Hall of Fame poll

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Posted By: Ken McMillan

Alright, this is not about baseball cards, but it is about baseball. I want to know who everyone believes should be inducted into the hall of Fame. My vote is as follows:

Tony gwynn
Cal Ripken
Lee Smith

I don't know the first two men, but they are no brainers for the Hall. I personally have known Lee for about 5 years and know his career. From a professional skill level and from a human level Lee is a no brainer. He was the ultimate closer of his era. What are your thoughts.

Ken

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Posted By: Mark Burke

those three are no brainers to me. I would agree with your selection.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

ripken, gwynn (obvious no-brainers)...

smith, not too sure this year.

mcgwire...hmmm, good luck buddy, '98 was fun, BUT.............

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Posted By: marty quinn

what about "goose"?? i see lee smith, granted all time leader, but goose like sutter and fingers was a 2-3 inning save guy, alot to be said for that.. these days it's one out sometimes...

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Posted By: Ken McMillan

Goose deserves to be in also as does Dawson. Smith however was not always a one inning closer. If you got a Lee Smith fastball, you got a pretty wicked pitch. He also had a pretty mean curve. I was at camp 3 years ago with Lee as my coach and got to catch him. I had him throw one as hard as he could. I think my hand still smarts. It was still fun to catch.

Ken

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Posted By: Cat

I really hope Smith gets in. He seemed so dominant for a 10 to 12 year stretch. He did get a lot of saves during the longer than one inning save era.

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Posted By: Dylan

478 Saves with a career 3.03 ERA. From 1982 to 1995 you could consistently rely on him for 30 saves and an under 3.00 ERA. I consider him in the same class as John Franco. Now he's not in the same class as Mariano Rivera or Eckersley but certainly one of the most consistent and dominent relievers of his era. Franco and Lee hall of famers? Considering the Halls standards as of today I would say yes. Now if we only elected no brainers then Rivera, Eckersley, and Trever Hoffman may be the only relief pitchers that qualify in that sense.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Gwynn and Ripken each get over 95%; Smith is borderline; McGwire gets 40% and fades into baseball oblivion.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

the HOF NEEDS to be as elite as possible...i'm not saying don't elect smith...BUT we do need to just elect "no brainers"...it needs to be the best of the best...in order to keep a long tradition of absolute excusivity...

in 1936, the inagural class was something like 8 men (i think)...out of ALL of the men that had played up until that point...they made it so exculsive, that only the best of the best got in...the most dominating men of their era...thats it, simple.

i won't name names, but we all know there are MANY players in there, that shouldn't be...

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Posted By: Chad

In no real particular order

1. Ripken One of the 2 or 3 best SS's ever
2. Gwynn great pure hitter
3. McGwire best slugger I've ever seen.
4. Trammell One of the top 10 to 15 SS's ever, and that's good enough for me.
5. Gossage Should have been in years ago.
6. Blyleven Also should have been in years ago.

A lot of other good players on the ballot, but I think that's all I would vote for. Will Clark won't do as well as he should in the voting, but if he had played a bit longer, he might have made it. Smith has big career numbers, but I'm wary of voting for too many extreme specialists like closers or DH's. There's several guys on the Veteran's ballot I'd vote for, too, but that's a whole 'nother thread.

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Posted By: Mark Burke

Hard to deny Smith and Franco, I would agree. There are about 70 pitchers in the HOF. I think only three of them are relief pitchers. Given the importance of this "art" in the game today, I think this category is under represented. There are at least five or six other relief pitchers who could be considered, among them Myers and Reardon. There are, to my knowledge, no pitchers in the 300 win category, who are HOF eligible, who are not in the HOF. One would think that there must be some level of saves that qualifies for an automatic place in the HOF. If it isn't 300, then certainly 400 must be a reasonable "bar"?

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Posted By: Bill K

Anyone take issue with the voter turning in a blank ballot so that Gwynn and Ripkin aren't unanimous selections? I guess in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter so long as you are voted in, but that seems pretty bush league to me.

All three are more than deserving to get in. I really hope Goose, and Dawson are elected in the very near future.

Mac can sit and rot for all I care.

Bill

My personal collection - http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f176/fkm_bky/

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Posted By: MVSNYC

what time do they make the announcment?

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Posted By: barrysloate

I heard 1:00 PM, but there is a show on ESPN that starts at 2:00 PM.

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Posted By: Anonymous

2pm

Are there any old timers on the ballot? Jimmy Ryan would be nice.

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Bill K.,

I, for one, took considerable offense at the writer's decision not to vote for anybody. You're reference to "Bush League" was very appropriate. I actually wrote a letter to the Hall of Fame this morning expressing my views on this matter, suggesting they replace the stubborn voter — Paul Ladewski of the Daily Southtown in suburban Chicago — with someone willing to vote. The writer suggested his view was justified because of how tough voters were in the HOF's early days, back when Joe DiMaggio needed three tries to get in. Clearly the writer is more interesting in calling attention to himself (he wrote an article about it) than he is in seeing truly great players like Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripkin inducted. Now that HOF's standards have been set by its existing membership (something that didn't exist in its early days), let's do the right thing and induct players who not only match, but clearly exceed those standards. Because the real travesty here comes when a player like Buck O'Neill or Cecil Travis dies before the HOF voters are willing to get off their high horses and do the right thing ...

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Posted By: Jason L

Jim Rice
Andre Dawson
Tony Gwynn
Cal Ripken
Rich Gossage

but they never accept my entry, since I wasn't officially invited to participate, and I wrote it using crayon on a diner napkin....maybe one day