Baseball Hall of Fame ballot out - does anybody deserve it?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Here’s the list:

A lot of very good players there, sure - but none IMHO good enough for long enough to be considered the equal of the players already in. The small step down in standards necessary to put these guys in would triple the size of the Hall, or more, and there’s already a couple of hundred members.

Boggs, Rice, Blyleven, Morris, Murphy, and Sandberg might get the nod from the Veterans Committee eventually, if it gets reinstated, but frankly I’d rather go without an induction ceremony next summer than put a guy in for the sake of putting somebody in.

2

Well, it’s not like the Veteran’s Committee is gone. It’s now composed of all existing HoF inductees and only gets to vote every two years, that’s all.

Sandberg and Blyleven are, in my view, clearly deserving of the HoF.

3

Blyleven should have been in years ago. It’s a disgrace he isn’t in.

4

I’d have to give the nod to Boggs and Sandberg. Both had long careers although certainly Boggs’ was more distinguished. 3010 hits over 18 years with a .328 BA and five batting titles isn’t exactly commonplace. As a person, I never much cared for him even as a Yankee. For Ryno, over 2,000 hits, 9 gold gloves and an MVP award plus 10 straight all star selections makes him worthy in my opinion.

5

It’s a weak rookie list, for sure.

Gotta disagree on Ryno.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Tommy John get in, but I agree there’s nobody that’s a slam dunk.

6

What stats exactly do you think disqualify him? For a 2B, those numbers are incredible, and then you notice his 9 consecutive gold gloves. He’s earned a trip to upstate New York.

7

Boggs deserves a spot, for reasons already given.

All the others are either 1) certainly not deserving of membership, or 2) “on-the-fence”- they might get in, but there’s no guarantee.

8

I’d say Blyleven, Boggs, Concepcion, Garvey, Mattingly, Morris, Parker, Rice, and Sandberg are all solid choices. Rice certainly deserves it.

The rookies this year are not particularly impressive, though. Other than Boggs (a shoo-in), I don’t think any of them are good candidates.

9

Gold gloves are nice, but really subject to all kinds of problems of self-fulfilling prophecies and high-profile guys getting more than their due.

Ryno played for the Cubs and got all kinds of exposure, but his batting puts him around a Steve Sax or a Carlos Baerga. Or, at SS, Alan Trammell.

I don’t think any of those guys are HOF’ers.

10

Boggs was the most selfish batter to ever play the game! What else did he offer except his batting average?

11

You’re joking, right? It’s not even close:

Baerga
Sax

Trammell is close, but still lags behind in overall plate productivity. He should make it in a few years once he has a few more years under the belt as a manager.

Seriously, those names are a joke.

12

Darryl Strawberry? It’s a joke, right?

13

Why would it be a joke? Elibilility rules per the Baseball Hall of Fame:

14

Wait wait wait, Boggs is not on the fence. The 3,000 hits alone would make him a lock. Then there’s the career .328 average, and he’s near the top in doubles, walks and on base percentage. He isn’t a step down for the Hall.

15

I agree. Not the strongest list.

If I could vote, I’d go with Blyleven. For years I didn’t think he deserved it because of too many lackluster seasons. But with 287 wins, 242 complete games, 60 shutouts, 3701 strikeouts, 3.31 lifetime era, and 5 wins against one loss on the post season, with two rings. He should be in there.

I’d also vote for Sandberg and Morris. Oh, and Boggs too. How do you keep a guy with .328 lifetime average (34th all time) out?

Morris goes in to join Don Drysdale and Catfish Hunter. Those two come up all the time as guys “who shouldn’t be there.” Maybe they don’t the gaudiest stats, but those guys were big game pitchers. Sort of “iron man” types. Morris was that kind of pitcher too. And check out Hunter’s stats the seven-year stretch between 1970 and 1976. It’s impressive.

Maybe next year for Rice, Sutter, and Smith.

16

Boggs is the only first-year guy who deserves to be in, and I can’t understand how anyone thinks he’s not a lock.

Sandberg, Sutter and Blyleven are long overdue.

17

As for the 1st year eligibles, only Boggs deserves in. He’s one of the best hitters in baseball history. No power, no speed, but he was the best at what he did for a long time. And it’s not easy getting opposite field singles at Fenway.

I also think that Rich Gossage and Lee Smith should be in.

18

We had a very lively thread on this topic almost exactly two years ago, when the ballots came out in 2002. And we’ve had another fascinating, two-page thread on whether Blyleven deserves to be in. I’m pretty sure there was another older thread where we debated Murphy, Garvey, Mattingly, et al., but I can’t find it at the moment.

My thoughts haven’t really changed a lot since 2002 – Boggs is probably a first-ballot HOFer, Sandberg is arguably the best player eligible who isn’t in, and while his credentials aren’t overwhelming, they’re good enough for me. Blyleven should have been in long ago. Lee Smith, by any objective criteria, should be in, even though that still “feels wrong” somehow. I go back and forth on Sutter, but right now I’m in a “no, not quite” phase. Everyone else on the ballot is a “not quite” at best, a “no effing way” (e.g., Candiotti, Nixon, Steinbach) at worst.

19

Strawberry has a history of drug addiction.

I know, I know. Lots of major league Hal of Famers were drunks and some were probably drug abusers. But this is as good a time as any to draw the line. Vote him in and you’re telling the kids it’s ok to do drugs.

I’d sooner vote for Pete Rose. (Well, almost. )

20

I vote for Wade Boggs, Ryne Sandberg, and Alan Trammell. My reasoning, by candidate:

Jim Abbott
Uh, no.

Bert Blyleven
I have argued in the past that Blyleven deserves induction. However, he’s not the best player on the ballot so I won’t be heartbroken when he isn’t elected. I would be loathe to induct four people in one year. 1-3 is ideal, IMHO.

Wade Boggs
I echo other sentiments that express confusion over why the OP did not feel Boggs was deserving of immediate enshrinement. He’s far BETTER than the established standard, easily one of the ten best players at his position in the history of the game.

Tom Candiotti
He’s retired?

Dave Concepcion
Concepcion is an interesting case. Nobody seems to think about him anymore, but he was a perennial All-Star and a wonderful defensive shortstop who played for many great teams. A number of comparable players are Hall of Famers. Concepcion had 262 career Win Shares, not quite the level I’d start voting but more than some Hall of Famers. I wouldn’t vote for him but he had a helluva career.

Chili Davis
Good hitter but there’s two dozen guys just like him nobody thinks are Hall of Famers.

Andre Dawson
Dawson will get substantial support. He was a terrific player at times but would not be on my ballot this year.

Steve Garvey
Overrated when he played, underrated now. I’d say no. Same as Dawson.

Rich Gossage
I admit I find it puzzling that Rollie Fingers is in the Hall of Fame and Goose Gossage, who was obviously better to my eyes, is not, but “if-one-than” isn’t a valid argument so I’ll say no.

Tommy John
Wouldn’t be a bad choice. He had a very long career and was very effective. He had many big seasons on winning teams. He missed winning 300 games mainly because he pitched for the White Sox when they were horrible, but given good teams he could win ball games. Not on my ballot this year but I wouldn’t cry if he got put in someday.

Mark Langston
Does anyone remember Langston nearly going homicidal when the Angels self-destructed in the one-game playoff against Seattle in 1995? I honestly thought he was going to kill someone. Funny how a guy plays for like 15 years and you remember one thing about him. Oh, and, no.

Don Mattingly
An enduring controversy. I haven’t the foggiest idea why Don Mattingly is still on the ballot while Keith Hernandez didn’t even get enough votes to stay on. I guess it’s because Mattingly is remembered as being a character guy and Hernandez is remember as being a guy who had a drug problem. Of course, Hernandez won two World Series titles and Mattingly presided over the worst Yankee stretch in modern times, which goes to show you that “character” is often a media invention.

Jack McDowell
No

Willie McGee
My memory of Willie McGee is when he hit two homers in a World Series game as a rookie in 1982. Willie McGee. A two-homer game in the World Series. He had also homered against Atlanta in the NLCS, giving him 4 homers in the regular season that year and 3 in the postseason.

After that World Series, Willie played another 51 playoff games, and in those 51 games, he hit exactly one home run.

Jeff Montgomery
No

Jack Morris
Good pitcher but not at a Hall of Fame level; career .577 winning percentage was boosted by big-hitting teams.

Dale Murphy
A geniunely Hall of Fame calibre player for about 5, 6 years, and then fell of the table. Not obviously better than some of his contemporaries like Dwight Evans.

Otis Nixon
The ugliest player in the history of baseball and a man who once ended a World Series by bunting into a routine out at first because he couldn’t swing a bat fast enough to catch up to Mike Timlin’s fastball. Fast, though.

Dave Parker
Like Murphy, Parker at one point looked like the best player in baseball. Then the nose candy got him. He came back from it and had some good years but there’s nothing to separate his accomplishments from Murphy or Evans or Vada Pinson or a bunch of other guys.

Tony Phillips
Didn’t really start playing the game as well as he could until his early 30s, and was a fantastic player there for about five years, but clearly is not a Hall of Famer.

Jim Rice
A good player, but very overrated. Probably the ultimate example of a player with flashy popular stats for whom the mitigating circumstances are ALL bad - hitter’s park, not a lot of defensive value, grounded into a ton of double plays, kind of slow, didn’t walk a lot.

Ryne Sandberg
One of the ten greatest second basemen to ever play baseball. A wonderful defensive player and a tremendous offensive force for a number of years. I’d vote for him. I will add that Lou Whitaker should go in, too.

Anyone who thinks Ryne Sandberg is in any way comparable to Steve Sax is either joking or in need of powerful anti-psychosis medications. Sandberg was a superstar; Steve Sax had trouble making routine throws to first.

Lee Smith
Smith is much ballyhooed for holding the career save record, but he pitched 50% FEWER innings than Goose Gossage. He got more saves than Goose because he was used in easy save situations way more often.

Terry Steinbach
Good catcher for a long time, but no Hall of Famer.

Darryl Strawberry
What if, what if.

Even if Strawberry’s drug use wasn’t held against him, he only played 1,583 games. He’s not within a mile of being a Hall of Famer.

Bruce Sutter
Maybe you had to be there. Extremely short career, I would say no.

Alan Trammell
I’d have to say yes. Trammell is underrated, in part due to his hitting numbers not looking as good by today’s inflated standards as they really were. He was a fabulous defensive player. Bill James ranked him as the ninth best shortstop in the history of the game, which might be a few slots too high but it’s telling. Trammell is one of those guys who didn’t have one defining, dominant skill, so you don’t notice him as much, but he was terrific.