Names like Tom Seaver, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr. Cal Ripken, and many more are no-brainers when talked about being Hall of Fame players. Sometimes people and writers will say “Ty Cobb” was a bad guy and he’s in so vote in Pete Rose. Forgetting about Pete’s previous transgressions.
Now the “new” debate deals with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. These two are the biggest names of the steroid era. They have a well-documented history. And yet there is supposed “great debate” this year, as to whether they should be enshrined.
Here’s the rub. If they are fine to get in this year they should have been first ballot choices. So, what’s changed? Is it a slow year so now writers are trying to fill the ticket? If you as a writer didn’t believe they should be in for all the years they’ve been on the ballot, then your decision should be the same now and forever.
Curt Schilling
Yes, he has had some crazy Twitter posts but just imagine if Babe Ruth had access to Twitter late at night in his era. What do you think he would have said? Schilling should be judged about what he did in the game. Now did he do enough to be called a Hall of Fame player? He has great postseason statistics but his regular season statistics fall short. He had 216 wins and over 3,116 strikeouts. Mike Mussina won 270 games with 2,813 whiffs. Mussina pitched 2 fewer seasons but tossed a lot more innings than Schilling. Neither won a Cy Young Award. And that matters. Mussina doesn’t have a World Series win but his 3 starts were good. He’s nowhere in Schilling’s league, he has an NLCS MVP and WS MVP, but we’re back to the regular season win total. Baseball is a team game. The pitcher can’t have it all fall on his shoulders if they win or lose the World Series. If I had 10 votes, I’d put Mussina higher than Schilling but they would both be on there.
Here are my ten (not in any particular order):
- Tim Raines
- Fred McGriff
- Jeff Kent
- Vlad Guerrero
- Jeff Bagwell
- Jorge Posada
- Mike Mussina
- Dummy Hoy
- Curt Schilling
- Gil Hodges
photo by Sportsology
