Results this afternoon. Here's how it looks thus far: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AmkBNPY405WAdEZOUWdybm1iYjBUODA3RnNtZUFIaXc&output=html Randy Johnson, Pedro, Smoltz, and Biggio leading. Piazza has a chance.
first 3 are no brainers. I would put Piazza over Biggio I really think Tim Raines deserves to be in at some point.
How in the hell does Randy Johnson get more votes than Pedro!"??! Pedro was 10x the pitcher Johnson was.
I'd take Randy, Pedro was incredible early then had some health issues and wasn't great in postseason after those first 2 seasons in Boston.
Okay, I'll give you that Pedro's health issues and Randy was great for a longer period of time, but Pedro from 99 to 03 was light's out and much more dominant than any other pitcher.
I think Pedro should be ahead of Randy. Pedro put together a stretch in the AL East that was the most impressive 4 years in MLB history for a pitcher. Pitching in those parks, against those lineups, and he was insanely dominant. I value greatness over longevity. Randy Johnson is an all time great too, of course, but Pedro's peak was more impressive.
Craig Biggio? Really?? Good player at best. Never a great player ... And certainly not HOF material. Just to pick names out of thin air --- Moises Alou, Keith Hernandez, Bill Madlock, Dale Murphy and Bernie Williams were all much better players than he ever was, and none of them will sniff the Hall. A completely ridiculous selection.
Agree with truth^. I wouldn't say ridiculous or even undeserving because Biggio has some very impressive stats, including most games played all-time for a 2B but Piazza is the best hitter at his position ever and the greatest food of all time is named after him.
who had great lineups in the East from 98-01 besides the Yankees? I am not bashing Pedro but '97 was the end for Baltimore, Toronto stunk, we had expansion TB. I value greatness over longevity(prefer greatness w/ longevity) but unfortunately for Pedro the teams around him weren't good enough to win when he was dominant and when they finally were he was still a good pitcher but far from dominant.
Biggio has the magic # of 3,000 hits, that's getting any player in(unless they do something like Pete Rose). Piazza is getting in next year.
The whole system of giving sports writers this much power is asinine. I enjoyed watching these players play at the highest of levels. I don't need a writer's point of view. I know for myself what they did. An award is just politics, and it's the worse kind of politics.
AL East has always been the toughest division to pitch in because of the parks and DH. I didn't say all the teams had great lineups. Numbers have to be taken in context. People look at Kershaw and might say, look, he's as good as Pedro was. But Kershaw pitches in a bunch of pitcher's parks against weak lineups. Not even close to the same situation as Pedro, plus Pedro was pitching in the Steroid Era.
I've never been a believer in automatic magic numbers, but unfortunately a lot of the voters still use them as a doorway to the hall. Do you think he was a better baseball player than any of the guys I named? Was he better than Jeff Kent? I don't think he's anywhere close, but Kent is still waiting. At no time during Biggio's career did it ever occur to me that I was watching a HOF'er. He was good, but he never played the game at an exceptional level. It seems to me, a hall of fame player should have some period of domination during his career. Voting players like Biggio into the Hall of Fame just waters things down IMO. BTW -- his most prolific power period occurred when he hit a career high of 24 homers at age 38 ... and then set a new career high of 26 the following season at age 39, despite having 49 fewer plate appearances. Nobody finds that odd, but apparently Piazza and Kent are looked at as cheaters.
I don't know who was better but my perception is Biggio was better. I think there is good reason to suspect Piazza and Kent used but I definitely think Piazza, Bonds, Clemens, etc... belong in the Hall. in every generation players try to cheat and maybe #s were inflated(they definitely were) but pitchers used too.
