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Baseball HOF: Who makes it in addition to Ripken and Gwynn?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by BYH, Jan 9, 2007.

  1. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Consider Blyleven's numbers, then consider him in a NY uniform.

    The fact that people like Tommy John or "Donny Baseball" get any consideration ... ugh.
     
  2. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Canseco was adorable as the little boy in "Sleepless in Seattle."
     
  3. WSKY

    WSKY Member

    It's a goddamned shame McGwire didn't make it.
     
  4. Montezuma's Revenge

    Montezuma's Revenge Active Member

    Blyleven's lack of support is a head-scratcher.

    His biggest problem is that he wasted his best years pitching for those miserable Twins teams. By the time he got on good teams, he wasn't the same.

    He deserves better.
     
  5. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    Blyleven spent nine full seasons with the Twins. They had winning records in four of those seasons (two first-place finishes), were .500 in two seasons and had losing records in three.

    In three of the four winning seasons, someone other than Blyleven led the staff in wins.

    With the 1979 WS Pirates, he was fourth in wins. The following year he was five games under .500 for a team that finished four games over.

    But he had a lot of strikeouts.
     
  6. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    Are you actually saying that Tommy John, with 288 career wins, doesn't even deserve <i>consideration?</i>
     
  7. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Hell, I'll say it.

    Without the surgery, Tommy John's name is less relevant than Old Hoss Radbourne. He was the definition of a journeyman.

    No way in hell he should get in to the Hall.
     
  8. Oz

    Oz Well-Known Member

    Casty, no need to apologize for anything. Just always happy to see you add your two cents.
     
  9. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Without the surgery? Why not say without the 300-odd wins, Don Sutton woul dbe less relevant than Old Hoss Radbourne and the definition of a journeyman?

    When Tommy John dies, the first line in his obit will be about his surgery and how it extended the careers of thousands of pitchers. It defines him. He shouldn't be punished because it gave him the chance to rack up 288 wins.

    I don't think John's a HOFer, but he certainly deserves discussion...for both the procedure he inspired and his career.
     
  10. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    I wasn't clear enough.

    I meant without his name being attached to the surgery, few know who he is as a pitcher. Being the namesake of the surgery is the reason he's a household name, and still in the discussion. If it was called "elbow ligament replacement surgery" or some such procedural name, Tommy John the pitcher doesn't sniff Cooperstown.

    I didn't mean anything about John himself having the surgery. Sorry.
     
  11. jagtrader

    jagtrader Active Member

    Blyleven was a good pitcher who accumulated numbers by sticking around a long time. Some folks like those kinds of candidates. Not me. I prefer greatness. Blyleven made two All-Star teams, finished in the Top 5 in the Cy Young voting three times and had an ERA+ of 118. That's not great.

    Frankly, he's Don Sutton without the 300 wins. And Sutton shouldn't be in.
     
  12. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Even if the surgery doesn't bear his name he still ends up with 288 wins...worthy of consideration, but ultimately, short of enshrinement.

    I do think the surgery makes him a more serious candidate.
     
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