How many of the following active players would you vote into the HOF?

He also won eight batting titles, went to 15 All-Star Games, won five Gold Gloves, led the National League in hits seven times and has the highest career batting average since Ted Williams. Yeah, I'd say Gwynn is better than Sosa.

 

His numbers jumped, though, when he was entering his late-20's, which has been any athlete's prime.

These are his numbers during that prime:

1995 26 CHC NL 144 564 89 151 17 3 36 119 34 7 58 134 .268 .340 .500 123 282 0 2 11 5 8
1996 27 CHC NL 124 498 84 136 21 2 40 100 18 5 34 134 .273 .323 .564 128 281 0 4 6 5 14
1997 28 CHC NL 162 642 90 161 31 4 36 119 22 12 45 174 .251 .300 .480 99 308 0 5 9 2 16
1998 29 CHC NL 159 643 134 198 20 0 66 158 18 9 73 171 .308 .377 .647 160 416 0 5 14 1 20
1999 30 CHC NL 162 625 114 180 24 2 63 141 7 8 78 171 .288 .367 .635 141 397 0 6 8 3 17
2000 31 CHC NL 156 604 106 193 38 1 50 138 7 4 91 168 .320 .406 .634 169 383 0 8 19 2 12
2001 32 CHC NL 160 577 146 189 34 5 64 160 0 2 116 153 .328 .437 .737 201 425 0 12 37 6 6
2002 33 CHC NL 150 556 122 160 19 2 49 108 2 0 103 144 .288 .399 .594 160 330 0 4 15 3 14
2003 34 CHC NL 137 517 99 144 22 0 40 103 0 1 62 143 .279 .358 .553 135 286 0 5 9 5 14

He wasn't Bonds, jumping way past his career averages in his mid-30's. He did it during his prime.

 

I just want to say thank you to everyone for not using All-Star games and Gold Gloves as hall of fame qualifications. This stat head thanks you.

Also, I add Sosa and Bonds to my list.

 

I vote none, I'm not in BBWA, but if Clemens gets in on the first ballot and with no discussion of his PEDs use, then Bonds gets in and everybody should STFU about Barry.

 

Clemens is clearly using PEDs so if he's in so is Sosa.

 

Alex Rodriguez
Roger Clemens
Greg Maddux
Tom Glavine
John Smoltz
Pedro Martinez
Randy Johnson
Frank Thomas
Craig Biggio
Mariano Rivera
Manny Ramirez
Andruw Jones
Ivan Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Jr.

And in hindsight, I probably should have listed Sosa.

 

I was more pointing out what seems to be the general consensus. Although, I tend to lean towards Sosa not getting in. It's one thing for Sosa's numbers to jump, but he went from hitting 36 to 66 HR's in one year, that's a HUGE jump. Before that season he never finished higher than 8th in the MVP voting. Bonds won 3 MVPs in 4 years and it should have been 4 straight. You bring up Sosa being a 30-30 guy, but he only stole more than 30 bases 3 times whereas Bonds did it 9 times. Either way, Bonds was a clearcut HOFer before 1998, Sosa is much more suspect. Even as I type this I'm up in the air when it comes to him.

 

It's a discussion because Sosa hit nearly <b> 500 </b> more home runs than Gwynn.

I know how much of a favorite Gwynn is with seamheads. Fact is, he chose bats that were glorified fungoes. The advantage was he could swing them fast and easy, make a lot of contact. The disadvantage was that the ball usually went about 190 feet.

 

Guys I didn't vote for

Mike Mussina - 1 (0.2%)
David Ortiz - 5 (1.1%)
Manny Ramirez - 22 (4.9%)
David Wells - 0 (0%)
Jeff Kent - 4 (0.9%)
Gary Sheffield - 5 (1.1%)
Jim Thome - 4 (0.9%)
Carlos Delgado - 2 (0.4%)
Jim Edmonds - 0 (0%)

 

The numbers you're quoting don't seem like the blowout you pretend it to be. A quarter of a run? That's your slam dunk?

Isn't it pretty much agreed upon that home run does more than just score a run, but changes the whole mood of a pitcher, a stadium, a game?

Gwynn had his afternoon at Cooperstown, and good on him. But nobody talked about him in the years between his retirement and enshrinement, and nobody will talk about him now. He has a lot of numbers but is completely, entirely not memorable.

 

His highest total prior to 98 was 40 in 1996 and he hit them in only 124 games, which is about 52 dingers in a 162-game year. Looking at that it isn't that big of a jump. I know he played in all 162 in 97 but that was a horseshit team even by Cub standards so I doubt he was pitched to much that year.

 

Alma, I know you don't mean "nobody" literally and your point is well-taken.

But I grew up in L.A. and watched hundreds of Dodgers-Padres games, not to mention saw the start and end of Tony Gwynn's career. I've talked about him, and there are probably many like me who have.

Another thing is that bucky's fractional number shows plenty. Only .25 better in run production isn't the point. The point is that Tony Gwynn the hitter for average equalled the production of Sosa the big bopper, and then some. Sure, homers change the mood of a pitcher, game, stadium. So do 2-run singles in the bottom of the 8th inning to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, thus allowing Trevor Hoffman to enter the game in top-9 to make one of his 500 career saves. 2-run singles are every bit as influential as those home runs that rocked a stadium but did nothing but make a 9-4 loss look prettier: 9-5.