is that having let Boston whine Jim Rice into the HOF (alongside existing marginal players like Perez & Cepeda) and the embarrassing selection of Andre Dawson, all of those middling 70s/80s sluggers have a tailor-made argument for why they belong now.
Jack Morris should only be in Cooperstown if he pays admission. His "clutchiness" is just an idiotic argument. His ERA in 6 career ALCS starts is 4.87.
Curious, are Palmeiro and McGwire steroid no for you because anyone who took steroids is a no, or is it a case by case basis?
ReplyDeleteWhat's maddening is that often the people who vote no for Blyleven argue that Morris is better based on that one pitching performance. Blyleven was significantly more successful in the postseason over Morris. I believe Dan Shaughnessy said that Morris is better than Curt Schilling, possibly the best postseason pitcher in baseball history.
Jack Morris is the classic case of a guy building an argument on one game. One game simply isn't enough to overcome that he was a pretty good but never great pitcher. He was league average for most of his career and substantially below it for the last 5 or 6 years.
ReplyDeleteIf Jack Morris gets in on one game, why not Gene Larkin? I mean, come on.
There's an endless list of Jack Morris type pitchers, pitchers that accumulated a lot of innings and wins but were never great. Here's a few for now:
ReplyDeleteDennis Martinez
David Wells
Jamie Moyer
Andy Pettitte
Chuck Finley
Tommy John
Jim Kaat
Jack Morris is probably worse than all of them too. His adjusted ERA (105, slightly above average) reflects this, but if he was born a few years later and had to pitch in part of the "steroid era" he wouldn't have made it passed the first ballot.