Next year's ballot should be interesting with Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa all up for consideration for the first time.

mjoven1975: Next year's ballot should be interesting with Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa all up for consideration for the first time.

If Bagwell can't get in based on the fact that he merely played in the Steroid Era™, none of those three will ever see the Hall.

Glavine and Maddux are locks for 2014, though.

Ahh, the Hall of Fame, where a mediocre pitcher who did very well in two postseasons will be remembered forever, but others are shunned for taking steriods when ball doctorers and spike sharpeners are welcome.

Seriously? Eric Young? What moran actually thought he was a HoFer?

a sharp nail: Ahh, the Hall of Fame, where a mediocre pitcher who did very well in two postseasons will be remembered forever, but others are shunned for taking steriods when ball doctorers and spike sharpeners are welcome.

Yup. I definitely don't get the love for Jack Morris, especially since it took 14 ballots for the far superior Blyleven to finally get in there.

bighasbeen: Tim Raines

Needs 395 more hits.

Jeff Bagwell

Can get in after the Crime Dog. He's also another one whose career numbers may not be good enough to get in amidst roid rumors.

Edgar Martinez

To be fair, his name was hidden under his glove, so no wonder people missed him.

I LOVE Fred McGriff. He was a huge part of my childhood, but Jeff Bagwell was one and a half times the player McGriff was. McGriff doesn't get in over Bagwell just because he hung around for two more years worth of games and got negligibly higher counting numbers.

Don Mattingly. Not only did he not take steroids, he was 5 foot 9 on a good day and slamming home runs like they were going out of style in the mid 80's.

Barrly Larkin- Guess it's the Hall of the Very Good now

Barry Larkin & Ron Santo, a.k.a. Red Dead Redemption...

mikemoto: Morris is a very underrated pitcher. He won 20 games on three occasions, was the winningest pitcher in the 1980's, and played on 3 World Championship teams.
All 3 of the numbers you pick for Morris (wins, wins and world series wins) merely show that Jack Morris played on good teams, nothing about him personally being a good pitcher.

I will never understand the hate for Edgar Martinez. Don't bother trying to justify otherwise; the man belongs in the Hall. If you're going to judge him for being a DH, then you should also judge Maddux and Glavine for their lack of hitting skill and for only playing once every five days.

hbk72777: Barrly Larkin- Guess it's the Hall of the Very Good now

14 Gold Gloves
8 Silver Slugers
1 MVP
1 World Series
0 Attention whoring
0 stories relating to him to anything not baseball related

As far as I'm concerned if he's not a HOF'er, no one is.

/checks hbk72777's profile
//Long Island, NY
///that explains it

hbk72777: Don Mattingly. Not only did he not take steroids, he was 5 foot 9 on a good day and slamming home runs like they were going out of style in the mid 80's.

Barrly Larkin- Guess it's the Hall of the Very Good now

The HOF is loaded with very good players. It's always been the Hall of Good or Famous for a Memorable Postseason or Rookie Year or some other random reason. Bill Mazeroski, Santo, Aparicio. The list goes on and on.

Biggio deserves to get in and Bagwell is on the cusp. ( a couple more healthy years would have sealed the deal) I'm hoping, and think, that the voters are waiting for Biggio's eligibility so him and Bags can get voted in in the same year.

/rambling a bit. drunk.

mikemoto: Morris is a very underrated pitcher. He won 20 games on three occasions, was the winningest pitcher in the 1980's, and played on 3 World Championship teams.

Mark Grace had more hits than anyone in the 90s. Lets put him in the Hall too.

Compare these two HOF cases:
Player A: 240-138, 4 rings, 2 20-win seasons, 2251k against 962bb, ERA 17% above league average, and 5 top-6 Cy Young finishes
Player B: 254-186, 3 rings, 3 20-win seasons, 2478k against 1390bb, ERA 5% above league average, and 5 top-6 Cy Young finishes.

And once you figure out who Player A is, you'll realize why Jack Morris being in the Hall of Fame is a joke.

Crewmannumber6: hbk72777: Barrly Larkin- Guess it's the Hall of the Very Good now

14 Gold Gloves
8 Silver Slugers
1 MVP
1 World Series
0 Attention whoring
0 stories relating to him to anything not baseball related

As far as I'm concerned if he's not a HOF'er, no one is.

/checks hbk72777's profile
//Long Island, NY
///that explains it

Came to say exactly this, except I was going to insinuate that he either knew nothing about baseball, or he was some Ozzie Smith-cock gobbling Cardinals fanboy.

Dawg47: mikemoto: Morris is a very underrated pitcher. He won 20 games on three occasions, was the winningest pitcher in the 1980's, and played on 3 World Championship teams.

Mark Grace had more hits than anyone in the 90s. Lets put him in the Hall too.

Compare these two HOF cases:
Player A: 240-138, 4 rings, 2 20-win seasons, 2251k against 962bb, ERA 17% above league average, and 5 top-6 Cy Young finishes
Player B: 254-186, 3 rings, 3 20-win seasons, 2478k against 1390bb, ERA 5% above league average, and 5 top-6 Cy Young finishes.

And once you figure out who Player A is, you'll realize why Jack Morris being in the Hall of Fame is a joke.

Is it Andy Pettitte?

mjoven1975: Next year's ballot should be interesting with Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa all up for consideration for the first time.

MLB can open a new wing

The Baseball Hall of Fame^*

Barry Larkin was the most consistently amazing baserunner this side of Rickey Henderson. And nobody went first-to-third smoother than Larkin.

I know I'm turning into one of those old guys that say "oh, if you only coulda seen him play," but for Barry Larkin, I'm not embarrassed to do it.

a sharp nail: Ahh, the Hall of Fame, where a mediocre pitcher who did very well in two postseasons will be remembered forever, but others are shunned for taking steriods when ball doctorers and spike sharpeners are welcome.

LOLWUT...

TFA notes as well that Juan Gone is now juan gone from the HOF ballot. Surprised he made it this far, actually...

ATRDCI: bighasbeen: Dawg47: bighasbeen: Tim Raines

Needs 395 more hits.

Jeff Bagwell

Can get in after the Crime Dog. He's also another one whose career numbers may not be good enough to get in amidst roid rumors.

Edgar Martinez

To be fair, his name was hidden under his glove, so no wonder people missed him.

I LOVE Fred McGriff. He was a huge part of my childhood, but Jeff Bagwell was one and a half times the player McGriff was. McGriff doesn't get in over Bagwell just because he hung around for two more years worth of games and got negligibly higher counting numbers.

I give it to McGriff over Bagwell for being equally consistent over a longer period of time: 7 straight years over 30 HR (88-94), hit over 20 HR 15/16 seasons and 30HR for 10/15. Even if you take out those last couple hanger on years (which Bagwell had one as well) his numbers are still equal or better. Bagwell did have 3 40+ HR seasons where McGriff never hit more than 37, but putting up 30+ during the late 80's and early 90's consistently is more of a feat to me. I don't see how one gets in when the other doesn't.

Putting up any sort of home run numbers in that vast desert that was the Astrodome is quite a feat to me.

/Its a farking travesty that neither Biggio nor Bagwell are in the hall of fame
//Fark Skip Bayless for trying to argue that Biggio wasn't a hall of famer because he didn't "look" like one to him, especially when I doubt he hasn't watched more than 1 game of him playing

Good God this. Bags would have had multiple 50+ homer seasons in most other parks. And name another 30/30 first baseman with his defensive skills. Multiple 8+ WAR seasons and still gets no respect.

And how in the hell is Trammell not in there???

Im not certain if I think Jack Morris deserves to be in the Hall... but...

I did watch him many times live... both as a Tiger and on my beloved Blue Jays...

Thing about Jack that I believe seems to get lost...was the way he pitched with a lead. Say if he was ahead 5-1 in the 3rd...he would just keep throwing strikes.. and sure enough a ball or two would go over his head... he would laugh... and finish the game with a big W and a score of 5-4 sucking up many, many innings along the way resting up the bullpen for the next day.

Sure this killed his ERA but helped his team and he still got the Ws

For this, he is a hall-of-famer in my book.

/better luck next year, Jack.

Clyde_Suckfinger: Seriously? Eric Young? What moran actually thought he was a HoFer?

Tracy Ringolsby - local beat writer

/it's tradition to toss the locals a vote the first time they come up
//Congrats Barry! good guy

Next year, these people will be eligible for the HOF:

Barry Bonds
Mark McGwire
Sammy Sosa
Roger Clemens
Mike Piazza
Jeff Bagwell
Rafael Palmiero
Larry Walker
Tim Raines
Craig Biggio

And the only people who will get in, most likely, are Biggio and Piazza.

/seriously, just let the steroid people in.

I cant believe they passed on bagwell with his 2 career postseason home runs.

koreakatz:

Thing about Jack that I believe seems to get lost...was the way he pitched with a lead. Say if he was ahead 5-1 in the 3rd...he would just keep throwing strikes.. and sure enough a ball or two would go over his head... he would laugh... and finish the game with a big W and a score of 5-4 sucking up many, many innings along the way resting up the bullpen for the next day.

Sure this killed his ERA but helped his team and he still got the Ws

For this, he is a hall-of-famer in my book.

/better luck next year, Jack.

No wonder so many are trying to compare Justin Verlander to Jack Morris. Both greatly influence how the pitching staff is managed through the year.

Unfortunately for Jack, the only way he gets in outside of the Veterans Committee is if a whole bunch of the writers that covered his career die. They're still pissed off 'cause he didn't like the media as a player. Reminds me of the saying "be careful whose ass you kick on the way up, you may need to kiss their ass on the way down"

It's possible though that the writers will vote for him next year simply because they'd rather vote for him than the the steroid guys like Bonds and Sosa.

I know that one game does not make a hall of fame career, but pitching a 10 inning shutout in a World Series Game 7 is just too damn impressive. I'm a Tiger fan, only watched because Jack was pitching. One of the most exciting sporting events I've watched that did not involve a team I root for.

Gulper Eel: And the managerial genius Pete Rose started Kurt Stillwell over Larkin any chance he could.

Must have been the games he was betting against the Reds?

Rex_Banner: thistime: I cant believe they passed on bagwell with his 2 career postseason home runs.

Conversely, Bagwell has just as many postseason home runs as Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, and Cal Ripken, Jr. COMBINED, which clearly means that he's the greatest hitter in history.

But ... but ... uh ... yea, don't forget Ernie banks. None of those guys belong in the hall. Screw you thistime.

Jack Morris SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame....

....right after Dave Stieb and Bob Welch get in, as both were far superior pitchers. So was Teddy Higuera, for that matter.

/Morris' key achievement was pitching most of his games in years that started in "198"