2014 BBWAA Hall of Fame thread

[Needschat]

Lebatard didn't sell it: He gave it to Deadspin. To me, the BBWAA shouldn't vote for the HOF, not any longer. Members won't vote for the current candidates because of the PEDs. Seriously? None of them heard the rumors and "anonymous" sources telling them this player in the 1970s used "uppers", "pep pills", "greenies", coughcoughMikeSchmidtcough?

Come on, even Babe Ruth was a "hop head": He was a frequent user of beer and hot dogs.

[cmm]

Wow. What a great class this is. My guess is that Biggio, Piazza, and maybe Bagwell make it next year. Pedro Martinez and Jeff Kent will have strong cases next year as well.

Kent was on the ballot this year and only got 15.2% of the vote. That doesn't mean he'll never get in, just that he probably won't next year. Pedro, Randy Johnson, and John Smoltz are the big names who join the ballot next year.

[The_Admiral]

Ooh, all three of those guys get in.

[lucky]

Jack Morris is basically the same pitcher as Curt Schilling, right down to the October heroics.

Sorry to be a lurker that jumps on one topic, but...

Curt Schilling - 47th all-time in WHIP

Jack Morris - 453rd

Curt Schilling - 46th in Adjusted ERA

Jack Morris - 484th

Curt Schilling - 20th in Ks per 9 IP

Jack Morris - 295th

Curt Schilling - 82nd in BBs per 9 IP

Jack Morris - 754th

Curt Schilling - Postseason ERA - 2.23 (over 133.1 IP)

Jack Morris - 3.80 (over 92.1 IP)

Curt Schilling - Postseason WHIP - 0.968

Jack Morris - 1.245

In searching the leaderboard pages for where Jack Morris fell, I actually had to scroll past MATT Morris on some occasions.

Conclusion - Basically the Same

[MEANS]

so happy for the Big Hurt, hoping to make the trip to Cooperstown to see him be inducted this summer

[Sport]

In a "you are now old" moment: Just heard Frank Thomas is the first Hall of Famer whose career began in the 90's.

[dbadefense1990]

The fact that Biggio was 0.2% away from being elected but wasn't because of suspicion of HGH use serves how pretentious the voters are.

Maddux, Glavine, and Thomas in. Biggio falls just short (74.8%). That is two votes short. Ouch.

MLB Network Radio (SiriusXM) had two voters (Murray Chass and Marty Noble) say they got some anonymous-sourced info that Biggio was a PED user, and left him off their ballots. Those two votes would have put him in.

Won't be surprised if that anonymous-sourced info turns out to be fake. But every steroid-related rumor is "fact-until-proven-false" to these writers.

How's to apologize to Craig for the possible screwup?

[TheOldRoman]

_{Frank Thomas is one of just three men in history to finish a career with 10,000 plate appearances and a slash line of .300/.400/.550. The other two: Stan Musial and Babe Ruth.}

_{You're damn straight. I'm surprised I haven't encountered any "herpdy derp, he didn't play defense and was prolly on roids like everyone else" comments here or on other boards. It seems like those always came up in the past when people spoke of Thomas. It's good to see him get the recognition he deserves, being on the first ballot, and also going in as the first player who spent the majority of his career at DH. Frank put up absolute monster numbers which got largely lost among the numbers of roiders with comicbook bodies. He deserves this. Now I just have to convince my wife that it would be better to vaction in upstate New York than somewhere tropical.}

[Mac the Knife]

I'dve cast votes for Maddux, Glavine, Thomas, Biggio... maybe Raines and Mussina. Maybe.

[Mac the Knife]

Wow. What a great class this is. My guess is that Biggio, Piazza, and maybe Bagwell make it next year. Pedro Martinez and Jeff Kent will have strong cases next year as well.

Bagwell never makes it. He's a Vets Committee pick, at best. Not knocking the guy, but if he's not close already, it ain't happenin'.

Wow. What a great class this is. My guess is that Biggio, Piazza, and maybe Bagwell make it next year. Pedro Martinez and Jeff Kent will have strong cases next year as well.

Kent was on the ballot this year and only got 15.2% of the vote. That doesn't mean he'll never get in, just that he probably won't next year. Pedro, Randy Johnson, and John Smoltz are the big names who join the ballot next year.

Another one (Kent) who's unlikely to make it, IMHO. At least not before 2020 or so.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

In a "you are now old" moment: Just heard Frank Thomas is the first Hall of Famer whose career began in the 90's.

Does that mean my Frank Thomas 1990 Topps rookie card has now exploded in value?

[lucky]

Wow. What a great class this is. My guess is that Biggio, Piazza, and maybe Bagwell make it next year. Pedro Martinez and Jeff Kent will have strong cases next year as well.

Bagwell never makes it. He's a Vets Committee pick, at best. Not knocking the guy, but if he's not close already, it ain't happenin'.

All but two people in the history of voting have failed to get elected by the BBWAA after getting at least 50% of the vote at some point.

[Gothamite]

In a "you are now old" moment: Just heard Frank Thomas is the first Hall of Famer whose career began in the 90's.

Does that mean my Frank Thomas 1990 Topps rookie card has now exploded in value?

No.

[Thad]

Bobby Cox, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine all getting in the HOF in the same year? See y'all in Cooperstown.

[CS85]

I think Frank was pretty much universally liked. He wasn't a polarizing figure like McGwire or Bonds, plus he had a cool nickname and his own video game.

[zpqmaowl]

[TheOldRoman]

I think Frank was pretty much universally liked. He wasn't a polarizing figure like McGwire or Bonds, plus he had a cool nickname and his own video game.

Nationally, maybe. He wasn't universally loved among Sox fans, but then again, we are largely a miserable, self-loathing group. And Thomas made things hard for himself. He was kinda grumpy in his early years and had an adversarial relationship with the media, much like Ted Williams. The local media turned on him sometime around 1995 and from there on out he was the "moody slugger" and portrayed as a selfish prick. Of course, Frank was contrasted by Sammy Sosa, who not only overshadowed Frank by hitting 66 homers*, but also became the media's best friend and made an image of himself as a smiley, warm-and-fuzzy guy who blew kisses to Mama. Like Frank, Sosa was selfish and had issues in the locker-room, but none of that came to light until the Cubs decided they needed to turn the fans against him so they bought into a trade.

I think among the local media and even Sox fans, Frank was very under-appreciated. I think most people in the city overlooked the fact that he was still great after 1994.

[infrared41]

I will never support the Jack Morris Hall of Fame stuff. The dude pitched some gems in two World Series, including Game 4 in 1984 and obviously Game 7 from 1991 (he was also in the '92 Series in Toronto; don't remember how well he did), but the overall career body of work isn't there. ERA+ of 105 is not Hall worthy, by any stretch.

You and I disagree more often than not, but on this one I am in 100% agreement with you. Morris was a pretty good pitcher, he had a very solid career, and he was flat out dealing in those WS games, but he is not a HOF caliber pitcher.

On this year's class:

Greg Maddux is simply the greatest pitcher I've seen in my 40+ years of following baseball. If someone wanted to call him the best ever, I wouldn't argue about it. Tom Glavine was a no-brainer too.

If I had a vote, I would have given Frank Thomas the nod too. He was one helluva hitter. That said, I think the fact that he's thought of as a "clean" player from the steroid era certainly helped his case. Not saying he isn't HOF worthy - he is - but I have a feeling the Big Hurt's reputation swung more than a few votes in his favor.

[infrared41]

Wow. What a great class this is. My guess is that Biggio, Piazza, and maybe Bagwell make it next year. Pedro Martinez and Jeff Kent will have strong cases next year as well.

You're kidding, right?

[The_Admiral]

Yeah, I can't buy that one. Strong compiler vibe from Kent.