Our HOF poll

liffeystynx

OK, if we accept that Ripken and Gwynn will be elected, which ONE other candidate is most deserving of election (NOT most likely to be elected) ?

Jonathan

Elemenopeo

Count mine as a write-in vote for Ron Santo.

liffeystynx

Elemenopeo,

Ron will be on the Veterans' Committee ballot at the end of February - we can run another poll then

Jonathan

gregmo32

I voted for Blyleven. And I would not have chosen him had I not read what I like to refer to as the "Battleground Blyleven" post from a few months back. I always thought he was good, but not HOF worthy until that thread got me to see how great he actually was.

Wondo

I'm a Jack Morris fan. Good career stats, great individual years, World Championships!!

ArnyVee

I placed my vote for Blyleven too. Great career.

cravetopps

lee smith....blyleven would be a close second.

mkg809

I think Lee Smith should have gotten in already.

liffeystynx

Interesting that none of those who have voted for the leading candidate so far have expressed their reasons. Given that there has been loud explication of the opposing view, it would be interesting to hear from his supporters.

Bosox1976

Much as it pains me, I voted for Goose over Jim Rice.

TheMcgwireMuseum

Go Mark Go !!

RedRomad275

I know it's not going to happen but I have to vote for Dave Concepcion.

Go Davey

Red

MeteoriteGuy

I voted for McGwire. I don't see the steriod thing as a problem. Like it not, it was the thing to do during his career.

Let's be honest, who really knows how many of the past Hall of Famers were not doing "greenies" or whatever. How about those we know had less then stellar life styles, such as Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth. Should we throw them out.....or should the hall of fame be only about baseball and how they played, and what they meant to the game.

Mark

jamesgotpoorman

My true vote based on stats!!!!!!

cmoking

Jim Rice

TheMcgwireMuseum

Go Mark Go!

MeteoriteGuy

Perhaps the real question is it sadder that Wally Joyner, Jose Canseco or Albert Belle will never made the HOF?

Mark

liffeystynx

MeteoriteGuy,

Whatever about the performance-enhancing effect of greenies, I don't think you can throw Mantle and Ruth into this argument. The substances they ingested if anything damaged their performance. The knock against McGwire and others has nothing to do with their lifestyle - it's whether they cheated in order to amass their (potential) HOF numbers.

SI.com is reporting this morning that one voter has returned a blank ballot because he doesn't know for sure that they weren't all on steroids! A bit sweeping, I would have thought. Anyway it means that Ripken and Gwynn certainly won't get 100%.

Jonathan

Wabittwax

Albert Belle should make it. He was a monster in his playing days. Amazing that he gots no votes and Scott Brosius got 2 votes so far.

royalbrett

I voted for Bret Saberhagen, but that is just because I wanted to see the poll results.

I don't think anyone else should get in.

MeteoriteGuy

Jonathan you may not argee with my answer, but I was just answering a question asked by another list member.

I do not see any purpose of trying to debate something with someone who starts their reply with "whatever."

Mark

liffeystynx

Mark,

Excuse my trans-Atlantic English! Is there some American grammatical rule about not beginning a sentence with “whatever”?

Jonathan

incugator

I will stand up for McGwire. I am not saying that his use of performance enhancing substances was right, but he played in a time period where many players did it. His job was on the line and his dreams were obtainable because nobody was enforcing these rules.

There is no way that Cal Ripken played 2500+ games without taking greenies. Mike Schmidt admitted to using greenies. They helped Cal break an 'impossible record' but it wasn't the Babe's record and he didn't "save baseball"

1988-2003 will be known as the steriod era. All of the power records were shattered because players used drugs that are now tested for and banned by MLB. During this era, Mark McGwire was one of the best home-run hitters. Rickey Henderson was the best base stealer. Roger Clemens was the best pitcher. Tony Gwynn hit for the best average. Jon Rocker experienced the worst 'roid rage' and Barry Bonds was the media's most hated player.

If Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds don't get into the Hall of Fame. They are going to be more recognized than if they did get in the hall of Fame. They'll go down with Joe Jackson and Pete Rose. McGwire is trying to do things the best way he can. Somebody needs to step up and defend him and stop letting the media portray him as an animal.

VOTE HIM IN!!

mosaic

I voted for Tommy John....

People who changed the game forever in a positive way deserve to be in. Thanks to a crackpot doctor and a guinea pig named Tommy John, pitchers can blow out their elbows and still keep pitching.

I also think Buck O'Neil and Robin Roberts should be enshrined too.

Cal Ripken has decent stats, but, let's face it, he's in not because he's the iron horse, but because he helped redeem baseball in the eyes of fans. I'm thankful to him for that, and if that's why he's in the hall, so be it.

I mean, after all, it is the "hall of fame" not the "hall of best."

TheMcgwireMuseum

<< <i>Cal Ripken has decent stats, but, let's face it, he's in not because he's the iron horse, but because he helped redeem baseball in the eyes of fans. I'm thankful to him for that, and if that's why he's in the hall, so be it. >>



DECENT STATS??? If he didn'tt break the games record, he still gets voted in by a landslide

joemaggio

I'm one of those guys who believes the Hall of Fame is already watered down with the likes of Tony Perez and Bill Mazeroski, but I surprisingly find myself supporting the enshrinement of several guys on this year's ballot and, even though nobody asked, I'm gonna tell you why...

Harold Baines - his career numbers are better than those of Hall-of-Famer Tony Perez and Baines played on inferior teams. Neither belongs in the Hall.

Albert Belle - while he was about the most unlikeable player of his time and the poster boy for what would later be called "'roid rage," he was just a few years short of a Hall-of-Fame career.

Bert Blyleven - 22 year, 287 wins, 3.31 ERA, 3700+ K's, played on two World Championship teams... he's a Hall-of-Famer.

Andre Dawson - one great year (especially a year as suspect as 1987) doesn't get you in the Hall. This guy's Dave Kingman with a better average.

Rich Gossage - 400+ wins and saves combined... I haven't been supprting the Goose, but I think I need to change my mind. His numbers look good and he's the first real "closer" I remember.

Tommy John - even though it took him 27 years, 288 wins with a 3.34 ERA is pretty impressive... until you look at his last ten years. Somebody has to be "the-guy-with-the-most-wins-who-isn't-in-the-Hall-of-Fame" and I think T.J.'s got it locked up forever!

Don Mattingly - one of my all-time favorite players, but like Albert Belle, injury cut short what could have been a Hall of Fame career.

Mark McGwire - there's no smoking gun, other than Jose Canseco, to link McGwire to illegal steroids, but a huge percentage of his career numbers came between 1996 - 1999. Discounting those years, he didn't put up Hall of Fame numbers.

Jack Morris - he was a dominant pitcher for around 14 years and anchored the rotations of three different World Series teams (Toronto fans might disagree). Plus he had that Magmun P.I. mustache even when it wasn't cool anymore. He's real close to being a Hall of Famer.

Paul O'Neill - he can polish his FIVE World Series Champion rings and watch the induction ceremonies on TV.

Jim Rice - he put together some Manny Ramirez-like seasons, but not enough of them. I saw footage of him once breaking his bat on a check swing - that's some torque!

Lee Smith - if you retire as the All-Time leader in a major category, you should probably be in the Hall. This guy should! I met him this Summer and asked him what hat he'd wear when he got in and he said it was Cubs all he way (of course they don't get to choose anymore).


I think several of these guys will get in in the next five years as it looks like Rickey Henderson is the only first ballot lock on the horizon.

calaban7

All this nonsense about Bigmac or Bonds getting in , is not without history. The purpose of the Hall Of Fame is to show their true accomplishments , their legacy . Rose and Joe Jackson by not being included , I think have got more press than if they had been elected. Judas Iscariot would have been a nobody , if he had not done the wrong thing. Would anyone of ever heard of Rosie Rosario if she hadn't cheated on the NY marathon ? What kind of legacy does Slick Willy Boy Clinton have ? Charlie Tree, Vince Foster , Laralle Corporation, Waco, Monika, Lying under oath, etc.... WHAT A LEGACY .Nothing that holds a fart in the wind to anyone before him. President ? YES , Famous ? Maybe , Infamous , YES. History is full of liers and cheaters, all proud of what they have done. I have never heard any of these clowns say I do not deserve to be famous, because of what they have done. THEIR DEEDS AND HOW THEY DID IT or HOW THEY MADE THEM is what they need to be remembered for. They all did it be either lying or cheating or the combination of both.
So if someday these other BOZOs , Bonds, McGuire, Raffy, Sosa, etc... get in, because of all their great supporters, lets all go up to Copperstown and take a big dump together on the floor and open a new wing of the Hall Of Fame. For those and their kind, stand up and be counted , history has had simular moments , these guys are counting on you, don't let them down.

incugator

Somebody will get in the hall that has taken steriods (They may already be there) Should they be taken out of the Hall once it is discovered? Should nobody get in from 'The Steroid Era' What about all the Greenies? Should Gaylord Perry be removed? What is your solution?

frankhardy

Mark McGwire

RonBurgundy

I voted for Gossage, but the poll is a little suspect because the question asks you to consider only one other player. Gossage is the next most deserving to me, but Blyleven is a close second and Dawson, Rice, John and Concepcion all deserve consideration (and I would vote for each). Perhaps Lee Smith. Perhaps Hershiser years down the road.

As for McGwire, you have a hitter who, but for steroids, would've wound up with numbers similar to Canseco. Canseco doesn't deserve it, so neither does McGwire. A .263 lifetime average with barely over 1500 hits doesn't help the cause either.




Ron