2007 Hall of Fame vote: Would you vote for McGwire?

That's it in a nutshell.

 

Check Willie McCovey's and Harmen Kilabrew and Willie Stargell's stats and see if the difference between them and McGwire is sufficient to deny McGwire HOF entrance.

McGwire had horrible post season stats

 

I realize that, but still ...

 

EXACTLY!

 

He's a HOF inductee without a doubt. scroll to the bottom of his baseball reference page and view where he ranked in the 24 statistical categories throughout his career -- pre St. Louis included -- and tell me he didn't dominate his era from the plate.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mcgwima01.shtml

Although early in his career, he did have at least one gold glove and there are hall of famers who never had one. Until his final three years, he was far from a defensive liability, hence a late career move from the AL (w/ DH) to the NL.

If you say his numbers were inflated by his era, fine, but you can only judge a player by the era he played in and the bottom line is McGwire was the dominant, feared power hitter of the era he played in. Throw in the "special moment" factor that always helps hall of famers and his 1998 season is just that. It had us all glued for a summer to our televisions and that, not Ripken's streak, saved the game. Like it or not, McGwire had a big part in actually SAVING a sport in the late 90s when it was struggling financially. It wasn't going to go the way of the NHL, but anybody who remembers the state of baseball before that HR chase knows the importance of his run.

And comparing him to Dave Kingman is ridiculous.

There's probably a lot of hall of famers who wouldn't be in Cooperstown if you took away a fourth of their career, especially their most productive four. And last thing... which four years are you talking about for Mac? they weren't exactly strung together in one steroid stretch... '87 - 97 R, 49 HR, 118 RBI, .289 BA, .618 SLG... '96 - 104 R, 52 HR, 113RBI, .312 BA, .730 SLG... 1998 - 130 R, 70 HR, 137 RBI, .299 BA, .752 SLG ... or maybe you want to take away one of his other three 40-homer/100/RBI seasons.

Before he looked like an ass on Capitol Hill -- post baseball career -- he was a slam dunk HOF. Revisionists history has never applied to the Hall, and shouldn't now.

 

McGwire is a better player than Dave Kingman. He hit 49 in his rookie year, was in the top five for his first six years, and that was in the Oakland Colesium, which was a pitcher-friendly park. Even that performance might have been steroid-fueled if Jose Canseco is to be believed, but he wasn't that huge in those years.

He had the 1991 season where he hit .201, and I think he had a back injury that year - or at least that was what was said. He missed big portions of the 1993 and 1994 seasons - playing in fewer than 50 games those years (granted 1994 was the strike season, but he still played in less than half of the games.

McGwire is nowhere near the player that Willie McCovey and Harmon Killebrew were. Killebrew, I've talked about on another thread. Hey Abbott, I don't need to check the records, I remember. But, what the heck, I did check the records. McCovey hit 521 home runs - that number doesn't give you perspective that McCovey played most of his career in Candlestick Park, which was not a great hitters park for most of his career. What the stats don't tell you is they enclosed Candlestick at some point (I'm thinking the 70s) and that made it a little better for hitters but before that it was really difficult. McCovey played most of his early career in the shadow of Willie Mays, but people knew how good McCovey was.

How's this for a stat - McCovey had 260 intentional walks, which is third on the all-time list. That stat should speak for itself.

 

I always thought he was fairly good defensively too, but I guess he did win just one Gold Glove.

 

No.

 

I simply don't understand how he couldn't be in the hall. He was the face of baseball in the late 90s. He was the most dominant hitter of his era, steroids or not. He basically saved the game along with Sosa. Those who are saying 500 HRs in his era don't mean the same thing as it did back in the days of Ruth, Mantle, Aaron and Mays, well he didn't just hit 500 home runs, he almost hit 600. In addition, although logically you have to believe he was using steroids a) The stuff spotted in his locker was available in any suppliment store, b) he was never found guilty of using anyhing more, outside of Canseco testimony c) none of this was banned by baseball during his career, therefore I don't think it can be held against him in electing him into the hall of fame. I mean do we start throwing players out of the hall or rejecting their induction because they likely used amphetamines in their career? good luck at putting together a solid induction class then.

 

Because he obviously cheated, and if you extrapolate his numbers based on normal progression, without the monster years at the end of his career, he probably doesn't even get to 500 HR.

That's why he doesn't go in.

Be really interesting to see if the writers have the stones to do the right thing here. It will be a defining moment in the steroid era.

 

Let me answer you in the flowing way no cause he set right infront of congress and didn't say shit to clear him self.

 

I'm going to make a prediction: If Mark McGwire is ever inducted into the HOF, it will be by the Veterans Committee. I simply cannot see McGwire getting 3 out of 4 votes from the BBWA at any time in the next 15 years.