Johnny Damon HOF?

Jack Morris?

 

How big are steroid rumors around Albert Belle? Obviously everyone in that general era is under suspicion, but his name is never prominent in the rumor mill, at least from where I'm sitting.

 

are you sitting under a rock?

 

You just don't hear him in the same sentence with some of the other guys. I understand that when you look at his numbers, it makes sense. But you don't hear him named in the steroid pantheon, and I'm not aware of any established links between he and PEDs. Even Bagwell seems to be more frequently attached, probably right now because of the HOF balloting.

 

For what it's worth, here's a pretty strong denial from Belle about steroids - including an indictment of guys who have used:

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2009/07/albert_belle_makes_an_allstar.html

 

What about the corked bat.

 

My bad, I misread the question.

There was the time Manny Ramirez cut off a Damon throw in short left field. Wait. Forget that.

 

I think it's a big assumption that anyone over 30, let alone over 35, will have a next 2 years as good as his previous 2.

 

I had forgotten that it was a hip injury that ended his career. He was remarkably productive even in his final season.

He had the kind of stretch that we were talking about above, about a 5-6 year stretch where he was a top 10 MVP candidate every year. He was robbed at least once of the award, likely because many consider him to be the most insufferable asshole ever in a game filled with insufferable assholes.

 

I agree, but as long as Damon doesn't fall off a cliff this season he should have ample opportunity to get to 3,000 hits. (Qualifier in place b/c he's represented by Boras and YouNeverKnow when teams will say fuck you) He needs to average 139 hits the next two years to get to 3,000. He's had less than 150 hits twice in the last 14 years. If he's roughly 125 hits away at the end of this coming season, I don't see him failing to find a place to play in 2013, unless the Boras factor or some kind of steroid scandal comes into play.

 

Like the Rice/Evans comparison, I really can't understand how Kirby Puckett is in and Belle got virtually zero support. (And I think Kirby is a slam-dunk, too.) Just makes no sense to me. They had the exact same career/peak dominance arc.

As for Damon, I can see him getting in at some point. But man, that 105 OPS+ is going to seriously hurt him. He has a fantastic narrative going for him, but he only had one truly elite season (2000). A leadoff hitter who never once got on base 40 percent of the time is a hard sell, to me, as a Hall of Famer. I consider Damon more colorful than good, but ... hell, get the right friends on the Veterans' Committee and that can be enough.

 

I'd put him in, but I'm a big Hall kinda guy.

I'm really interested to see what voters do with outfielders for the 90s and 2000s. They've already basically said their peace on Belle, Gonzalez, Walker and Williams and can't wrap their heads around a guy like Raines from the 80s.