baseball hall of famers

Belle's reputation is pure poison. And he petered out badly at a not-terribly-advanced age. He doesn't have a prayer.

 

He got enough votes to stay on the ballot, which is amazing considering his rep.

I wouldn't say he petered out. He had to quit at age 33 and he hit .281, with 23 HR and 102 RBI. The year before he was at .297 with 37 HR and 117 RBI.

 

Gary Carter is definitely on my list of Hall of Famers who don't belong.

I can definitely see the arguments for Manny and Biggio, and a lot of them I agree with. But like I said, I'm a lot more strict than most.

And to say that Albert Belle is even "border-line" is heresy IMO. Plenty of baseball players have strings of being very good or sometimes even great. That still does not define Hall of Famer in my book.

I look at the Hall of Fame and the players in it comparable to the player in question, and I ask myself, "Does Gary Carter deserve a plaque in the same Hall as Johnny Bench, Roy Campanella, Josh Gibson and (eventually) Ivan Rodriguez?" Or does Jim Thome belong next to Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial or Mickey Mantle?

And the answer is definitely no.

 

Right or wrong, 3,000 hits is a lock to make the Hall of Fame (hmmm ... wonder if Biggio knew that? ).

 

Just because someone was not the greatest player on the planet for 3-5 seasons does not mean that you should exclude them from the Hall. Biggio's career gets him in. For 18 years he has had a spot on your field, and eight of those seasons were all-star caliber. Just because he was not MVP 3-4 times does not mean he does not get into the Hall.

Who can guess which player only won the MVP once, never drove in more than 133 runs in a season, never stole more than 32 bases in a season and never hit more than 50 home runs? This guy just did it year in and year out.

Answer - Hank Aaron.

 

Manny Ramirez is a no-brainer, IMHO. Pound-for-pound, he's been darn near the most productive RBI man in the majors over the last decade.
And he's a career .300 hitter.
And he'll have 500 home runs before its over.
and a ring.
Lock.

 

I've said this before and I'll say it again -- if Kirby Puckett gets in for a truncated career due to injury, so should Albert Belle. And I couldn't stand Belle when he played and I liked Puckett.

But we all know why Belle won't get it.

 

Albert Belle wasn't half the player Puckett was.

Manny's a dead solid perfect lock. I don't understand anyone thinking he won't get in. I can see someone arguing against Biggio, but 3K hits is a magic number, and when you add in three positions with one team his whole careeer, he's in.

Oh, and anyone who doesn't think Blyleven should be in the HOF needs to think again.

I repeat:

Since 1900, Bert Blyleven ranks 5th in career strikeouts, 8th in shutouts, and 17th in wins.

 

Just looking at offense, he was probably better
Puckett -- average season over a 12-year career: .318 avg, 19 HR, 99 RBI, 38 2B, 97 R, 209 H, 12 SB, .360 OBP
Belle -- average season over a 12-year career: .295 avg, 40 HR, 130 RBI, 41 2B, 103 R, 182 H, 9 SB, .369 OBP

 

Since I'm in a picture-posting mood...

 

Well, tough shit for Albert. A career of acting like a complete asshole comes home to roost.

 

None of Manky's guys will get in.

Thomas, Biggio and Manny are easy choices. They will get in and deserve to be there. I mean, c'mon. They are upper-echelon guys.

Thome is borderline.