2024 Baseball Hall of Fame thread

Tulowitzki was on a Hall of Fame track with seven HOF seasons and another decent one. He had nothing else due to the injuries and basically being done at 31.

A normal path would have had him over 300 homers

 

Between how weird he sometimes acted (worshipping Jeter and talking openly about how he hoped to succeed him at shortstop for the Yankees) and especially the injuries, it's easy to forget how great Tulowitzki was out of the box. As a rookie, he was the best player, and not by a little, on the pennant-winning team. He had a pretty good HOF-caliber first third of his career before he was undone by the injuries.

 

I do t think you truly have looked at what Beltre did. How could someone not vote for him?

 

I was stunned he only got 95% and change. That's insane. He's not even a "well, he's a modern HOFer guy." He's one of the best third basemen to ever play the game by any metric, old or new. There are more Bill Ballous out there than I wanted to believe.

 

The whole deal with trying to haze guys with the whole “first-year” bullshit is dumb. It’s a creation of power-tripping old writers who crave having their taint nuzzled. Some traditions are dumb and deserve to die.

 

Unfortunately, ex-players fall into this silliness.

Recall Deion Sanders and his thoughts on first-year Pro Football Hall of Famers.

 

Which is why giving the vote to alumni will likely ensure very empty summers in Cooperstown. Most of these guys don't want anyone else in their club. As it is, HOF weekend is the last chance for all of them to haze a newbie.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last class with multiple HoFers playing with the same team their entire careers.

 

Just saying, it's surprising that a first-ballot guy only made four All-Star games and bounced around a bit. Four teams over 20 years. Playing in Texas and Seattle didn't help his national profile. The numbers don't lie - its just that he seemed below the radar for most of his career.

 

4 teams in 20 years is not bouncing around a lot.

 

All-Star Games are a terrible way to judge a player. One of the best examples -- the year Chipper Jones won MVP he wasn't an All-Star.

Specifically for Beltre:
In 2004, he hit .334 with 48 homers and 121 RBI and was runner-up for MVP; not an All-Star
In 2015, he hit .315 with 30 homers and 92 RBI; not an All-Star
In 2016, he hit .300 with 32 homers and 104 RBI, not an All-Star

Would you feel better if he was a 7-time All-Star?

Frank Thomas made 5 All-Star teams
Jeff Bagwell made 4 All-Star teams
Robin Yount made 3 All-Star reams

 

Sure - but also - first-ballot HOFer without an MVP. Obviously one MVP or Cy Young doesn't mean a lock - but I would have thought a player who is first ballot would at least be the best in the game in at least one season in his career. Though I do get the "if he has the numbers and will get in eventually - just put him in" its not like he's going to add to his totals in retirement.