Lee Smith & Harold Baines??

[Fred]

Originally Posted by ejharrington

I think the issue is not that there are too many players in the HOF. There are only 228 players in the HOF (excludes Negro Leaguers, Managers, Umpires, and Executives / Pioneers), which is like 1.1% of all the players who ever made the Major Leagues. The issue is not even that there have been some bad selections, which have often been at least partially the result of cronyism. The issue is that it seems the HOF has not corrected the mistakes of the past that resulted in many of these poor selections. Clearly, some of the voters on the committee that voted for Baines should have abstained from voting as they could not possibly claim to be impartial.

For the record, these are the 12 picks out of 228 I think clearly were bad selections:

Ray Schalk - C
Rick Farrell - C
High Pockets Kelly – 1B
Jim Bottomley – 1B
Freddie Lindstrom – 3B
Chick Hafey – LF
Lloyd Waner – CF
Tommy McCarthy – RF
Ross Youngs – RF
Harold Baines – DH
Jesse Haines – P
Rube Marquard – P

These are the players (excluding players still-eligible and PED and banned players) I believe should be selected based on statistics, championships, clutch performance, fame, popularity, and other intangibles, such as who were considered true superstars when they were playing:

Thurman Munson - C
Keith Hernandez – 1B
Don Mattingly – 1B
Gil Hodges – 1B
Steve Garvey – 1B
Lou Whitaker – 2B
Ross Barnes – 2B
Ken Boyer – 3B
Minnie Minoso – LF
Dale Murphy – CF
Roger Maris – RF
Rusty Staub - RF
Tommy Bond – P

I also believe the HOF made a mistake not inducting Buck O’Neill in and should correct it.

You're being very kind - I'm sure most people could double that first list....
Someone (can't remember who) gave me the title of a pretty cool book to read regarding HOF inductions. "Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame" by Bill James. Note, the book was written in the 90's but really provides great detail on the players elected by the veterans committee. The book can be found relatively cheap on ebay or Amazon. Over 400 pages of a lot of good/fun reading.

[riggs336]

Originally Posted by Fred

You're being very kind - I'm sure most people could double that first list....
Someone (can't remember who) gave me the title of a pretty cool book to read regarding HOF inductions. "Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame" by Bill James. Note, the book was written in the 90's but really provides great detail on the players elected by the veterans committee. The book can be found relatively cheap on ebay or Amazon. Over 400 pages of a lot of good/fun reading.

The last words in the Bill James book (speaking of Rizzuto's enshrinement) are "He won't be the worst player there". The same could be said of Baines.
Unfortunately to build a stairway to heaven you have to have some bottom steps.

[JollyElm]

Add Jeff Kent to that 'should be in' list. Talk about a travesty, how does such an RBI machine second baseman get virtually no support for enshrinement?? Give me a frickin' run producing second sacker like him any day of the week!
(Sure, he played during the steroid era, but there's no hint he was ever involved with juicing and he's always been an outspoken advocate for HGH testing in baseball.)

BA .290
Hits 2,461
HR 377
RBI 1,518

Five time All Star, 2000 NL MVP, 4 Silver Slugger Awards.

[parker1b2]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Add Jeff Kent to that 'should be in' list. Talk about a travesty, how does such an RBI machine second baseman get virtually no support for enshrinement?? Give me a frickin' run producing second sacker like him any day of the week!
(Sure, he played during the steroid era, but there's no hint he was ever involved with juicing and he's always been an outspoken advocate for HGH testing in baseball.)

BA .290
Hits 2,461
HR 377
RBI 1,518

Five time All Star, 2000 NL MVP, 4 Silver Slugger Awards.

+1 for Kent and I would add McGriff also, no hint of PEDs 493 HRs

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by parker1b2

+1 for Kent and I would add McGriff also, no hint of PEDs 493 HRs

It's good you brought up McGriff. Unlike Baines (nothing personal against him, he seems to be a fine man), The Crime Dog was an out and out star during his career, not a second thought sorta guy. He was thought of as a 'potential HOFer' and he had some seriously nice career stats.

[callou2131]

Nick Markakis Is jumping for Joy with the election Of Baines.