Roy Oswalt made an instant splash as a rookie in 2001.  That year he finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, was fifth in Cy Young voting, and his 14-3 record and sub 3.00 ERA was a real head-turner. In the year that followed he won 19 Games and was fourth in the Cy Young tally.  It was all a precursor of what would come

From 2004 to 2007, Roy Oswalt was regarded as one of the elite pitchers in Baseball.  Over that time, he was an All-Star each year and has a Wins Title, a bWAR for Pitchers title, and won the 2005 NLCS MVP award though the Astros were unable to win the World Series that year.  Oswalt may have never won the Cy Young, but he finished in the top five in voting six times, a very impressive accomplishment for the man who was the best pitcher in Houston Astros history.

Oswalt played with the Astros until 2010 when he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.  He won 143 Games in an Astros uniform and was inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame in 2020.

While Joe Morgan is rightfully remembered mostly for his accomplishments with the Cincinnati Reds, the Second Baseman first plied his trade with Houston, where he would make the first two of his ten All-Star appearances.  Morgan would lead the NL in Walks in 1967 and when he returned for one season in 1980, he accomplished the same feat again.

In his two runs in Houston, Morgan would have 972 Hits with 72 Home Runs and 219 Stolen Bases.

The Second Baseman for the Astros for most of the 1980s, Bill Doran was a fan favorite for his plucky play.  Doran was not an excellent hitter, but he put up consistent numbers and had over 140 Hits four times and exhibited plate discipline with four seasons with an OBP over .350.  Although he was never named to an All-Star Team, he did finish 11th in MVP voting in 1986.

Doran retired with 1,937 Hits, 138 Home Runs, and 288 Stolen Bases.

What did you do on your 18th birthday?

If the main criteria for the Hall is perseverance and effort then Rusty Staub should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer.  His hard work resulted in over 2,700 hits in a Major League career that many people who saw him early on would never have pegged him for an amount that high.

How does a guy with a lifetime Batting Average of .250, who never received a single vote for the Hall even make this list? It reminds of us a band that fails to generate any real respect, but in retrospect is viewed as ahead of their time by the generation that follows. The metaphor is we are talking about is Jim Wynn, the man dubbed the “Toy Cannon”.

Even amidst the constant controversy that surrounds the Baseball Hall of Fame, there is always something magical about Cooperstown, and when they have a former player from the modern era elected it makes the ceremony that much more special.

This year they have four.

On what was a beautiful summer day in front of 40,000 fans and forty-nine Hall of Famers in upstate New York, four baseball legends are now enshrined with a bronze bust that will forever be on display.

Rather than recap the accomplishments of the four (regular visitors know that we have done that often), let’s read the etchings on each of the four new inductees.

CRAIG ALLAN BIGGIO: HOUSTON, N.L. 1988-2007

GRITTY SPARK PLUG WHO IGNITED ASTROS OFFENSE FOR 20 MAJOR LEAGUE SEASONS, BECOMING FIRST PLAYER IN HISTORY WITH AT LEAST 3,000 HITS, 600 DOUBLES, 400 STOLEN BASES AND 250 HOME RUNS.  TRANSITIONED FROM ALL-STAR CATCHER TO GOLD GLOVE SECOND BASEMAN TO EVERYDAY OUTFIELDER, AMASSING 3,060 HITS, INCLUDING 668 DOUBLES – MOST BY A RIGHT-HANDED BATTER – AND A MODERN-DAY RECORD 285 TIMES HIT BY A PITCH.  A SEVEN-TIME ALL-STAR, WON FIVE SILVER SLUGGER AWARDS AND FOUR GOLD GLOVE AWARDS.


JOHN ANDREW SMOLTZ: ATLANTA N.L. 1988-99, 2001-08; BOSTON, A.L. 2009; ST.LOUIS, N.L. 2009

A WORKHOUSE POWER PITCHER, TRADED HIS STARTING DOMINANCE TO DEVELOP INTO PREMIER CLOSER BEFORE RETURNING TO ROTATION.  BECAME THE FIRST PLAYER IN HISTORY WITH 200 WINS AND 150 SAVES.  WITH A DYNAMIC FASTBALL, A DECEPTIVE SLIDER AND A DARTING SPLITTER, FANNED 3,084 BATTERS AND WAS NAMED TO EIGHT ALL-STAR TEAMS, THE 1996 N.L. CY YOUNG AWARD WINNER AND 1992 NLCS MVP.  SET N.L. RECORD WITH 55 SAVES IN 2002.  PITCHED BEST WHEN GAME WAS BIGGEST, RECORDING A 15-4 POST-SEASON RECORD, HELPING BRAVES TO 1995 WORLD SERIES TITLE.

PEDRO JAIME MARTINEZ:  LOS ANGELES, N.L. 1992-93; MONTREAL. N.L. 1994-97; BOSTON, A.L. 1998-2004; NEW YORK, N.L. 2005-08; PHILADELPHIA, N.L. 2009


FEATURING AN ELECTRIC ARSENAL OF PITCHES THAT VANQUISHED BATTERS DURING AN ERA OF HIGH OCTANE OFFENSE, THE FIERY RIGHTY FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC OWNED THE INSIDE PART OF THE PLATE WITH AN EXPLODING FASTBALL AND CONFOUNDING CHANGE-UP.  LED LEAGUE IN E.R.A. FIVE TIMES AND STRIKEOUTS THREE TIMES EN ROUTE TO THREE CY YOUNG AWARDS AND EIGHT ALL-STAR SELECTIONS.  FIRST PITCHER TO RETIRE WITH 3,154 STRIKEOUTS IN FEWER THAN 3,000 INNINGS.  WON 219 GAMES WITH AN ASTOUNDING .687 WINNING PERCENTAGE.  POSTED 117-37 RECORD IN BOSTON HELPING TO LEAD RED SOX TO 2004 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP.


RANDALL DAVID JOHNSON:  “RANDY” “THE BIG UNIT”:  MONTREAL, N.L. 1988-89; SEATTLE, A.L. 1989-98; HOUSTON, N.L. 1998; ARIZONA, N.L. 1999-2004, 2007-08; NEW YORK, A.L. 2005-06; SAN FRANCISCO, N.L. 2009

AT 6’10’, A TOWERING AND INTIMIDATING LEFTHANDER WHOSE CRACKLING FASTBALL AND DEVASTATING SLIDER PARALYZED HITTERS FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES, FIVE-TIMES CY YOUNG AWARD WINNER, INCLUDING FOUR CONSECUTIVE, 1999-2002.  LED LEAGUE IN STRIKEOUTS NINE TIMES AND POSTED SIX 300 STRIKEOUT SEASONS.  TEN-TIME ALL-STAR AND THREE-TIME 20-GAME WINNER, RANKED SECONS ALL-TIME ON STRIKEOUT LIST (4,875) AND FIRST IN STRIKEOUTS PER NINE INNINGS (10.6) UPON RETIREMENT.  WON 303 GAMES AND LED LEAGUE IN E.R.A. FOUR TIMES, WON THREE GAMES IN 2001 WORLD SERIES WITH CHAMPION DIAMONDBACKS EARNING CO-MVP HONORS. 


Capital letters do make it more emphatic doesn’t it?

Do you want to know what makes it even better?

The fact that Randy Johnson was inducted with his mullet is far greater to us than his hat (the first for Arizona) and the hat worn by Craig Biggio (Astros, also a first.

So what do we do now?

What we always do!

We look forward to the next class of Baseball Hall of Famers and debate their merits.

Hopefully, all of you will participate and lend us your opinions as to who you want to see in the next Baseball Hall of Fame class.

In the mid-2000s, Roy Oswalt was considered one of the top pitchers in the National League. “Os” would have five seasons where he was voted in the top five in National League Cy Young balloting and it was his arm that won the NLCS MVP in 2005 getting Houston to their lone World Series appearance.

Lance Berkman was the third “Killer B” of the Houston Astros, though it was his Comeback Player of the Year season with St. Louis (that also netted him his only World Series Ring) that he might hold most dear.