2013 MLB Hall of Fame Screechfest

Ben Roethlisberger's case for the NFL Hall of Fame is shaky enough despite the two rings. I don't think he's a contender for baseball's HOF. But hey, no notion is too ridiculous for you lately is it?

 

sure thing, manky.

 

Agree

But you know a majority of voters are going to look at the counting stats and won't compare the two noting the length of the careers.

They will see Pudge with 2,844 hits, 571 doubles, 311 homers, 1,332 RBI and a .296 average that goes with 13 gold gloves, 10 straight, 14 all-star games and MVP and postseason success. Under normal circumstances that's first-ballot.

But he has a PED cloud and by that point Piazza will have gotten in on the third or fourth ballot -- there's no way he gets in next year -- and voters will view Pudge has better and they will vote for him earlier than they did for Piazza.

 

That last part may be true, but I'm not sure about the rest. My faith in the HOF voters is somewhat limited right now, but I don't think they are so lazy as to only look at the counting stats for those two and I would thin most remember Piazza and Rodriguez well enough to know how much better Piazza was as a hitter.

 

Was out with a few friends recalling the times watching Biggio play at Seton Hall. To a man, we all agreed that back then, no one would've thought he'd have a career worthy of Hall of Fame consideration. I think he's in next year with no effort.
Personally, I think Palmeiro belongs. Hard to ignore his numbers and his consistency. Steriods or not, he played the game.
I think it's hard to say this guy gets in because he wasn't on the juice, or this guy doesn't get in because he was one this juice. I mean if you had verification about which games they appeared in juiced, and subtract them from their lifetime totals, the argument would be strengthened. But that isn't going to happen.

 

I agree.

 

That, and he's the only Hall of Fame-eligible player to actually test positive for steroids and be suspended by MLB for it.

 

Yep.

 

I agree.

 

We discussed it for quite a while on here. It's a silly, knee-jerk reaction. The vote was completely defensible. Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro, Sosa, and McGwire are known PED-users. Piazza and Bagwell are suspected PED users. Bagwell is a borderline Hall of Famer who received 68 percent of the vote. Raines is a borderline Hall of Famer. Jack Morris is a borderline Hall of Famer. Lee Smith is a borderline Hall of Famer.

Every single vote total is utterly defensible. And yet because this happened to be a perfect storm year in which nobody reached the 75 percent mark, SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE.TM

The thing is, the voters are far better than they used to be. And they get better each year. Duke Snider had 17 percent of the vote his first time. It took him 11 years to be elected. Duke Snider! And, yet, it's a national tragedy that Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, and Craig Biggio are merely knocking on the door.

"Changing the process" is a shining example of using a nuclear bomb to get rid of an ant hill.

 

Dick, what Elliotte is reporting is from inside baseball (second-hand but still). There's ALWAYS been sentiment inside baseball to pull the Hall vote power from the BBWAA, back to when I started covering baseball in the early '80s. This just gives MLB an excuse for something it's long wanted to do.