[bigtrain]

but by any standard, I think he is in the top 10 or 12 second basemen of all time. He and Blyleven both just missed this year and are likely to be elected next year. I love the Hall of Fame and visit every year so I really enjoy these debates as to who should be elected and who should not. The problem as I see it is that most of us think of the Hall as a place for only the greatest "elite" players, Ruth, Mathewson, Johnson, Wagner, Cobb, Mays, Aaron and the like. The fact is that almost from the beginning, certainly from the 1940s and 50s, it has been the Hall of Very Good. I'm sure that we can all rattle off a dozen names that arguably don't belong there. How about Rick Ferrell, Tinker, Evers, Chance, Tommy McCarthy, Schalk, Hooper, Haines, George Kelly, Bottomley, Lindstrom, Hafey, Marquard, Bancroft, Combs, Coveleski, Faber, Hack Wilson, Chuck Klein? There are almost 20 questionable members off the top of my head. I could easily argue more modern selections were also mistakes. My point is: should the Hall standards now be raised after 70 years? I think that too much time has passed to now try to transform the HoF into something it is not.