More "excellence" voters died, to be replaced by inclusiveness voters.
What has MLB HOF come to?
- Thread starter 18IsTheMan
- Start date
The writers are who vote, seems most of them could care less about a ceremony. Cooperstown is who suffers.
Andruw Jones
top 5 outfielder all time in terms of defense.
Top 50 in HRs.
Fell 2nd in 2005 MVP voting to the best offensive player of his era (Pujols).
Gary Sheffield
30th all time RBIs (every player above him is in HOF that is eligible except Bonds, Palmeiro and AROD)
26th in HRs - 506 total
.292 Batting Average - not jump off the page great, but not a bad line there
9x all star
The voters are too high on their horses to allow anyone's who name was mentioned around steroids to be put in. Get used to this being the norm for the next 10 years because of that.
Do I condone the use of steroids in baseball, no. However, 75% of the league or more were using them. Batters had to face pitchers that were on roids. Pitchers had to face batters that were on roids. It wasn't a clear and distinct advantage to anyone. It just made the really good players really really good. The good players really good. The average good, and so on. In an era where it was the norm, it shouldn't keep certain players out because they did what they had to do to be competitive.
Eh.... it's baseball. I'd rather watch paint dry. It would be more exciting and over with faster.
Hey, as a Yankees fan and Mattingly disciple, nothing would make me happier. If not for his back injury, he'd have been a lock for 3,000 hits and 400 homers. From 1984-1987 he was arguably the best hitter in the game, hitting for average and power (averaging .336 and 30 HR over that span). He was a doubles machine. And he was an absolutely stellar first baseman. Alas, the back injury in 1987 derailed his career. He was still a very good high .200s hitter after that, but never what he was prior to the injury, when he was lethal with the bat. If he could have kept up his 1984-1987 pace, he'd have been a no-brainer first ballot HOFer.
Mattingly always presents an interesting case, because for 4 consecutive seasons, he was absolutely dominant and in discussion for best player in the game (winning one MVP). But then you have the injury and the subsequent last 8 years in which he was just good to really good. He was definitely not a flash-in-the-pan who has one phenomenal season and is never heard from again, but it all adds up to make him the quintessential outer fringe candidate. It wouldn't surprise me if he gets in on the veterans ballot at some point in the future as voters consider the impact of the injury on his decline, but, as much as I loved Donnie Baseball, and it pains me to say it, he's probably not really Hall worthy.
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