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Old 01-04-2005, 07:03 PM
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Default Boggs & Sandberg are in

Posted By: Andrew Parks

Boggs definitely deserved being named to the Hall-of-Fame. The man was the greatest American League Hitter of the 1980's and early 1990's - not necessarily the most prouductive, though. But still the best hitter in that League - Gwynn being the best in the NL.

To use selfishness as a reason to keep him out is no good. We could nit-pick a number of reasons for other players to keep them out, but I guarantee, Boggs' hitting won Boston more games than his selfishness lost them. He may have been a bit selfish but he was a great player and highly productive. A high on-base percentage is undervalued because it's a quiet type of statistic - not flashy like the HR, the SB, the batting title, the RBI, etc...However, Boggs was the second best table-setter of the 80's and early 90's behind Rickey. The guy was ALWAYS on-base.

Boggs also turned himself into a Gold-Glove fielder. He worked extremely hard at it and by the end of his career carried a pretty good glove and even won a GG, I believe.

Sandberg is not a marginal HOFer compared to other secondbasemen. Hornsby could hit, but couldn't field and we know of his legendary attitude. Lajoie could field and hit but was an average runner and Collins could hit, field run but hit with no power, Morgan was all-around, and Gehringer could field but not run too well with a little pop.

But Sandberg had what only Morgan had - speed, power and an incredible glove. In fact, his glove was better than Morgan's. Sandberg once stole 50 bases in a season, won an MVP, had that season where he was going for 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 homers, and 20 steals - in the eighties was special, had a 40 Homer season, won gobs of gold gloves, and set fielding records. He could do it all but hit for a high average - which is a stupid stat anyway...

I mean what stat is a good indicator of performance that says:
a single = a double = a triple = a home run and walks = 0?
Batting average is a stupid stat.

I'm not saying he's better than Hornsby or Morgan or Lajoie or Collins or Jackie R, but I always felt Sandberg was one of the all-time great secondbasemen - right up there with them.

Boggs and Sandberg are good choices...way to go voters!



And lastly, I had to address the poster who called Dawson at his position in his league. That's not correct - especially when Dale Murphy was around.

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