Hall Of Fame Rant

Every year, my best friend Dave and I talk about Major League Baseball's Hall Of Fame. Every year, we come up with players who should be in, but are not. So, this year I decided I would put my part of our rant into print for you all to enjoy.

In case you did not know, players can be inducted or voted into the Hall Of Fame after they have been out of baseball as a player for 5 years and then receive 75% of the vote. How does the vote work? You might ask. Well, a bunch of writers gather and cast their ballots. Mind you, most of these writers have never played a day of professional.....anything, not for a day in their lives. Sometimes they vote because they like the person, sometimes they do not vote because they dislike a person. It is really a poor process that, the best that I can determine, exists to make people that should not be a part of the game to be a part of the game. So lets throw my, just as meaningless, opinion in on that mess of a process as well.

Anyway, here is my short list of players who once again were short changed by these writers and why they should be in the HOF.

I will start with Jack Morris and by trying to prove his worthiness, it will prove Bert Blyleven's worthiness as well killing 2 birds with one stone..... so to speak.

Out of all of the players to have ever played, which is tens of thousands, Jack Morris is #43 in career wins at 254 over 18 seasons. Of the 42 players ahead of him, all but 13 are in the hall of fame. Of those 13, 6 of them are not eligible to be voted in yet because they have recently retired. Of the remaining 7, 4 of them pitched in the 1800's. The other 3 are Jim Kaat who is ranked #31 on the wins list at 283 and took 25 years to get there, Tommy John who took 26 years to get to #26 with 288 wins and is more famous for the surgery named after him and Bert Blyleven at #27 with 287 wins. The knock on both Morris and Blyleven, seem to be that they both gave up a lot of home runs, which is true. But so did Nolan Ryan and he is in the hall. Morris also would have a higher ERA then the others at 3.90, but so what! Morris was THE dominate pitcher of the 1980's and into the early 90's. He won a World Series with the Tigers, Twins and Blue Jays. Who can forget that 10 inning game he pitched for the Twins in 91? To this day, one of the best pitched games in World Series history. He also threw a no-hitter in 84 for the Tigers. Blyleven won World Series rings in 79 with the Pirates and again in 1987 for the Twins. The next 4 players below Morris in career wins are all in the Hall of Fame, one of which is Bob Gibson. Blyleven, had 15 1-0 wins, more then any pitcher in the last 50 years and had a career total of 60 shutouts which is more then the ENTIRE American League has had combined over the last 18 years! If you are not convinced that these 2 belong in, then I do not know what can convince you!

Next on the List is Roberto Alomar. Alomar missed out on getting elected today by only 5 votes! I can't help but to think that the reason he did not get those 5 extra votes was because of the "Spitting Incident." If the umpire that he spat on can not only forgive him, but become friends with him, then I think the writers need to look past it as well. Alomar was a 12 time All-Star, 10 time Gold Glove Award winner that had a career .300 batting average. Over his 17 year career, he compiled 2,724 Hits and was an incredible fielder. He also won back to back World Series rings with the Blue Jays in 92 & 93. This guy should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer!

The last 2 on my list I will also knock out together. Why? Because they are basically the same player. It has been said that Barry Larkin was the Derek Jeter before Derek Jeter. If that is true, and I feel that it is, then Alan Trammell was the Barry Larkin before Barry Larkin! There are 21 Shortstops currently in the Hall of Fame and nobody disputes that Ozzie Smith should be in the Hall. If you throw Trammell and Larkin into the mix, Smith would rank #9 in Hits (2,460), Trammell #10 (2,365) and Larkin #11 (2,340). In RBI, Trammell #10 (1,003), Larkin #11 (960) and Smith #17 (793). Runs scored Larkin #8 (1,329), Smith #11 (1,257) and Trammell #14 (1,231). Stolen Bases Smith #3 (580), Larkin #6 (379) and Trammell #11 (236). You might be saying, "Those are all offensive numbers, what about defense?". I am glad you asked! Ozzie Smith has a career fielding percentage of .978, Trammell's was .977 and Larkin's was .975. What about fielding range you might ask? Smith does have an edge, but when you look further, the gap narrows. Trammell played 7 of his seasons with less then 400 at bats due to various injuries. Larkin played 8 seasons with less then 400 at bats due to injury. Smith only had 3 and they were the last 3 seasons that he played. The final #'s were that Smith had 12,905 chances with 281 errors, Trammell 9,948 chances with 235 errors and Larkin had 9,251 chances with 235 errors. Smith definately has an edge, but injury shortened seasons lessened the numbers of Trammell and Larkin by probably about 500-700 chances each. Trammell only moved to 3rd Base at the end of his career in an attempt to keep him healthy, not because of the limited range that other Shortstops displayed late in their career (see Cal Ripken). Larkin won a MVP (95), Trammell should have (87). Larkin won 3 Gold Gloves, mostly because Ozzie Smith was winning them. Trammell won 4 Gold Gloves, mostly because Cal Ripken was winning them. Darrell Evans, former Tiger First Baseman, used to say "Every throw that Trammell made was perfect to catch!" And yesterday Peter Gammons wrote after voting for Trammell "There are times when you have to have seen a player, and Trammell was one of them."