Knuckle Curve » jim_rice http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve Major League Baseball News from Spring Training to the World Series Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:45:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Hall of Fame Voting: A Closer Look http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/hall-of-fame-voting-a-closer-look/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/hall-of-fame-voting-a-closer-look/#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:31:51 +0000 Geoff Young http://www.knucklecurve.com/hall-of-fame-voting-a-closer-look/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> Okay, here’s the full vote. My thoughts below the table…

2008 Hall of Fame Vote
Player Votes Pct
Courtesy MLB.com.
Rich Gossage 466 85.8%
Jim Rice 392 72.2%
Andre Dawson 358 65.9%
Bert Blyleven 336 61.9%
Lee Smith 235 43.3%
Jack Morris 233 42.9%
Tommy John 158 29.1%
Tim Raines 132 24.3%
Mark McGwire 128 23.6%
Alan Trammell 99 18.2%
Dave Concepcion 88 16.2%
Don Mattingly 86 15.8%
Dave Parker 82 15.1%
Dale Murphy 75 13.8%
Harold Baines 28 5.2%
Rod Beck 2 0.4%
Travis Fryman 2 0.4%
Robb Nen 2 0.4%
Shawon Dunston 1 0.2%
Chuck Finley 1 0.2%
David Justice 1 0.2%
Chuck Knoblauch 1 0.2%
Todd Stottlemyre 1 0.2%
Jose Rijo 0 0%
Brady Anderson 0 0%

As promised, my take:

  • The voters finally stopped screwing Goose Gossage. This business about Bruce Sutter paving the way for him is absolute garbage. Gossage came first and was a better pitcher.
  • They completely dropped the ball on Tim Raines. There is no way in Hades that Jim Rice was a better player than Raines. Why folks in charge of this sort of thing fail to recognize this is beyond me.
  • Speaking of outfielders, if Andre Dawson is a legitimate borderline candidate, then Dave Parker deserves much more serious consideration than he’s getting.
  • Jack Morris was not a better player than Alan Trammell. Sorry, he just wasn’t.
  • How many years will it take Lee Smith to overcome the idiocy that kept Gossage out for so long?

Sigh. I’ve probably missed some others, but I hate to work myself up over this stuff. I just would like to see the folks in charge of these things do a better job of it. Is that so much to ask? Apparently it is.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/hall-of-fame-voting-a-closer-look/feed/ 8 Bernie Williams for the Hall? http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/bernie-williams-for-the-hall/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/bernie-williams-for-the-hall/#comments Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:39:33 +0000 Geoff Young http://www.knucklecurve.com/bernie-williams-for-the-hall/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> No, I don’t think so, but Steve Lombardi makes an interesting comparison between him and Jim Rice over at Stat of the Day that forces me at least to consider the possibility. I’m not sure if it’s possible for a guy who spent his entire career with the Yankees to be underrated, but if it is, Bernie Williams might be the one. Or maybe Roy White.

Williams was unbelievably good from 1995 to 2002, while playing a premium defensive position. His offensive line for that stretch was .321/.406/.531. You know how many guys put up better numbers during that period (minimum 4000 PA)? It’s a pretty short list, and all but a few of them (Mike Piazza, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones) played at the wrong end of the defensive spectrum. That’s assuming you’re willing to concede that Griffey and/or Jones had superior numbers.

Point? Williams was a better player than I’d remembered. Maybe we’ll talk about White one of these days…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

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