Tag Archives: hall of fame

Will Sheffield be a Hall of Famer? Probably not

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Gary Sheffield hasn’t played in a major league game since 2009. But he finally put an end to any speculation that he was mulling a comeback on Wednesday when he informed the players’ union that he was retiring.

Sheffield had an outstanding career. Waving his bat back and forth waiting for the pitch, Sheffield was considered one of the most feared hitters of his time.

He had a bit of a journeyman’s career, playing for eight different teams. The team that he spent the most time with was the Florida Marlins, which lasted parts of six seasons. He led Florida to its first World Series championship in 1997, hitting .320 with three homers in 16 playoff games that season.

With a .292 career average and more than 500 homers, his numbers look like that of a Hall of Famer. After all, the 500-homer plateau once meant guaranteed induction to the Hall.

But that was before the “Steroids Era” took place. Now, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro sit on the outside looking in. And my guess is Sheffield will join them.

As the ESPN.com story this morning points out:

McGwire’s and Palmeiro’s connection to performance-enhancing drugs has factored into their omission. Sheffield was named in the Mitchell report on PED use in Major League Baseball, but Sheffield said his inclusion in the report should not cloud his candidacy for the Hall of Fame.

On page 116 of the report, Sheffield is among the players who are alleged to have purchased “the cream” and “the clear” from BALCO founder Victor Conte. On page 136, a FedEx receipt from Sheffield to BALCO found during a 2003 search of trainer Greg Anderson’s condominium is referenced. On that same page, an excerpt from Sheffield’s book “Inside Power” where he acknowledges receiving a bill from BALCO for “vitamins” is mentioned. His testimony before the BALCO grand jury — he testified not knowing whether “the cream” contained steroids — is also referenced.

“The thing about the Mitchell report is that I cringe about it because the guy who wrote the report didn’t talk to me,” Sheffield told the New York Post. “If he talked to me I would respect that no matter what. But I cringe on that because he didn’t.”

Seems odd that Sheffield says nobody talked to him prior to the Mitchell Report being released, although since the players’ union discouraged its players from talking to George Mitchell, who knows whether or not Sheffield would have talked to him anyway.

But in the end, my guess is that if McGwire and Palmeiro are struggling to get into the Hall, Sheffield will struggle too.

Steroids Era sluggers don’t fare too well this time

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Sports Illustrated writer – and former “Sports Talk” guest – Joe Posnanski raised an interesting point in his blog post last night reacting to the Baseball Hall of Fame voting.

Mark McGwire

Will Mark McGwire ever make the Baseball Hall of Fame? I have my doubts. Associated Press

The bulk of the post is in regards to the election of Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar. But in the middle of the post, Posnanski wrote this:

The biggest story on Wednesday, I think, is that the opinion about steroid use seems to be hardening. Rafael Palmeiro, with 3,000 hits and 500 homers, got only 11% of the vote. Mark McGwire’s numbers went down. Kevin Brown actually fell off the ballot. Juan Gonzalez, despite a campaign that featured a full-color brochure, barely stayed on the ballot. All of them have been connected with steroids.

And I think they are the canaries in the coal mine, the ones that are telling us what is coming in two and three and four years. I guess I have believed that, in time, the steroid fury would settle down and that while it might hurt borderline cases, all-time greats like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens would still get in. I’m not sure I think that anymore. I think there was a powerful statement made on Wednesday. I’m not sure a strongly-suspected steroid user can get to 75%, no matter how good he was.

I’ve said plenty on the subject, and I’ll undoubtedly babble about it more over time so I don’t have anything else from a personal perspective to add here. But from a news perspective, well, before the announcement, I talked a bit with Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson. I was curious how the Hall of Fame views the voting and how they view the future. And I have to say the answers surprised me. Jeff said a few things that reiterated that surprising thought in my mind: Right now, from the way everything is pointing, I don’t think Barry Bonds is going to the Hall of Fame. I don’t think Roger Clemens is going to the Hall of Fame. I don’t think Sammy Sosa is going to the Hall of Fame. Not for a long time.

The Hall of Fame election in 2013 will be an interesting one. With Bonds, Clemens and Mike Piazza hitting the ballot, you got some pretty big-time suspected juicers there.

Let’s take a look at McGwire’s five years on the Hall ballot:

  • 2007: 23.5 percent
  • 2008: 23.6 percent
  • 2009: 21.9 percent
  • 2010: 23.7 percent
  • 2011: 19.8 percent

At best, McGwire has been treading water, at least up until this year. But despite there being more voters in 2011 than 2010, his vote total actually dropped from a year ago. That means some voters – for one reason or another – have turned on him. The obvious reason for that is McGwire’s admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs, which happened prior to him taking over as St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach this past year.

And it’s not just McGwire. Rafael Palmeiro is one of only four players in big league history with 3,000 hits and 500 homers, yet the former first baseman – who once failed a drug test – garnered just 11 percent of the vote. Juan Gonzalez received only 5.2 percent of the vote.

I’ve long wondered whether or not these guys will ever get in on the writers’ ballot. I mean, 75 percent of the vote … it can be hard to convince 75 percent of writers that using steroids to reach certain athletic achievements is OK. Look how long it took Blyleven, and as far as we can all tell, he never took performance-enhancing drugs.

Next year’s ballot – headlined by Bernie Williams – should be a bit of a dud. But the 2013 one will be one to watch.

Blyleven finally makes the Hall of Fame

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It took quite a long time – 14 years to be exact – but Bert Blyleven is in the Hall of Fame.

Bert Blyleven

Circle me, Cooperstown! Associated Press photo

Blyleven crossed the 75 percent threshold during Wednesday’s 2011 vote and will join Roberto Alomar at this summer’s induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y.

At some point, it does become difficult to ignore Blyleven’s career accomplishments. Top 5 all-time in strikeouts. Top 10 all-time in shutouts. Two World Series titles. Impressive career ERA. All of 287 victories. He didn’t have the peak years – back-to-back Cy Young Awards or anything like that – but still, the career numbers are impressive.

I blogged last year about who I would vote for if I had a ballot. Unfortunately, I didn’t and still don’t, so this blog was my imaginary ballot. I failed to do that this year, but my ballot would have been the same except for Andre Dawson, who was already voted in last year.

I was pleased to see Barry Larkin make a 11 percent jump to 62 percent. He seems a sure lock to get elected in the next few years. Also, Tim Raines jumped 7 percent this year to 37 percent of the vote. I feel he’ll go the route of Blyleven and slowly work his way in. Edgar Martinez saw a 4 percent drop to 32 percent. I think his numbers are incredible and worthy of induction, but I don’t believe he’ll get elected. Too many people have doubts about his candidacy becomes he was a full-time DH and spent a lot of time injured, not to mention the fact that he didn’t really take off at the big league level until he was 27.

Early returns favor Blyleven

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One of my favorite December and January blog activities last year was checking out Baseball Think Factory’s website and its “Hall of Fame Ballot Gathering Machine.”

Bert Blyleven

Is this the year that Bert Blyleven gets circled by the Hall of Fame? Associated Press photo

The website takes the ballots posted online by writers that vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame and combines them to figure out percentages and see who is on pace to get elected this year and who will get snubbed.

I learned last year that you can’t take too much from it. Early returns had Roberto Alomar getting in and he surprisingly didn’t. But in the case of former Minnesota Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven, the returns weren’t far off from the final tally.

This time around, Blyleven has enough votes so far among those voters who has made their picks public, sneaking past the 75 percent threshold needed for induction. According to these returns, Blyleven and Alomar would make it in, with Barry Larkin coming up just short. But I do emphasize that it is extremely early with just 71 ballots in so far.

Blyleven got 74 percent of the vote last year. Nobody has ever gotten that close without eventually getting elected.

It’s interesting how with some of these players, I feel like I become bigger fans of them after they retire than when they played. Tim Raines and Edgar Martinez are examples of that. I’m convinced Raines will one day get in, that his numbers show he was likely one of the five greatest leadoff hitters in baseball history if not one of the three best. And Martinez does well with modern-day numbers like OPS, though his inability to stay healthy and lack of time spent doing anything other than DH-ing hurts him. He probably never will get in.

But I think Raines will. He got only 30 percent of the vote last year. But I’ve noticed a lot of the voters on MLB Network have given him the nod this year, and the early returns have him at 52 percent. So things are looking up for him.

One other link worth checking out is the ZiPS projects for the 2011 Minnesota Twins. Some interesting projections:

  • Japanese import second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka is picked to hit .281 and steal 38 bases. Twins would probably take that. He’s also picked to get caught stealing 17 times though.
  • Closer Joe Nathan, who missed all of last season after Tommy John surgery, is projected to post an ERA of 3.00 for 2011.

A gut-wrenching good day for Blyleven

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Though he came up five votes short of induction, former Minnesota Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven made a huge stride Wednesday toward reaching the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Blyleven finished at 74.2 percent of the votes, with 75 percent needed for induction.

The highest percentage any player has ever gotten without eventually reaching the Hall of Fame is 62 percent by Gil Hodges in 1983. This was a big push for Blyleven, who gained little ground in 2009 voting when compared to the year before that.

Basically, Blyleven is a lock for 2011, when Jeff Bagwell and Rafael Palmeiro headline the first-ballot crop. Or in 2012, when Bernie Williams is the best of the new group. He’ll get there eventually, along with second baseman Roberto Alomar, who inexplicably came up eight votes shy of induction this year.

The reason Alomar has to wait a year is because of ridiculous logic such as this take. Even though I think he’s a Hall of Famer, he’s not first-ballot worthy? That’s your rationale?

ESPN’s John Kruk has a good take on it. He seems befuddled.

Can’t write this without mentioning that Andre Dawson did make it. He’s very deserving. I don’t think a poor on-base percentage alone should keep a guy out of the Hall when he basically did everything else well. Eight Gold Gloves. Over 400 homers. Over 300 steals. NL MVP in 1987. Former NL Rookie of the Year. My guess is he’ll be sporting that since-disappeared Montreal Expos cap on his plaque.

Very good to see Dawson’s former Expos teammate Tim Raines made up some ground too. I made a case for him on my phantom ballot. I think Raines will go the route of Blyleven, where voters will realize 10 years from now they’ve made a horrible mistake with him. So see you in 2020, Raines!

I really thought Mark McGwire, who I wouldn’t vote for, would gain ground this year. Seemed like I was finding a lot of writers had changed their minds on him. Like I said in my comments section, when McGwire is ready to talk about the past, I would be ready to revisit his past. Until then, I would never vote for him.

A few more Blyleven links:

ESPN’s Jim Caple. The Star Tribune’s La Velle E. Neal. Minnpost’s Steve Aschburner.

TWINS SIGN CONDREY AND DITCH KEPPEL

The Minnesota Twins picked up relief pitcher Clay Condrey on Wednesday, while fellow reliever Bobby Keppel will pitch in Japan in 2010.

Not a real earth-shaker here. Condrey is 34 years old and coming off the best season of his career though, posting a 3.00 ERA in 45 games and a solid WHIP (big stat for relievers – walks and hits per innings pitched). His career WHIP is much higher. He’s a contact pitcher who was among the big league leaders in ground ball rate for relievers.

Condrey will compete in a bullpen that already boasts Joe Nathan, Matt Guerrier, Jon Rauch and Jose Mijares. They’re also expecting to have Pat Neshek back from multiple surgeries on his arm. Should be plenty of depth in this area.

In Keppel, the Twins lose a guy that they won’t miss much. The 27-year-old posted a 4.83 ERA in 37 games with a 1.56 WHIP.

He heads to Japan with his only major league victory coming in that thrilling one-game playoff, which still bring a smile to yours truly’s face every time he thinks of that game.

WASHBURN UPDATE

The Star Tribune’s La Velle E. Neal also says that there’s no indication that the Twins offered a contract to veteran free-agent pitcher Jarrod Washburn. That was reported by CBSsports.com on Monday.

Twins fans should breathe a sigh of relief after reading that. As Neal puts it, one team official said that he/she wasn’t sure if Brian Duensing wasn’t better than Washburn anyway. And considering how high the Twins payroll has gotten, I can’t believe they’d throw money at another starter right now. It’s simply not worth it.

The Twins must re-sign Joe Mauer, and they must find a better infield option to keep Brendan Harris out of the everyday lineup. At least Nick Punto, who provides no offense, has a great glove. Harris doesn’t even give them that.

Former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver once said everyone in your lineup has to be about something (like, so-and-so is a good on-base guy, or he’s a good power bat, etc.). I know what Punto is about. I’m not sure what Harris is about.

Alomar will get call today, while Dawson and Blyleven among those deserving

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The Baseball Hall of Fame 2010 voting is announced today at 12:30 p.m. (I think). Roberto Alomar will most definitely be gaining induction, at least according to preliminary vote totals.

Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven – a former Minnesota Twins pitcher – are in pretty good shape too. If they don’t get elected this year, they will likely be elected some time.

Those three seem to be the only likely candidates for "the call" today. I think Dawson’s chances were buoyed by Jim Rice‘s induction last year. Dawson and Rice played in the same era, and without question I think Dawson was the superior player. Rice was a hitter’s hitter who provided little defensively. Dawson was an eight-time Gold Glove winner who eclipsed 400 homers and 300 steals, and also won an NL MVP, albeit on a last-place Chicago Cubs team.

I’m convinced Blyleven will make it eventually too. He’s in his 13th year on the writers’ ballot, with all players spending no more than 15 years on it. He might need all 15 years, though today could be his big day too.

Blyleven’s career numbers are impressive. He’s got 287 wins and ranks in the top five in strikeouts all-time. His postseason numbers en route to two World Series titles are impressive.

If I had a vote – and, of course, I don’t – there are three other guys I would vote for this year who don’t appear to be close to getting in for 2010.

  • Barry Larkin: Undoubtedly, he’ll get in one day. He made 12 All-Star appearances and spent his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds. He won an NL MVP award in 1995 and led the Reds to a big upset of the Oakland A’s in the 1990 World Series, hitting .353 during the four-game sweep. He won nine Silver Slugger awards and three Gold Gloves, which may not seem like much, but considering his career intersected that of Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, I’d say three is pretty darned good.
  • Edgar Martinez: I’ll admit, when I saw the name, I didn’t think Hall of Famer. But his stats are just too good to ignore. During his 18-year career, Martinez hit .312 with a .418 on-base percentage and .515 slugging percentage. His career OBP ranks 22nd all-time, one spot ahead of Stan Musial. His career OPS ranks 33rd all-time. Only Lefty O’Doul ranks ahead of him in OPS among guys not in the Hall of Fame who are eligible. And yes, he spent most of his career as a designated hitter. But it’s safe to say anyone with his ability would have played first base in a non-DH world, and even if he was a poor first baseman, no one would care, because it’s first base.
  • Tim Raines: Most underrated player on the ballot year-in and year-out. In 23 seasons, he hit .295 with a .385 OBP and 808 career steals (fifth all-time — four ahead of him are in Hall). During his prime in the 1980s, he went to seven straight All-Star games. I consider him to be one of the top five leadoff hitters of all-time. His stolen base success rate is the best in major league history, even ahead of Rickey Henderson. His career 1,330 walks rank 34th all-time, and only Dwight Evans and Eddie Yost walked more than him among eligible Hall of Fame inductees not currently in the Hall. And you can be certain they didn’t have the speed that Raines brought to the table. What hurt him? Playing in Montreal, of course, and probably hanging around too long. His cocaine problems in the early 1980s hurt his image too, though the voters were more forgiving of Paul Molitor‘s early cocaine problems since he had 3,000 hits, a total considered to lead to automatic induction. 

So that’s what I would go with. Alomar, Blyleven, Dawson, Larkin, Martinez and Raines. Feel free to post who you’d vote for below.

Alomar will get call today, while Dawson and Blyleven among those deserving

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The Baseball Hall of Fame 2010 voting is announced today at 12:30 p.m. (I think). Roberto Alomar will most definitely be gaining induction, at least according to preliminary vote totals.

Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven – a former Minnesota Twins pitcher – are in pretty good shape too. If they don’t get elected this year, they will likely be elected some time.

Those three seem to be the only likely candidates for "the call" today. I think Dawson’s chances were buoyed by Jim Rice‘s induction last year. Dawson and Rice played in the same era, and without question I think Dawson was the superior player. Rice was a hitter’s hitter who provided little defensively. Dawson was an eight-time Gold Glove winner who eclipsed 400 homers and 300 steals, and also won an NL MVP, albeit on a last-place Chicago Cubs team.

I’m convinced Blyleven will make it eventually too. He’s in his 13th year on the writers’ ballot, with all players spending no more than 15 years on it. He might need all 15 years, though today could be his big day too.

Blyleven’s career numbers are impressive. He’s got 287 wins and ranks in the top five in strikeouts all-time. His postseason numbers en route to two World Series titles are impressive.

If I had a vote – and, of course, I don’t – there are three other guys I would vote for this year who don’t appear to be close to getting in for 2010.

  • Barry Larkin: Undoubtedly, he’ll get in one day. He made 12 All-Star appearances and spent his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds. He won an NL MVP award in 1995 and led the Reds to a big upset of the Oakland A’s in the 1990 World Series, hitting .353 during the four-game sweep. He won nine Silver Slugger awards and three Gold Gloves, which may not seem like much, but considering his career intersected that of Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, I’d say three is pretty darned good.
  • Edgar Martinez: I’ll admit, when I saw the name, I didn’t think Hall of Famer. But his stats are just too good to ignore. During his 18-year career, Martinez hit .312 with a .418 on-base percentage and .515 slugging percentage. His career OBP ranks 22nd all-time, one spot ahead of Stan Musial. His career OPS ranks 33rd all-time. Only Lefty O’Doul ranks ahead of him in OPS among guys not in the Hall of Fame who are eligible. And yes, he spent most of his career as a designated hitter. But it’s safe to say anyone with his ability would have played first base in a non-DH world, and even if he was a poor first baseman, no one would care, because it’s first base.
  • Tim Raines: Most underrated player on the ballot year-in and year-out. In 23 seasons, he hit .295 with a .385 OBP and 808 career steals (fifth all-time — four ahead of him are in Hall). During his prime in the 1980s, he went to seven straight All-Star games. I consider him to be one of the top five leadoff hitters of all-time. His stolen base success rate is the best in major league history, even ahead of Rickey Henderson. His career 1,330 walks rank 34th all-time, and only Dwight Evans and Eddie Yost walked more than him among eligible Hall of Fame inductees not currently in the Hall. And you can be certain they didn’t have the speed that Raines brought to the table. What hurt him? Playing in Montreal, of course, and probably hanging around too long. His cocaine problems in the early 1980s hurt his image too, though the voters were more forgiving of Paul Molitor‘s early cocaine problems since he had 3,000 hits, a total considered to lead to automatic induction. 

So that’s what I would go with. Alomar, Blyleven, Dawson, Larkin, Martinez and Raines. Feel free to post who you’d vote for below.

Twins have plenty of rotation options, but no defined ace

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The starting rotation was unquestionably the most disappointing unit on the Minnesota Twins last season.

The Twins entered the 2009 season hoping a very young rotation could build on the success it had in 2008, when many of the starters were rookies and Francisco Liriano was coming back from Tommy John surgery.

Fast forward to today, and the Twins are hoping a Jekyll and Hyde pitching staff can find some consistency next season.

Scott Baker was great in the second half of 2009 but brutal in the first half. It was vice versa for Nick Blackburn. Kevin Slowey struggled before missing the final three months of the season with an elbow problem. And Liriano, who pitched well in his first year back from Tommy John surgery in 2008, struggled in 2009 and was eventually demoted to the bullpen.

The Twins decided to offer veteran Carl Pavano arbitration, and he accepted. But the fact remains that this team has no ace and very few candidates for such a role.

Baker has been the de facto ace, and he’s a fine pitcher, but not the kind of guy who matches up real well with the other aces of the American League, especially among the contending teams.

Pavano provides a veteran presence, but he remains a starting pitcher that posted an ERA of 5.10 last season.

Blackburn is the team’s best big-game pitcher, having fared very well in the 2008 one-game playoff against the Chicago White Sox and pitching well in his final four starts of 2009 when the team could ill afford a loss.

I still believe Slowey has the highest ceiling of any of the Twins’ potential starters for next season. He’s a K/BB rate machine who I have spoken glowingly of in the past.

He drew comparisons to Greg Maddux while dominating the minors, and I think there’s still a chance he can be that guy, but as I’ve said before, maybe he’ll just be another Brad Radke. Nothing wrong with that. Maddux didn’t really become Maddux – as in, the Maddux that regularly allowed less than one baserunner per inning in a season – until his sixth season. And pitching as a youngster in the National League in the 1980s is a little different than today’s American League, which is what Slowey’s forced to develop in.

Liriano will have to compete with Brian Duensing and Glen Perkins for that fifth and final rotation spot.

There are plenty of candidates for the rotation. But the Twins must find someone that can stand above the rest as the team’s ace.

BASEBALL HALL OF FAME UPDATE

Baseball Think Factory’s Web site is updated to include 68 Hall of Fame ballots. As I mentioned before, last year there were roughly 550 ballots, so the ones found on the Internet represent a little more than 10 percent now.

Bert Blyleven continues to be in good position to make the Hall of Fame in this his 13th year on the ballot. Players are given 15 years on the writers’ ballot. Blyleven has 85.3 percent of the votes in the 68 ballots found on various Web sites. Andre Dawson and Roberto Alomar are also above the 75 percent threshold for induction.

Hall of Fame voting is announced at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

ESPN has a lot of great Hall of Fame stories on its Web site. Definitely worth reading.

Hall of Fame voting, the Internet and Bert

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Baseball Hall of Fame voting is announced on Jan. 6, and while making my usual round of Internet baseball blog visits today (Neyer, Posnanski, Gleeman, Big League Stew – all linked to on the right), there’s plenty of chatter about Bert Blyleven.

This comes as no surprise, of course. Blyleven, year-in and year-out, is the most polarizing figure up for induction. His supporters are quite outspoken, as are his detractors.

The former Minnesota Twins pitcher, who won 287 games and ranks fifth on the all-time strikeouts list, received 62 percent of the vote last year. The 2010 vote coming up will be his 13th year on the writers’ ballot, which is the most common manner by which a player gets elected. Players remain on the ballot for 15 years before dropping off.

Big League Stew has a post about Blyleven. Posnanski – a big Blyleven backer – has a post as well. Both are worth reading. There’s even a Web site dedicated to Bert’s induction.

I wonder sometimes if all of this talk about his candidacy hurts his ability to get selected. A player needs 75 percent of the vote for induction, so if at least 25 percent of the population is tired of hearing about him, he’s in trouble.

And nobody is more outspoken about Blyleven’s candidacy then Blyleven himself. He made his case on MSNBC.com.

I’ve gone back and forth on Blyleven in the past, but in recent years, I’ve decided his career numbers are too good to ignore. My biggest issue with putting him in is him having been selected to just two All-Star Games. As I’ve said, All-Star selections aren’t the be-all, end-all, but just two! That’s incredibly low. I mean, that’s one more than Tim Laudner or Ron Coomer. And for a guy who supposedly played for so many bad teams, you would think that would make it easier for him to get selected since every team must have one representative. Supposedly, he wasn’t surrounded by much talent, so I’d have to think he’d get a lot of All-Star selections.

But I guess the 287 wins, the boatload of strikeouts, the two World Series titles and one of the best curveballs in baseball history is enough for me to get behind his bid.

The Internet in recent years has really changed the way people can track Hall of Fame progress too.Baseball Think Factory is tracking Hall of Fame ballots that they find on the Internet if writers choose to reveal their ballots. They’ve found 36 ballots (539 were cast last year, so it’s a small sample), and things look encouraging for Blyleven thus far.

% Leaderboard after 36 Full Ballots…

83.3 – Alomar
83.3 – Dawson
80.6 – Blyleven
58.3 – Larkin
55.5 – Lee Smith
55.5 – J. Morris
47.2 – Edgar
38.9 – T. Raines
33.3 – McGwire
22.2 – Trammell

I can’t argue with these results too much. I’m astounded that it’s taken Andre Dawson this long to get in. One of only three players to ever get 400 homers and 300 steals (Willie Mays and Barry Bonds are the others). Eight Gold Gloves. Eight All-Star appearances. Rookie of the Year. NL MVP, on a last-place team! On-base percentage wasn’t great, but no doubt he was one of the best players of his era. But if you’re going to argue a player shouldn’t be in the Hall because of one poor stat, the Hall would really be an exclusive club than. You could remove 90 percent of its current members.

I don’t want to get too into who I’d vote for quite yet. I’ll just leave for now as saying I’d select Dawson, Blyleven, Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez and the ridiculously under-appreciated Tim Raines. I’ll make my cases for them when we get closer to the voting.