Baseball
Established in 1936, and currently based in Cooperstown, New York, the Baseball Hall of Fame may be the most prestigious of any Sports Hall of Fame. Although Baseball may have taken a backseat to Football in recent years, there is no doubt that Baseball’s version of the Hall of Fame is by far the most relevant and the most difficult to get enshrined in. At present, a player has to receive seventy five percent of the votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America, which has proven to be no easy task. Failing that, a player could be inducted by the Veterans committee, though few have been inducted this way. Our list will focus on the players only, and although we could easily do a tally focusing on mangers, broadcasters or other vital personnel, as always it is far more enjoyable to discuss the merits of those on the field as oppose to those off of it.Until Then, Let’s get some peanuts and cracker jacks and cast some votes of our own!
Sincerely,
The Not in Hall of Committee.
In the long and illustrious (often tortured) history of the Boston Red Sox, a case can be made that of all the men who graced Fenway’s mound Luis Tiant was the most popular of them all. Considering the number of great athletes who have donned the Red Sox uniform this is an impressive accolade indeed.
Gary Sheffield has to be the most interesting candidate who appeared on the 2014 Ballot. Traditionally speaking, Sheffield hit the magical 500 Home Run mark, won a Batting Title and had five seasons with an OPS over one. His career WAR is respectable, his OPS is in the top fifty and he also won five Silver Sluggers and played in nine All Star Games. That’s pretty good right? Unfortunately there are few things to consider.
Although Andruw Jones was once classified as a defensive specialist, it is one-dimensional to think of him only that way. Granted, Jones captured ten straight Gold Glove Awards and also led the National League in Defensive bWAR four times and is second all-time in Total Zone Runs with six straight seasons (1997-03), but he also had an offensive acumen that has to be respected, which included 434 career Home Runs, a Home Run and RBI Title in 2005, which certainly pushed up his career bWAR of 62.8, a number that is not far off the Cooperstown threshold.
An argument has been made that Ross Barnes was the greatest baseball player of all time in the League. Unfortunately, that aforementioned League was the National Association and not the current Leagues that are known today.
The common trend in Baseball Hall of Fame voting is for a solid candidate to get a healthy double-digit vote in his first year of eligibility and watch that number climb slowly as more and more perspective is put on their career. For Steve Garvey, the more the Hall looked at his career, the more they seemed to talk themselves out of his induction as evidenced by the way his votes were cut in half from his first year (41.6) to (21.1) in his last year.
The position of third base holds the least amount Hall of Famers in Baseball. There however have been many great ballplayers at the “Hot Corner” and some even won the MVP award. Ken Boyer was one such man as he won that coveted trophy in 1964.
How many people pointed at Bert Blyleven’s 287 career wins year after year and championed his Hall of Fame cause? We don’t know the exact number, but we are sure that it is a lot more who than those who created logs extolling the virtues of Tony Mullane’s 284 Major League victories.
You would not think that an eleven-time All-Star would be forgotten among Hall of Fame consideration, but in the case of career-long Detroit Tiger, Bill Freehan that appears to be the reality.
Right now it is hard to imagine a time when the Atlanta Braves were not relevant in the world of Professional Baseball but in the 1980’s frankly Ted Turner’s team wasn’t a spectacular one. The exception to that rule was Dale Murphy who in his prime drew comparisons to legends such as Mays and DiMaggio. No really, he did.
One of the most popular Yankees of all time was Don Mattingly. This was a very impressive reality considering that the year before he turned pro the Bronx Bombers lost to Dodgers in the World Series and the year after he retired they won the championship. During Mattingly’s entire tenure, the Yankees never went to the Fall Classic; the largest stretch of post-season futility in franchise history.
1,800 career hits and a lifetime .266 Batting Average sound like a good career but not necessarily a Hall of Fame one. A closer look at the overall body of work of Bobby Grich indicates he is a lot closer than you would think.
Chase Utley came up through the Philadelphia Phillies system, and after debuting in 2003, he would quickly become the heart of a team that would win the 2008 World Series.
It has to be considered a given that the PED question has hurt many players in their quest for Cooperstown. It is very possible that anyone associated with it will fail to get elected and the Hall will be devoid of some of the game’s greatest record setters. Yet, of all the people whose careers got tarnished, we can’t help but wonder if Sammy Sosa took the biggest fall of them all.
Stan Hack played his entire sixteen seasons as a player for the Chicago Cubs. He was one of the Cubbies most popular players as “Smilin” Stan’s sunny disposition made him a fan favorite among players, fans and journalists alike. It also didn’t hurt that he was one hell of a hitter.
David Cone may not be best remembered for winning a Cy Young Award. He may be best known for being a true hired gun that baseball teams coveted for their stretch drive.
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Many baseball players are known for the clutch performances with their bat. Graig Nettles certainly had many clutch hits in his long career, but he may have been known for having more clutch performances with his glove.
A lot of baseball players take flak for their high salaries. One of those who did was Kevin Brown who was the first man in professional baseball to sign a contract worth $100 Million. Sadly for Brown, his deterioration rendered that one of the worst contracts as during the final years of his career he was not a player who should have been amongst the games highest paid.
Many who first think of Jim Edmonds and the Hall of Fame may think automatically of what we wrote about Moises Alou and that he is likely a candidate for the “Hall of Very Good”. However the more we really thought about it, the more we like “Jimmy Baseball’s” resume.
For about six seasons, Bob Caruthers was considered one of the best pitchers in baseball. Sadly, as his career only lasted nine seasons his impact in the game may not have allowed him to cement himself as one of the great early pitchers.