Maddux, Glavine, Thomas elected to Baseball Hall of Fame; Biggio just misses

In terms of career value and peak, off the top of my head, Clemens and Bonds blow McGwire and Sosa away.

 

Obviously, that's true. But McGwire is, unequivocally, a slam-dunk, no-brainer Hall of Famer. This is a binary decision, and he's over the line, just like Bonds and Clemens. He's being punished for PEDs, while the other two are not, by the same voters. It has to be the, "They were HOFers before PEDs" argument. It's the only one with any logical coherence.

 

Not really. You could view it like a point system. In a binary world, every HOF needs a certain number of points to be over that line. You get certain amount of points for career accomplishments(A). You lose a certain amount of points for PEDs (B). If A-B > that that number you need to be over, you're in the Hall. If not, you're not. The PED negative might not be enough to knock exceptional players out of the conversation but is for one-tool players. You're punishing them the same amount, but getting different outcomes. Not saying that it happens that way. Just saying you could punish them them all for PEDs but still come to a different conclusion.

 

McGwire had some great highs. He also had lows that few, if any, Hall of Famers can match. And he had them at 26, 27. It doesn't get to be a no-brainer just because you say it's a no-brainer. ;D

 

McGwire, again, had 583 home runs. He had a career on-base percentage of .394. He had a career OPS+ of 163. That's 11th all-time. That's higher than Willie Mays. That's higher than Hank Aaron. That's higher than Frank Thomas. That's higher than Stan Musial. That's higher than Joe DiMaggio. That's higher than Miguel Cabrera.

Though BR.com has his career dWAR in the red, he did win a Gold Glove.

You say he had lows that few HOFers can match. When? He batted .201 with 22 home runs in 1991. But he also walked more than 90 times that season, and actually had an OPS+ that season of 103 - above league average. (Reggie Jackson's OPS+ in 1983: 74. Reggie Jacksons OPS+ in 1984: 95. Andre Dawson's OPS+ in 1984: 102. St. Craig Biggio's OPS+ in 1990: 93.) The following season, McGwire batted .268 with 42 home runs and finished fourth in the A.L. MVP balloting.

Mark McGwire had a Hall of Fame career. Not because I say it's so, but because all objective evidence leads to no other reasonable conclusion, based upon what we understand a Hall of Famer to be.

 

I'll just say that if there was no PED shadow on him, McGwire would not have been close to unanimous.

 

You sure you want to go out on that limb?

 

Sure. Neither was Greg Maddux. But there's no reasonable argument to be made that Mark McGwire is not a first-ballot, 90-plus-percent-of-the-vote Hall of Famer, based on his accomplishments on the field alone. What is the case against him? Make it. I'm all ears.

 

Dick, I would say the McGwire argument centers on the fact that he was essentially done as a player until finding the fountain of youth. In 1993 and '94 combined he played a total of 74 games and hit 18 home runs, and his injuries (feet, I believe) were of the variety that ended careers.

 

I'll pass. Maybe I'm remembering him too critically.

 

Correct. But I've heard and read people say - and I would have to go find it, but I know it's out there - that he wasn't a slam dunk Hall of Famer, regardless. Shotglass is saying that now. But he was. He was, he was, he was. That's post hoc rationalization.

 

OK I guess I don't know what the argument is/was then. But yeah, the idea that McGwire wouldn't have been a Hall of Famer if we had never heard about his PED use is just wacky.