Congratuations to HOF-Elects Rickey Henderson & Jim Rice; Bert will have to wait till next year.

Estil

Of course everyone knows that Rickey Henderson will easily get in (I know he'd rather go solo for his speech but too frickin' bad), but I'm hoping that this year Mr. Blyleven will finally get his due and come Monday he'll get that call saying he's now a Hall of Fame-Elect. And surely with Jim Rice coming up just short last year, surely this year he'll be put over the top.

FOX NEWS ALERT:
Congratulations to HOF-Elects Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice; looks like Mr. Blyleven will have to "wait till next year".

grote15

And surely with Jim Rice coming up just short last year, surely this year he'll be put over the top.


OK, folks, and a one, and a two...

Hoopster

...three.

Rice will get voted in.

Blyleven will come up short again.

Dawson will get greater support than last year, but will come up short.

Dboneesq

HERE'S THE LIST OF WHO IS ON THE BALLOT. My vote, and not necessarily in any order, would be for:

RICKEY
Blyleven
Dawson
Rice (last year of eligibility)

I think Tommy John is close, but will not make it in his final year of eligibility. IMO Tim Raines will eventually make it, Mark McGwire SHOULD, but probably won't. Too bad, since it was not proven that he ever took anything WHEN IT WAS BANNED BY MLB (I think that's correct). I LOVE Mattingly, but think he needed another 2 or 3 years of playing at the top. Same with Dale Murphy.



Player Ballot 2008
Harold Baines 3rd
Jay Bell 1st
Bert Blyleven 12th
David Cone 1st
Andre Dawson 8th
Ron Gant 1st
Mark Grace 1st
Rickey Henderson 1st
Tommy John 15th
Don Mattingly 9th
Mark McGwire 3rd
Jack Morris 10th
Dale Murphy 11th
Jesse Orosco 1st
Dave Parker 13th
Dan Plesac 1st
Tim Raines 2nd
Jim Rice 15th
Lee Smith 7th
Alan Trammell 8th
Greg Vaughn 1st
Mo Vaughn 1st
Matt Williams 1st

grote15

Would be nice to see Blyleven & Rickey get in...but I'm also thinking Rickey & Rice...if so Rice will be first player since Kiner to get in in his last year of eligibility..

grote15

IMO, Kiner is a clear Hall of Famer. Rice is not, though I don't think I'm as much against him as others might be. However, IMO, he should not be voted in though he may well be.

Only knock on Kiner is that his career was rather brief (he barely even qualified for induction), but yes, I'd say hitting 369 Homers in just 10 years while playing for the lowly Pirates was rather impressive...of course I'm also a biased Mets fan..

Morgoth

I hope Raines and Baines both get more votes. My dream of Al Oliver making it will never happen

IchiroDeported

Al Oliver can join a lot of folks in the Hall of Good.

Blyleven was an awesome pitcher and its embarassing that he isnt in the HOF.

Im sure Rice will get in, i guess the pity votes will add up this time around.

dallasactuary

My ballot would read Henderson, Blyleven, Raines.

Those three all fall into the category that the HOF is embarrassing and pointless without them in it.

There are a couple of others that I would vote for once those three got in, but I would not vote for any borderliners as long as top tier players were still waiting.

Hoopster

Good luck to the Red Sox fans today. I know some of you are anxiously awaiting after 15 years! Rice has gotten a lot of play everywhere, and now it comes down to the zero hour. To me, no other year has had the anticipation build up, coupled with the exhaustive debates of merit, as the case of Rice. One could almost call it a unique case.

By the way, do you remember when somebody called the Fonz unique, and he thought the person was insulting him?


Anyway, if Rice gets elected, I will toss one back for the TRUE Red Sox fans I have come across. Despite what notion I have given, I don't dislike Rice at all. I just like to argue about sports

Boopotts

<< <i>My ballot would read Henderson, Blyleven, Raines.

Those three all fall into the category that the HOF is embarrassing and pointless without them in it.

There are a couple of others that I would vote for once those three got in, but I would not vote for any borderliners as long as top tier players were still waiting. >>




Where does Alan Trammell rank on the list of 'players who should get more HOF consideration than he currently does'? Or does he even rank?

WinPitcher

I don't think the 10 year rule was in effect when Kiner was inducted.

At that time active players could get votes, a few did too notably Dimaggio and Ted Williams if my memory serves me.

Steve

larryallen73

If Blyleven gets in maybe my '81 Donruss PSA 10 will sell today. Only $9.99!

DeutscherGeist

While the case for Rickey, Blyleven, Raines and Rice have been mentioned, I like to bring up two other players that were not mentioned enough.


David Cone--Absolute warrior on the mound. Not a 300 game winner, so his career must be judged by different standards than stat compilers.

Don Mattingly--using more accurate statistics, his numbers seem closer to Koufaxian standards: Short career, was the best for awhile, and has other accolades sprinkled in.


Mattingly has more merit over Cone, perhaps. I did not investigate Cone as thoroughly as I wanted. According to the Bill James ranking, he is easily in the top 50 pitchers of all-time. Its not a clear cut HOF case, but one that deserves investigating with the more accurate statistical evaluations and not the traditional ERA, Ks and Wins. He was the pitcher that every team could want, but the Yankees capitalized on him for a significant stretch and he did help them get the WS title.


Rice is close to induction and he may very well get the extra votes this time around. However, by using more accurate baseball numbers, he really was not a standout on his own team let alone the MLB. By tradtional stats, he seems to be there with other HOFs, but a borderline case. Once Rice gets in, the flood gates open in allowing others the same consideration. People will argue for Dwight Evans and Fred Lynn to be in the HOF because their non-traditional stats match up too well to Rice's (exceed it for the most part). This is what worries me about the Rice induction. Is he really that much better than Steve Garvey, Keith Hernandez and Don Mattingly? (all 1st baseman).

Dboneesq

IN 40 MINUTES WE WILL HAVE OUR ANSWER!!!

MantleMarisFordBerra

We all know Rickey is in, but it would warm my heart to see some love for "The Hawk".

MantleMarisFordBerra

<< <i><<Don Mattingly--using more accurate statistics, his numbers seem closer to Koufaxian standards: Short career, was the best for awhile, and has other accolades sprinkled in.>>

I'll say what I always say on the matter, and it is partially subjective, but if Puckett's in, I can't see why Mattingly isn't. >>



Two things that would've put Donnie Baseball in the Hall years ago:

1- He doesn't get robbed of the '86 MVP award. He earned it, but the writers gave it to a pitcher instead. We all know how writers (the HOF voters) value awards.
2- He sticks around one more year and picks up his ring. Even if it was as a back up to Tino, with maybe some D.H.ing going on, he'd have gone out in grand fashion.

If these two things happen, Donnie's in. As it stands now, I think maybe one day he'll make it, but that day doesn't appear to be today.

Estil

Well, congrats to HOF-Elects Rickey Henderson & Jim Rice. But it looks like Bert will have to wait till next year.

As for Don Mattingly, I would LOVE to see him go into the HOF someday as well, but I guess he really needed to stick around just one more year (or not have had that 1994 strike happen) to have gotten that championship, then he would've gotten in no problem.

perkdog

Im very happy for Rice! Good for Run Rickey Run as well

jaxxr

Rice is the only player in major league history to record over 200 hits while hitting 39 or more HRs for three consecutive years. He is tied for the AL record of leading the league in total bases for three straight seasons, and was one of three AL players to have three straight seasons of hitting at least 39 home runs while batting .315 or higher.

From 1975 to 1986, Rice led the AL in total games played, at bats, runs scored, hits, homers, RBIs, slugging average, total bases, extra base hits, go-ahead RBIs, multi-hit games, and outfield assists.[3] Among all major league players during that time, Rice was the leader in five of these categories (Mike Schmidt is next, having led in four).

Perhaps comparisons of Rice and Mike Schmidt might have been more interesting, rather than using poor Eddie Murray, who seems to fall short in those areas.

Just kidding, I know they did not play in the exact same time era, and only Rice has an MVP award, or an OPS+ title, not Murray, though they both are found qualified for the HOF by popular rates/inks and the actual, real, offical HOF voters too. Again just a little fun note, no wish for any more endless debates.

In a serious vein, I posted several times prior, if Rice did not get in this year, fine, no vet selections anymore !!!
15 trys via regular votes is more than enough, let the Vets go back to investigating pre 1900 players, Negro and Federal leaguers, not giving 16, 17 and more chances for the hall.

SanctionII

Isn't Rickey still playing?

If so, he would be ineligible for the Hall, right?

I can hardly wait to hear Rickey give his induction speech. I wonder what he will talk about

Bottom9th

Congrats to Jim Rice. It was a long wait.....

Barndog

<< <i>Isn't Rickey still playing?

If so, he would be ineligible for the Hall, right?

I can hardly wait to hear Rickey give his induction speech. I wonder what he will talk about >>



I don't think Rickey understands what "induction" means!

gregmo32

Blyleven and Raines are deserving, though I am afraid that the writers will never comprehend how truly exceptional Raines was.

dallasactuary

<< <i>Where does Alan Trammell rank on the list of 'players who should get more HOF consideration than he currently does'? Or does he even rank? >>



He's one of the people that I would vote for once Blyleven and Raines were in; outstanding player. Not in the same neighborhood as Tim Raines or Bert Blyleven, but comfortably a HOF level player.