It took me 3 clicks to get the page to move over so I could post. I took that as an omen that the venting, blaspheming and fussing I was about to do should not be done... so I won't. What follows is the lesser version of what I first thought.
The question asked was who will get in. I think Larkin will. I DO NOT think he should, but I think it'll happen. S#+! happens, and that's what it'll be... He was a very good player. I just don't think it should be the Hall of the Very Good. Yet that's what it's become. I figure I saw him play about 50 times... he was a smooth, sure fielder, solid on the basepaths, could hit quite a bit, he was respected by his team-mates. He was a very good player. I'm glad I saw him play. He was worth the admission price. I wasn't in awe when he stepped out of the dugout, didn't pause to watch him hit during BP... I saw Mays, Aaron, Musial, Mantle, Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale, Spahn, Carleton, Boggs, Bench, Seaver, Banks, Berra, McCovey... and I saw a couple of hundred others who were very good ballplayers. And that's what Barry Larkin was.
I think Lee Smith should get in this year, but I doubt that he will.
Bagwell belongs with Larkin, a very good ballplayer who should be left out.
Lopez does not belong in the Hall. Ted Simmons does ahead of a handful of catchers already in, and a long ways ahead of Lopez.
I think Hodges should be in, just barely... he was such a nice guy, a very good ballplayer, and a good baseball man in later years. That B on his hat and him being a gentleman really puts the spin on him for getting in, and that might be enough to push him beyond where some folks see him just by looking at his stats.
I think Ed Reulbach should get in, but I've thought that for about 20+ years now; I don't see it happening. Instead, Puckett get's in; S#+! really does happen.
I'm ok with Santo getting in, he was a, wait for it, yep, a very good ballplayer. So were about 2 dozen more from his era that aren't in... Will eventually Uecker and Mendoza get in, 'cause after all each was good enough to make it to the show? Dave Ricketts gets in, then, too. And Carl Spooner. I could go up there to New York and see 'em all on those little plaques.
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