Who's a Hall of Famer?

[Kerm]

I hope Rickey has spent the better part of the last 5 years working on his acceptance speech.  Or I hope he didn't work on it at all.  I can't decide.

[Oleg]

Is this a good time to climb up on my Curt Flood/Marvin Miller soapbox?

[Kerm]

Is this a good time to climb up on my Curt Flood/Marvin Miller soapbox?

Why?  So you can actually see your monitor?

[ChuckD]

Henderson, Raines, Blyleven, McGwire, and Dawson.

Mine'd

[Internet Apex]

Blyleven, Dawson, Rickey, Jack Morris, Tim Raines, Jim Rice, Lee Smiff

And yes, I only voted for Rice because I voted for Dawson, but putting Jim Rice in the HOF is a small price to pay for having Andre in.

This'n. Minus Raines. WTF?

[Andy]

If I was going to rank my votes by how worthy I think them of being in the Hall it'd be:

Rickey
Blyleven
Dawson
Morris
Rice
Raines
Smith

Rickey's Hall speech will be one of the greatest of all time.  "Rickey knows all these guys behind Rickey are honored to be in the Hall with Rickey."
I've never understood why Blyleven can't get in.  He's got a much stronger case than (gasp) Ron Santo.
Andre is the balls, I've forgiven him for sucking the air out of every really in the 89 playoffs and want him in the Hall.

I'm ambivalent about Raines, his highest comp was Lou Brock.  If he never gets in, I won't care.

I voted for Lee Arthur Smith because he was a Cub.  And because it makes Jim Frey look even worse...if possible.

[Tonker]

Baines
Blyleven
Dawson
Henderson
Smith

I fucking hate Rice and although Morris was a workhorse who pitched a shitload of innings for a very long time, they were only slightly above average.  If Blyleven can't get in, there's no way Morris should be there.

[Pre]

As much as I love Dawson, it's hard to make a case for him in my view.  I just think his knees turned too much of his career into a "what if"

Jim Rice was just Kent Hrbek on a better team, except Hrbek hit better late and close.  I don't think it's that significant of a stat, but Jim Rice people always claim some BS about how no one wanted to face him in clutch situations despite the numbers not bearing it out.  Seriously, dude has fewer HRs/AB then Kent fucking Hrbek, wasn't a good defensive player, and benefited from a great hitters park and a great lineup.

I think only Ricky should get any votes this year, he deserves every last one of them.

[Tonker]

As much as I love Dawson, it's hard to make a case for him in my view.  I just think his knees turned too much of his career into a "what if"

Jim Rice was just Kent Hrbek on a better team, except Hrbek hit better late and close.  I don't think it's that significant of a stat, but Jim Rice people always claim some BS about how no one wanted to face him in clutch situations despite the numbers not bearing it out.  Seriously, dude has fewer HRs/AB then Kent fucking Hrbek, wasn't a good defensive player, and benefited from a great hitters park and a great lineup.

I think only Ricky should get any votes this year, he deserves every last one of them.

The shame is that Rickey won't get voted in unanimously - although he'll probably get as close as anybody.  I firmly believe that those people who don't vote for him should be outed and have future votes taken off them.  If Rickey's not a first-ballot HOFer, then who is?  If you're not voting for him, you're bitter and twisted and are probably Joe Morgan.

And I will also cheerfully admit that my "votes" for Smith and Hawk are at least partially based on their being Cubs.  Otherwise, they probably don't quite make the cut.

[Quality Start Machine]

I'll be happy when Mattingly is off the ballot once and for all. He's not a Hall of Famer.

If he is, so is Dick Allen.

Same thing with Gil Hodges. If he's in, so is Frank Howard and Norm Cash.

[Jon]

Is this a good time to climb up on my Curt Flood/Marvin Miller soapbox?

Why?  So you can actually see your monitor?

www.instantrimshot.com

[Andre Dawson's Creek]

Bly, Henderson, John, Smith and Rice.


If John has the surgery and never pitches again, or pitched like Bob Howry, we'd have lost a bunch of careers to shredded UCLs.

[Andy]

Meh.  Felix Pie had the Josias Manzanillo surgery where they sew one of your balls to your sac, and I don't see anybody clamoring for Manzanillo in the HOF.  Better to have your balls in tact than your elbows.

[De Jesus]

Blyleven, Dawson, Rickey, Jack Morris, Tim Raines, Jim Rice, Lee Smiff

And yes, I only voted for Rice because I voted for Dawson, but putting Jim Rice in the HOF is a small price to pay for having Andre in.

This'n. Minus Raines. WTF?

I hate to be the one to piss in your wheaties, Pex...but when you ignore homer thoughts and look at independent metrics *puts on Saberweenie cap*, Dawson had a weaker career than not only Raines, but also Harold F'in Baines.

Career OPS+
Raines 123
Baines 120
Hawk 119

Even if you don't weight it and just look at the raw OPS, you get:
Baines .821
Raines .810
Hawk .805

Other than Rickey, Raines was the best leadoff hitter in baseball for most of his career.  He was a monster on-base machine.  Dawson wasn't very good at getting on base, with a few years excepted.  He hit for the best power of the three.  Baines was almost a perfect hybrid between the two.  It gets worse when you look at Jim Rice, and his OPS+ of 128.  He was Baines with more power.

You can't vote for Dawson and dismiss the other three, unless you're cool with the hall of fame being about as accurate a judge of baseball ability as, say, a gold glove.

[Eli]

Raines is also the most efficient basestealer in history, at something like 86 percent.