This is an interesting ballot, as there are five or six guys who should probably be in. The question is, who gets in when. Randy Johnson: 300 wins is a lock. Period. Pedro Martinez: Only 77th in career wins, but 2nd all-time in adjusted ERA (behind only Marino Rivera, min 1000 IP). Utterly dominate for a seven-year period. Does the low win total and only six postseason wins knock him out of first-ballot selections? (Weve seen dumber reasons for a guy not making it in his first year). John Smoltz: Nobody in baseball has had a career quite like Smoltz. 24 wins and a Cy Young at 29, 55 saves at 35, led the league in wins at 39. Right behind Pedro in career wins. Best career win totals for players with at least 55 saves in a season: Smoltz, 213; Francisco Rodríguez, 46. 15-4 in the postseason, with four saves. But, I think writers will knock him out of first-ballot. I hope Im wrong, but I think his counting stats will be counted against him. Gary Sheffield: Was the fourth or fifth best hitter in baseball for a solid decade, but too many links to the PED era. Which is a shame, because he was always a lot of fun to watch. Craig Biggio: Stop mucking about and put Biggio in the damn Hall of Fame already. If you dont think Biggio is a HoFer, you define baseball player differently than I do. Mike Piazza: Best hitting catcher of all time. Which, in the PED era, counts for ... not much. I have no argument with him going in. I think he deserves it. But I dont think it will happen anytime soon.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 20:29:58 +0000
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