Palmeiro collects 3,000th hit

[HatCityEnforcer]

As long as you are a decent player and you talk to the media, you have a good chance of getting into the HoF. That's the only reason Jim Rice isn't in there. He was great, but he hated the media and never talked to them after games. They are screwing him out of a sure thing.

Sorry, but I really don't see that being THE reason why Rice isn't in the HOF...

There's two glaring reasons that kind of kill that idea...

Steve Carlton

Eddie Murray

Both were as bad if not worse with the press than Rice was.

I think jp's reasoning is more towards the mark on Rice than anything.

[winghaz]

Getting 3,000 hits is an automatic ticket to the Hall of Fame (unless you get caught gambling).

Getting 500 homers is also an automatic ticket to the Hall of Fame.

Getting both 3,000 hits and 500 homers puts you not only in the Hall of Fame, but in the upper pantheon of baseball greats (although that didn't happen to Eddie Murray).

Rafael Palmeiro had some of the quietest stats in the history of baseball, until this year. Now we're getting to appreciate just how awesome a player he really is.