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john/z28jdI was never big on relievers making the hall of fame so im glad they didnt make this the "year of the reliever" like theyve been building it up.Guys like Rice,Dawson and Blyleven in my book are in a different class than any reliever,especially one that pitched just 1,042 career innings like Sutter.
If you put those innings in perspective,Dwight Gooden had about 150 more innings by age 23 than Sutter career,a career record of 81-35 and had led 2 teams to the playoffs vs 1 for Sutter,both had 1 cy young award,Gooden was a rookie of the year......after that point he was still 113-77 career,yet no one thinks of him as a hall of famer,at least from what ive heard.Is Sutter really that much better because he stretched those innings out over 12 years?
I always believe most deserving players should go in first and i cant see putting in any relievers till all the other players are in first.Now that they are putting in specialty guys it should be interesting to see what happens when Lenny Harris retires since he has 212 career pinch hits already,62 more than 2nd place....now thats specialty dominance!