3,000

That's a fair assessment, MG. And a player's view by his contemporaries (both on the field and off) is always important, because it's the people who watch him play every day.

I just think when you take his career as a whole, he's not a Hall of Famer. He had three Hall of Fame seasons in a five-year span ('01, '02, '04). He had three Hall of Fame postseasons ('93, '01, '04.) Doesn't make him a Hall of Famer, though. Doesn't make him a bad guy, either, just means that he doesn't deserve a plaque.

EDIT: (As far as your "Steroid '90s dividend/discount" comment, I think you're right ... but it doesn't apply to Curt. He was only healthy for four full seasons from '92-99, and that's mostly why his numbers aren't the same as they are from 2001-04. That's not a "pitchers' discount;" that's just baseball.

Over three years of a five-year span, he was one of the greatest ever. Over his career, he wasn't a Hall of Famer. That's all it is.)

 

Baines is far less deserving.

 

I just have a feeling that if Schilling ends up at 254 wins, like Morris, that writers will put him in over Morris.

 

Simply untrue. Strikeouts are very, very important, even if it's not fashionable for pitching coaches to say so publicly (I think they want to avoid pitchers without strikeout stuff trying to be something they are not).

Pitchers who can accumulate strikeouts while also avoiding walks are a rare breed, and typically very successful.

 

Guy on second with no outs... I want a strikeout.

Guy on third with less than two outs, I want a strikeout.

There are SO many ways in which the strikeout is a superior out to a ball in play.

 

Should have struck out the guy who's on second with nobody out.

 

Diversionary posting for $100, Alex

 

Total straw-man argument. Allie Reynolds was as great, if not greater, than Schilling in World Series play, and he had nine very, very good regular-season years and one great one, unlike Schilling (who's had three great ones, and three other good-to-very-good ones.)

But the Chief is not a Hall of Famer, nor should he be. Neither is Schilling.

 

Blyleven also had 60 shutouts in addition to his 3,700+ strikeouts. I know he also was lit up for home runs and he doesn't have that 300-win barrier (what, 286 or 287?), but Blyleven was also on two World Series teams (Pirates 1979, Twins 1987). He's a HOF to me.

 

Yeah, you can be pretty sure Schilling won't leave with a "blister" six outs from the title.

If there was any justice in the world, Clemens wouldn't get into the HOF just for that Game Six shit. Yes, I am irrational.

 

There is no doubt to me that 275 has to be the new 300 for wins.

 

You da man, Zeke.

Another thing to think about: Clemens won his titles when he jumped aboard a team that had just won 114 regular season games. Schilling didn't go to Arizona and Boston out of the goodness of his heart, but he earned his dough by going out and becoming the missing piece to a championship puzzle in his first full season at both stops.