HOF Election Analysis

Jason Beck | Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but McGwire, Goose Gossage, Lee Smith, Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, Jack Morris, and Bert Blyleven missed out.

Cal and Tony are no question about it candidates. Anyone that has a problem with their elections might need to reconsider talking. The rest of the bunch evolves into one of those epic HOF debates that never end.
Here is my take going by most votes

• Goose – Should be in, no doubt about it. He was the Mo Rivera of his day. While his stats to do reflect the same domination the results were similar, i.e. when he entered the game, usually in the 7^th or 8^th inning not the 9^th, the game was over! Not sure why the voters did not elect him but it seems he is being penalized for pitching before the bullpen became as specialized as they are now
• Jim Rice – This is one that is tough for me to understand. This was a guy who was the most dominating offensive force of this era. It seems like the HOF is rewarding players who were good for a long period (15-20+ years) as opposed to players like Jim Ed who were dominating for a short time (5 years) and good for the rest of his career (10 years). I was hoping that he would get his due this year because of all the roid talk, but I guess not. Hopefully he will be next years Tony Perez and get elected in his last year of eligibility. Might I add that Rice’s career totals are better in every category but RBI, but Tony needed 7 more seasons to get the additional 200 RBIs. This is a no brainer to me!
• Andre Dawson – Another candidate that should be in. I saw him at the end end of his career with the Sox when his knees were hamburger he was a force while playing with the Cubs and the Expos. While being a 5-tool talent does not get you into the HOF, he was able to turn that potential into performance. Five years ago he was mentioned in the same breathe as Barry Bonds and Willie Mays during the push for 400 HR and 300 SB, but now that Bonds has become a 700 HR (steroid) and 400 steal guy, he seems to be old news.
• Bert Blyleven – I do not think he should be in because he would be a life time award candidate. While he was a good pitcher he made only 2 all-star teams in his 22 years, never won an ERA title, never had the most wins in the league, led the league in Ks once (1985). To me this proves  he was a good player for a long time but was never the dominating HOF pitcher.
• Lee Smith – Another case of closers getting no love from the voters. Pretty soon his saves mark is going to be small compared to the totals that Hoffman, Rivera that will end up with, so I guess that means he will never get in, but like Goose he was the best closer of his era and should be in.
• Jack Morris – While he was one of the best big game pitchers of his day, that is not enough to get into the HOF. He did achieve some of the things that Blyleven did not (5 time AS in 18 years, Led the AL in Ws twice, Ks once) he still was not that dominating force that should be in the HOF.
• Big Mac – This is the one that will be debated for as long as the HOF exists. As I said before, he should be in. He should not be penalized for alleged roid use (and I think he did use them) while other players who may have used them that we do not know about or can not confirm are considere. No one was crying foul (specifically from the MLB offices) in the summer of 98, but now he the one that needs to be punished for the failures of MLB’s inactions. To those that say he was a 1-dimensional player, I can not refute that, but he was the most fearsome 1-dimensional player of his day.

Also interestingly enough Jose Canseco got only 6 votes (1.1%)

Let the debate begin

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Tags | MLB, Steroids and Drugs Jason Beck, SEC

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