1/10/13
Announcing the player(s) elected in this year’s Baseball
Hall of Fame….drum roll, please…no one? This news was shocking to me because I
thought at least one player, if not a few, should
have had a chance to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. In order to be inducted
into the Hall of Fame, a player has to have 75% of the votes. If any player
gets under 8% of Hall of Fame votes, that player will be ineligible for the
Hall of Fame forever. The limit for how many times a player can be on the
ballot is 15 years.
Here is the list of players that were eligible to be
inducted into the Hall of Fame and the percentage of votes they all received:
Name Votes (Pct.) Yrs on Ballot
Craig Biggio 388 (68.2%) 1
Jack Morris 385 (67.7%) 15
Jeff Bagwell 339 (59.6%) 3
Mike Piazza 329 (57.8%) 1
Tim Raines 297 (52.2%) 6
Lee Smith 272 (47.8%) 11
Curt Schilling 221 (38.8%) 1
Roger Clemens 214 (37.6%) 1
Barry Bonds 206 (36.2%) 1
Edgar Martinez 204 (35.9%) 4
Alan Trammell 191 (33.6%) 12
Larry Walker 123 (21.6%) 3
Fred McGriff 118 (20.7%) 4
Dale Murphy 106 (18.8%) 15
Mark McGwire 96 (16.9%) 7
Don Mattingly 75 (13.2%) 13
Sammy Sosa 71 (12.5%) 1
Rafael Palmeiro 50 (8.8%) 3
Bernie Williams 19 (3.3%) 2
Kenny Lofton 18 (3.2%) 1
Sandy Alomar Jr. 16 (2.8%) 1
Julio Franco 6 (1.1%) 1
David Wells 5 (0.9%) 1
Steve Finley 4 (0.7%) 1
Shawn Green 2 (0.4%) 1
Aaron Sele 1 (0.2%) 1
Jeff Cirillo 0 (0%) 1
Royce Clayton 0 (0%) 1
Jeff Conine 0 (0%) 1
Roberto Hernandez 0 (0%) 1
Ryan Klesko 0 (0%) 1
Jose Mesa 0 (0%) 1
Reggie Sanders 0 (0%) 1
Mike Stanton 0 (0%) 1
Todd Walker 0 (0%) 1
Rondell White 0 (0%) 1
Woody Williams 0 (0%) 1
I will now tell you the notable players who I THOUGHT had a
chance to get inducted into the Hall of Fame this year:
-
Craig Biggio
-
Edgar Martinez
-
Mike Piazza
-
Lee Smith
Now the notable players who I thought should NOT get into
the Hall of Fame:
-
Jeff Bagwell
-
Barry Bonds
-
Roger Clemens
-
Mark McGwire
-
Jack Morris
-
Rafael Palmeiro
-
Tim Raines
-
Curt Schilling
-
Sammy Sosa
I feel that Biggio should be in the Hall of Fame because he
has over 3,000 hits in his 20 year career. Isn’t that a magic number
statistically that automatically gets you into the Hall of Fame as a hitter? He
also was a seven time all-star, a four time gold glove award winner at second
base, and a five time silver slugger award winner. Four of those silver slugger
awards were when he played second base. The other silver slugger award he won,
he played catcher.
Martinez
belongs in the Hall of Fame because, in my
opinion, he is the best designated hitter statistically speaking. Martinez, in
his 18 year career, won two batting titles, was a seven time all-star, and won
the silver slugger award as a designated hitter five times. He also has the
most hits as a designated hitter.
Piazza deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because he has the
most homeruns as a catcher. He has 427 career homeruns yet 396 of his homeruns
were when he played catcher. The other 31 homeruns were when he played first
base. Piazza in his 16 year career, was a 12 time all-star, won Rookie of the
Year award, and won 10 silver slugger awards. The one suspicion the writers
will have is whether or not Piazza used steroids. He may have looked big and
“jacked up” in size, but I go with the old saying of “it’s not cheating until
you get caught.”
I felt for a long time that Lee Smith is a Hall of Fame
worthy candidate because he was the all-time leader in saves as a closer before
Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera broke his record. He racked up 478 saves in
his 18 year career and was a seven time all-star. In my opinion, if Smith is
not in the Hall of Fame, then Hoffman and Rivera should not be in the Hall of
Fame.
To make this short, I will say that Bonds, Clemens, McGwire,
Palmeiro, and Sosa should NOT be in the Hall of Fame because they used or were
accused of using steroids. Schilling and Morris don’t deserve to be in the Hall
of Fame because they didn’t wow anybody in the regular season statistically,
but they were fantastic when it came to postseason baseball. Raines and Bagwell
had stellar careers, but won’t be in the Hall of Fame because they didn’t put
up Hall of Fame worthy numbers like having 3,000 hits or 500 homeruns in a
career.
I would view myself as a purist in terms of voting for the
Hall of Fame. I don’t want any so-called cheaters to be in my Hall of Fame.
It’s sad that five writers handed in blank Hall of Fame voting ballots. That’s
how tough it was to vote for anyone to be in the Hall of Fame this year.
I wanted to hear other people’s opinions on this topic so I
will share with you what other people thought:
Jim Frick: I agree with the vote, if I had
the vote none would have gotten in. Guess it depends on how special the HOF is to you.
Ed Begley: Biggio was ok, nothing special though. Longevity is why he has the
stats. Not saying that's a bad thing but doesn't make him a Hall of Famer (HOF'er).
I think he's borderline.
Joe Hoffman: I thought Biggio would have
gotten in, and should have IMO, 3,000 hits is (was?) automatic first-ballot...
juicers stole some votes from him. In my personal
opinion, I think Piazza & Bagwell both juiced, they put up some monster
numbers alongside the McGwires, Sosas, etc., they destroyed baseballs when they
made contact. I don't think they're tagged in the Mitchell report and I believe
they've never tested positive, but (as I read elsewhere earlier today), many
voters have their suspicions and they're going to face the same scrutiny as the
others...
Andrew Lee: I personally don't think
longevity gets you in. I may be in the minority, but I personally don't think
Cal Ripkin should be in the Hof. His managers
admitted that at the end of his streak, they left him in there because they
didn't want to break the streak, not because he deserved it. As for today, I
think if no one deserves it, then don't pick anyone. I'd rather have that than
to pick someone just to pick someone. If there is no one worthy this year,
there is no one worthy. The Hall of Fame isn't who most deserving of the
nominees for the year is; it's those who are deserving period. I have no
problem with today.
Did
you feel the writers made the right choice in voting nobody into the Baseball
Hall of Fame? Sound off.
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