2013 MLB Hall of Fame Screechfest

True, but he was a good hitter when he had them, from 1993-97 or so. McGwire, OTOH, was a butcher at first. To the tune of minus-12 runs over his career. Sosa was about minus-1.

All things considered, I think they're about equal. And I think they're so inexorably linked, to take one without the other is wrong.

 

And wasn't Sosa's peak, arguably, higher?

 

No Biggio?

 

I don't think arguably plays into it. I would take Sosa's three or four best years over McGwire's.

 

It was close, I grant you. But I am comfortable with my decision that McGwire was better than Sosa. You can argue he wasn't much better. Or that the line should be drawn lower and both get in. I'm ok with either.

As long as no one argues that Sosa was better than McGwire, I think I'm OK.

 

Looking at some early ballots, the only newcomer besides the Big 6 to get a vote is one for David Wells.

For a guy who got 50 percent of the vote (on nearly 300 ballots), Lee Smith is about to take a nosedive.

Biggio is pretty low in the early going for a guy who has 3,000 hits and no PED backlash.

 

That doesn't mean he shouldn't get credit for having them at some point in his career. Sosa did have a couple of 30-30 seasons, which should figure in there, though he did get caught far too often.

 

The Sosa speed thing is interesting: Do you credit a guy for a skill that occurred before he became a Hall of Fame-caliber player, but disappeared when he did become a Hall of Fame-caliber player.

I'm not sure how often this has ever come up. Dennis Eckersley as a starting pitcher, maybe?

And perhaps someone was a high batting average hitter who developed power at the expense of batting average?

 

Why wouldn't you credit him for his entire career? It just makes no sense to do otherwise.

 

I think I agree.

 

Ken Davidoff's ballot goes to 10 -- Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Kenny Lofton, Tim Raines, Curt Schilling, Alan Trammell, Larry Walker, Craig Biggio -- but no Mike Piazza. He says he had him ranked 14th out of this year's candidates. Davidoff is also one of the few so far to max out his ballot.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/baseballinsider/my_hall_of_fame_ballot_rC1PsqLR9XhGn3vaUJMYNL#axzz2FWlNkncz

 

With a little more than six percent accounted for:

Bagwell 74.3
Piazza 68.6
Biggio 65.7
Morris 62.9
Clemens 57.1
Raines 57.1
Bonds 54.3

Some updated names:

McGwire 18.9
Sosa 16.2
Palmeiro 13.5

Trying to survive:

Mattingly 5.4
Wells 5.4
Bernie Williams 5.4
Lofton 2.7