bachslunch wrote:
Yup. Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, and Edgar Martinez also got in. The first two were 1st ballot, the last on his final go around. Congratulations to all, all very deserving.
Schilling, Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Larry Walker were the next highest finishers, ending up between 62 and 54 percent. Walker, in his next to last eligible year, jumped over 20 percentage points. If he can duplicate that feat, he’ll just sneak in on his last try before hitting the Veterans Committee, though I wouldn’t bet the rent on it. Fred McGriff, also in his last eligible regular year, nearly reached 40% and drops to the VC.
I thought all four deserved to go in. McGriff will go in thru the Seniors Committee; I never knew why he lasted so long to go in as he had a number of huge seasons with successful teams in Atlanta and Toronto. Larry Walker, I think, will also go in thru the Seniors, as he had some ridiculous seasons. Did he get an advantage from playing in Colorado? Of course he did, but if you adjust for it, he still pencils out as having had outstanding seasons.
Bonds and Clemens are unusual cases, they are perhaps best left to the Seniors Committee; I suspect they will get in based on what they did before they juiced up. Before he started taking roids, Bonds was surely the best all-around offensive player of my lifetime, the best since Ted Williams. Clemens was Tom Seaver 2.0 before he started taking the PED's.
I worry that Rivera's unanimous selection has now started a new standard, that when Derek Jeter comes up for induction, how do you NOT vote for Jeter if you voted for Rivera, and if Jeter does not get a unanimous vote, some offended Jeter fan will actually seek out and expose and publicly shame the sportswriter(s) who did not vote for Derek Jeter for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
"Every time you lose, you die a little bit. You die inside. Not all your organs, maybe just your liver." - George Allen
