The HOF is ridiculous. Way too many mediocre players, and more gain traction every year.
Omar Vizquel is likely to be a Hall of Famer, but Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and plenty of others aren’t.
Yeah, seems to be across sports too.
not really. Sure some mediocre players get in in other sports but everyone who should be in is
I was referencing the mediocre player thing which is absolutely the case across sports.
The Bonds/Clemens/etc quandary really seems to be unique to baseball for obvious reasons.
it isn't just steroids though. Shoeless Joe isn't in. Rose isn't in. etc.
Edit: and it isn't just gambling either. Some of the greatest players at their position or their generation aren't in. Lou Whitaker, Dick Allen, Jack Morris, Jim Rice, Roger Maris, Trevor Hoffman, etc. And you can make arguments as to why none of them are, but they just ring hollow.
Jack Morris, Trevor Hoffman, & Jim Rice are all in the HOF.
my bad, site I was using didn't show them in the HOF. Doesn't change some of the others and the fact the veteran committee had to put Rice and Morris in is a travesty. Should have been voted in by the writers.
MLB writers are awful. They need new ones badly on the HOF committee.
Having some trouble with actual facts today, Moranis? Rice was voted in by the BBWAA not the Eras Committee.
must be and yep 412 ballots in 2009. I guess I should just go to bed and try again tomorrow.
try again tomorrow because Dick Allen, Lou Whitaker and Roger Maris, while very good players, should not be in the Hall.
Dick Allen was arguably the best player in the game for a decade. His MVP season in 72 is one of the better seasons in league history as he led the league in HR's, RBI's, BB, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+, and finished 3rd in BA. He was excellent defensively his entire career. His Adjusted OPS is 19th all time (tied with Willie Mays and Frank Thomas). His WAR is 131st all time ahead of a bunch of players in the HOF. He happened to play in the dead area between great eras, but Dick Allen absolutely should be in the HOF.
Whitaker I have less issue with, but he was one of the best 2B in league history and his WAR is superb. He has a WAR of 75.1, that would be 7th best among 2B ever (the top 6 are all in the HOF) and the average HOF 2B has a WAR of 69.4 (so Whitaker is well above average). That 75.1 WAR is the 4th best WAR that is not in the HOF (Bonds, Rose, and Dahlen are the only better) and is 49th all time. Larry Walker who just got in has a WAR of 72.7. I get that WAR isn't a perfect stat, but it is the one that is most commonly used to compare players of different eras.
Maris is definitely an interesting case given the shortness of his career (especially by games played). That said not many players have back-to-back MVP's. then couple that with his HR record and an easy case could be made for him being in the HOF. His greatness was superb, though short lived. I'd rather have greatness that is shortlived over a player that just played for a very long time, but never reached the peak of Maris (at least in my HOF).