2023 Baseball Hall of Fame Class

The formerly Spink Award, now the BBWAA Career Excellence award, finalists are Bruce Jenkins, John Lowe and Gerry Fraley.

Marty Noble and Allan Simpson are dropped after two years on the ballot.

 

I gotta believe this is going to Frales

 

Wow. I know all of them really well. Very difficult decision.

 

I have a friend who will be selling his new book there this weekend. Very jealous. He's a big shooter in SABR. Jim Kaat was the winning pitcher, over Gary Bell, in the second MLB game I ever saw, in 1962. He is a deserved HOFer.

Two great characters from a great era of MLB.

 

Kaat is a great contributor to the culture of baseball and was a very good pitcher who lasted a long time. Likeable guy and I'm really happy for him. So at the risk of seeming like I'm crapping on him "I'm not," I still find it hard to buy that he's a Hall of Fame pitcher. Three 20-win seasons, a career ERA+ that's basically league average and one single top-5 Cy Young finish over a 25-year career just doesn't really scream out best of the best. If he never had his broadcasting career, he'd be hanging out with other good pitchers who people remember fondly and who rightfully belong in their team's own hall of fame. I mean was he really better than, say, David Cone? Cone lasted "only" 17 years but pitched in a tougher offensive era and performed a lot better relative to the rest of the league for most of his career. Dave Stieb was probably better as well. But neither of them will ever get the call.

 

Kaat pitched quickly. Deserves Hall of Fame just for that. Especially the May 31, 1975 game in which he lost 2-0 that took 1:35.

 

Spot on. There needs to be a heavily publicized campaign to remind HOF voters and fans at large of the Hall's voting stipulations. Simply, that a player has at least 10 years of service and was excellent. There is no mention of arbitrary milestones -- like 2,000 hits minimum to be considered -- and there is no bonus for longevity.

Jim Kaat had a nice, long career, but he has no business being elected to the Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, guys like Dick Allen, Thurman Munson and Don Mattingly all belong in my humble opinion.

If playing at least 10 years -- and dominating for most of that period -- aren't going to get these types of guys into the Hall, then just drop the 10-year minimum.

It's a travesty that steady eddy compilers like Harold Baines and Jim Kaat are in the Hall, while comets like Allen, Munson and Mattingly are not.

10 years, that's the bar. And if you're awesome for most of that time, then you belong in.

 

The crazy thing is that the steady eddy compilers like Baines and Kaat had among the longest careers in history yet still didn't reach any of the traditional historic milestones. I don't know if Munson belongs (his numbers aren't staggering, even for a C -- he pales in comparison to guys like Fisk, Bench and Carter from his era - and his production was already in decline when he died, so it's unlikely he would have come close to them if he played another 5 years. His numbers project out more to Ted Simmons, who is also a head-scratcher in my opinion) but Allen and Mattingly should be in. People forget how elite Mattingly's run really was during the 80s, and I say that as a Yankee hater.

 

Yup, I'm a Red Sox fan, no love lost for the Yanks. But Mattingly and Munson belong in my opinion.

 

I don't know if Don Sutton was ever the best pitcher on his own team, let alone the best pitcher in his league. It certainly didn't hurt to pitch for two Dodger dynasties.

He was definitely durable. But Cooperstown shouldn't be the Hall of Durable.

 

He had five straight years when he finished in the top 5 of the Cy Young voting. He also had 58 shutouts -- 10th all time -- and at least two in 15 of his first 16 seasons. That's impressive.

But yeah, he was a compiler, for sure, but such an outlier in his consistency that his election doesn't seem to lower the bar. He had 324 wins, 14th best all time and even higher when he retired -- and it still took him five tries to get in.

Kaat's election seems to portend the election of Tommy John and maybe even Lolich. That's trending in the wrong direction.

I'm more inclined to elect Valenzuela, Cone -- and definitely Johan Santana. Those guys were elite for much longer and had higher peaks.