🗝️ If you've read this blog enough, then you know my disdain for steroids abusers, so, don't expect any votes for anyone named Bonds, Clemens, Ramirez, Pettitte, or Sheffield.
❌ No analytics are used in the selections of players.
I've watched baseball for 55 years, I know how the game is played, and I don't need someone telling me that a guys has a great xWOBA, BABIP, or, the most infamous analytical stat of all, WAR.
⚾ The Veterans Committee needs to elect Lou Whitaker, Dale Murphy, Jim Kaat, Tony Olivia, Tommy John, and, yes, Bill Freehan.
🗳️ My HOF Ballot looks like this.
OK, no HOF Ballot is perfect, of course, but, as I've said in the past, I've watched a lot of baseball games in my life, and that's what matters.
Todd Helton is a HOF baseball player.
I'm hoping that Larry Walker getting elected last year will help Helton, because he was a truly great ballplayer, and playing for the Rockies just shouldn't be a factor.
👉 MLB decided to put a team in Denver, and that can't be the fault of players drafted, or traded, to play for the Rockies.
🗻🗻 Todd Helton smacked 592 doubles.
👉 Home runs, runs batted in, batting average, runs scored, wins, ERA, strikeouts, games played, All-Star selections, they all matter more than anything Statcast can ever tell me.
It's not that analytics don't have a use, but they can't tell you everything about a player, and they aren't infallible.
🤬 If Bonds, or Clemens, or Sheffield ever make it into the Hall, they need to be put into their own wing of the Hall, and their plaques should never be in the same area of Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Tris Speaker, or Sandy Koufax...call it the Jose Candeco Steroid HOF Wing.
🤔 If you had a ballot, who gets your vote?
Make your case for a player...that didn't do steroids... that's a dead end.
The theory's that the majority of players during the steroids era were users is absurd, that's simply not true.
Saying that puts players like Biggio, Bagwell, Griffey, Edgar and Pedro Martinez, Jeter, Walker, etc., all in the same basket, it's just ridiculous.
Have a great week, and, as always, thanks for stopping by.
Play BALL! ⚾
I'd vote for Schilling. That's it from the new guys.
ReplyDeleteFor the Veterans Committee, I think Tommy John has the best case. He was a good pitcher for a long time, and then the historical importance of the surgery gives him an extra boost. Freehan would rank second in this group: 11-time All-Star, including 10 consecutively.
Is "Jim Last" supposed to be "Jim Kaat"? Because that would make more sense.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd vote for Bonds and Clemens, because they were Hall-worthy before they ever took a steroid. I can see and respect why you wouldn't, but I would.
Apart from that, I definitely agree on Helton, Jones, and Rolen. I'm on the fence on Buehrle, Hunter, and Kent. And with Schilling, who is deserving as a player, but it's really hard to vote for someone who's so hateful.
Yes, thanks. Dumb autocorrect.
DeleteI know you said it's a dead end... but I'm gonna type it anyways: Bonds and Clemens.
ReplyDeleteI love your old-school, pre-sabermetrics view of the Hall. I don't think actual voters will admit it, but the "eye test" still factors in when you watch a lot of games. The only guy on your ballot that doesn't pass my eye test is Buehrle. He never struck me as a great pitcher, just a solid one.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you think! I'd prefer not to see the steroid guys get in either, but have no doubt that many of them will at some point.
ReplyDelete