Maddux , Glavine and Frank Thomas.... Craig Biggio missed by .2%. Ridiculous.... http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...-thomas-elected-to-the-baseball-hall-of-fame/ Not even close... Raines, Bagwell, Bonds, Clemens and Morris. Piazza got more than 60% of the votes but way short of 75%
It will be a pretty great day for Bobby Cox, with him, Maddux, and Glavine all being inducted at the same time. I imagine Chipper will want to be there to watch. Speaking of Chipper, will be affected by the apparent PED effects? It is clearly holding Bagwell and Piazza back. And how about this: a guy with more than 3000 lifetime hits and 500 lifetime home runs (Palmeiro) not only wasn't elected, but was dropped off the ballot with fewer than 5% of the vote!
I think it's totally unfair to hold the PED era thing against guys like Griffey Jr, Thome, Bagwell, Piazza etc. If they haven't been linked to anything they should be given a fair shake IMO. If anything it makes guys like Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux that much more impressive.
I would put Raines, Bonds, Clemens and Piazza in from that list that didn't make it. I get the PED stuff for Bonds and Clemens but both were dominant HOF types long before their bodies started changing.
I can remeber hearing things about Piazza and his "acne" while he was still playing and I think Bagwell just gets thrown in because he was a big guy even when he was with the Sox. It's a shame because both I think are deserving players, especially Piazza who was quite possibly the greatest offensive catcher of all time.
Next year's ballot: Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Lee Smith, Curt Schilling, Edgar Martinez, Alan Trammell, Mike Mussina, Jeff Kent, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Larry Walker, Don Mattingly, Sammy Sosa, Rich Aurilia, Aaron Boone, Paul Byrd, Tony Clark, Carlos Delgado, David Dellucci, Jermaine Dye, Alan Embree, Darin Erstad, Kelvim Escobar, Cliff Floyd, Nomar Garciaparra, Brian Giles, Tom Gordon, Eddie Guardado, Randy Johnson, Mark Loretta, Pedro Martinez, Ramon Martinez, Doug Mientkiewicz, Kevin Millar, Troy Percival, B.J. Ryan, Jason Schmidt, Gary Sheffield, John Smoltz, Julian Tavarez, Jarrod Washburn, David Weathers My guess - Pedro, Biggio, and Johnson get in. Smoltz and Piazza fall short. Half this list shouldn't even be on the ballot but whatever. http://baseballhall.org/hall-famers/rules-election/future-eligibles Griffey in '16, Pudge maybe in '17, Chipper maybe in '18 Halladay and Rivera in '19
Bagwell had no power when he was in the Red Sox organization then all of a sudden grew massive biceps and started hitting bombs when he got to Houston. And supposedly his body changed a LOT the other way when they started drug testing in baseball. The writers probably do know things more than the general public vis-a-vis those two. But yeah these writers are unfairly appointing themselves judge and jury. It'd be laughable if they already elected a guy who was juicing after all the pains they're taking to delay the induction of what should be a first-ballot guy like Piazza. Even Biggio I heard on the MLB Network radio show got cost a couple of votes (which was all he needed) to get in because people were calling up Marty Noble and Murray Chass with belief that HE was doping and they changed their ballot, leaving him off. Like others have said, HOF voting should expand beyond the writers, who have their own agendas like that idiot LeBatard who gave away his vote to make a point.
Guys off that list that I think definitely should make it at some point. Piazza Raines Clemens Bonds Schilling Edgar Martinez Randy Johnson Pedro Smoltz any others and it is watering the Hall down.
I read Jacque Jones got a HOF vote this year. Am I reading that right? Jacque fuckin Jones? He had like 3 good years.
You don't think Biggio should be in? My friend argues he was a compiler but his numebsr are HOF for his position. Now Joe Morgan.... total compiler.
Uh, Morgan is better than Biggio in every respect, other than getting beaned. The guy won back to back MVPs, Biggio's best year couldn't crack Morgan's top 5. Biggio is 20th all time in hits and about 600th in BA and 400th in OBP. If that's not a compiler I don't know what is.
I think both have aspects of compilers - they both played 20+ years, and many of those seasons for both were only good. The difference to me is that Biggio had a six year stretch where he was truly excellent (1993-1998: .304/.399/.476, 135 OPS+, 6.4 WAR per season, 3 Gold Gloves), while Morgan had a three year stretch in Houston where he was excellent (1965-1967: .276/.385/.408, 131 OPS+, 4.4 WAR per season) and a six year stretch in Cincinnati where he was certainly the best second baseman of the last 70 years (1972-1977: .301/.429/.495, 159 OPS+, 9.9 WAR per season, 5 Gold Gloves). I certainly think Morgan was much better than Biggio.
Morgan played about half his career as the best second baseman in baseball. A "compiler" is somebody who was never the best at his position and played 15 or more years. Don Sutton is the classic case. Also, almost all Hall of Famers are compilers as anyone who plays 10 years compiles statistics even Addie Joss.
