baseball hall of fame inductions

NYT had an intersting piece of Kubek's "return" to baseball Saturday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/sports/baseball/25kubek.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tony%20kubek&st=cse

 

I agree with that. When evaluating a player, it's important to look at how dominant he was at his peak, not simply the longevity or the career numbers. Rice in his prime was one of the most feared hitters in baseball. Yeah, sure, he was helped by the green monster in left field in Boston, but still a dominant player that guys pitched around.

 

without looking ar any numbers i can tell you that for at least a 12-season span ('75-86) rice was the most feared batter in the a.l. his star didn't shine as long as others, which is why he fell short of the "automatic" numbers, but he was a hof'er darn long enough. just like mattingly was a sure fire hof'er until his back woes. he had six hof-worthy seasons but probaby needed two or three more.

the two examples in baseball and football where injury-shortened careers made no difference were those of koufax and sayers. their talents were so extraordinary and dominant that their lack of longevity made no difference.

 

Dwight Stephenson, too

 

only i'd say dwight had already played long enough at an all-pro level ht (five times in eight seasons as ALL-PRO, which is a leaguewide honor) to have made it regardless. i mean, he could've just retired and had done enough before being cheap-shotted by marty lyons. but point taken.

sayers' career was incredibly short; baseball players usually require more than five or six super seasons and koufax just had that number -- but he was sooooo extraordinary he could not be denied. 8) 8)

 

Both five-time All-Pros

 

Ah, the magic words, "most feared."

There were a bunch of years in the '70s when Dave Parker was much feared, and justifiably so. But he's not a Hall of Famer.

 

For years, Parker was the far better player....

But how did Rickey get through the speech without speaking in the third person?

 

Always liked Kubek.. was more the sound of baseball to me, or as much anyway, as Scully.

 

parker had four 100-rbi seasons in a much spottier career. rice had seven in a much more consistent one. them's the facts.

 

Andre Dawson now should have the path cleared to go in.