Dave, Dick, and Dump Trucks of Money.

     Word came in baseball this week of two things I am very happy about, to the point that I am posting about it. 

     Firstly, that Dave Parker and Dick Allen were elected to the hall of fame. These two men are long overdue to be in Cooperstown. Parker was a great player with a sublime peak.  His great downfall to those pesky writers was he may or may not have enjoyed cocaine a little too much. But hey, in the 1980s, it was the law to do cocaine once you made a certain amount of money and after all, he was the first player to make a million dollars in a year. 

 

I hate to play the if/then game when it comes to the hall of fame, but if Jim Rice and Harold Baines are in Cooperstown, then there was zero reason to keep Parker out. 

His pages in my book are also a fun way to see how my brain works in terms of organization. That first page has him all in a Pirates uni - where he began his career and made his biggest contributions as a player (Stargell was the leader but Parker was the most dangerous hitter). That makes sense. He then was traded to Cincy after the Pittsburgh drug trials, so maybe that next page would be all Reds cards, well not quite. You see mostly Reds but also cards that match cards on the other pages. 

Parker did bounce around a lot at the end of his career, didn't he?  Have bat, will travel. I am glad the veterans committee, or whatever they are calling it this week, came to their senses and immortalized a great player while he was still alive. The same cannot be said for poor Dick Allen. 

He died in 2020 and he belonged in the hall way before that.  His numbers are the perfect illustration of why you need to "normalize" for era. He did all his damage in the 60s and early 70s, when pitching dominated the league. He also committed the cardinal sin of being an outspoken black man in the 60s when all the writers were stuffy old white dudes and Philadelphia was not exactly into loving the brothers. So his family will get to enjoy his enshrinement but he will not.  They did this more recently to Ron Santo as well, so I can't decide if this move is pulling a Santo or pulling an Allen.  The opposite is waiting until a player dies because they don't deserve to reap the benefits of being a hall of fame member; this is now pulling a Rose but someday will probably be pulling a Bonds. 

The second thing that happened is that the Mets backed up the dump truck full of money and unloaded it in the yard of Juan Soto. 

Fun fact: the two world series MVPs in Mets history also wore #22

This signing is obviously a very expensive undertaking for my hometown team to partake in and it is also unique for them.  The Mets usually make big trades for big players (Carter, Alomar, Piazza, Lindor) and then sign them to big deals but have never really signed the prime free agent for the right reasons. The only other time this happened was with the now infamous Bobby Bonilla and they did that as a knee jerk reaction to not signing Darryl Strawberry - when they should have either just given Straw the money or waited a year and paid Barry Bonds. And we all know how Bobby Bonilla turned out in Mets history.  But here they have signed the "generational talent" (they passed on A-Rod) to the biggest contract (and outspending the Yankees to do it) and it actually has a chance to work out for a change, both as a player and his fit on the team. I am hopeful, but with the Mets, it is always tainted with caution.

Hall of Fame Foursome.

Hey look! It's late January and that means the white smoke is billowing from Cooperstown and the new Hall of Famers have been elected.  I like that after years of obstructionism and hardcore posturing by the electorate, the lists have been constantly three and four players the last few years.  With Jack Morris and Alan Trammell also elected, you've got a six-pack of players to give speeches in July.  With Bob Costas and the Spink awark winner, have an extra cup of coffee before watching that one.  Let's look at who the writers opened the ropes for:

Vladimir Guerrero.

Vlad was named on 392 of 422 ballots (92.2%) in his 2nd year of eligibility.

Guerrero is the perfect example of the notable bias some baseball writers have even to this day about electing players on their first ballot.  Looking at Vlad's numbers: 449 HR 1496 RBI and a .318/.379.553 slash line, how is he not a hall of famer?  Yet he jumped from 71% to 92% in a single year to walk into the hall; what changed between last year and this one?  It's not like his stats changed or even got reexamined.  There is the infuriating layer of voters who will never ever vote for a first year nominee because of Babe Ruth or some nonsense but the secondary layer is equally as frustrating.  They decide that a player is good enough for the hall but not good enough for the honor of first ballot induction.  The bar for who is a hall of famer is much much lower than Vlad Guerrero and yet the same shit still happens.  While the hall has gotten better over the years about electing obvious players on the first ballot, that Vlad had to wait is why the election system needs to be completely overhauled.

Jim Thome.

Jim was named on 379 of 422 ballots (89.8%) in his 1st year of eligibility.

I am glad Thome didn't get the shabby treatment Vlad received and got in on the first shot.  The only thing missing from Jim's resume is a good sturdy nickname.  He was a jovial mountain of a man who hit baseballs really far.  612 homers and 1699 RBIs speak for themselves but his .402 OBP more than make up for what the uninformed would poo-poo as a pedestrian .276 average.  He is a lot closer to Frank Thomas than Harmon Killebrew. 

Trevor Hoffman.

Trevor was named on 337 of 422 ballots (79.9%) in his 3rd year of eligibility.  Hoffman is proof positive that voters have no idea what to do with closers and especially newer one-inning closers.  Goose Gossage had to wait 9 times to get into the hall yet Trevor waited 1/3 as long.  The convoluted and arbitrary save statistic has come to be exploited in the modern setting and voters can't wrap their heads around what that means.  Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman have similar statistics but saying they were similar pitchers is like saying George Clooney and I are similar just because we are both adult men.  I am not saying Hoffman isn't a great modern closer but with players like Edgar Martinez not in the hall, it really makes you wonder why Hoffman is.

Larry Wayne Jones.

Larry was elected with 410 votes out of 422 which is 97.2% of the vote in his first time on the ballot.  Usually I castigate the voters who leave off an obvious, no doubt, slam dunk hall of famer but in this particular instance, I salute the 12 individuals who decided he wasn't.  I will this one time admit a begrudging respect for how good a player he was but as a Mets fan who lived through the turn of the millennium, my default setting is "wow, fuck that guy."  I made this page of cards for the inevitable day he was elected to the hall and now I can put it in the book and try to forget it and he ever existed.  No, I'm not bitter, why do you ask?

Three Bad Nicknames For The Hall.

       One of the problems with restarting the blog at the beginning of January is there's just not a lot going on, both in the hobby and life in general.  Luckily, along comes the Hall of Fame to give me something to write and rant about.  Four years after not bothering to elect anyone, the writers continued their unparalleled generosity by humbly decided to allow three men into their sacred realm. 

Jeff Bagwell.

Bagwell was named on 381 of 442 ballots (86.2%) in his 7th year of eligibility. 


I am a little biased when it comes to Bagwell as he is one of my birthday boys, born on the same day as me and the exact same day as Frank Thomas - May 27, 1968.  I am pretty sure this is the first time Hall of Famers have been born on the exact same day, and though my internet research didn't prove this for certain, I am going to make this bold proclamation.  I easily have as many Bagwell cards as I do Frank Thomas cards and it is a secret part of my collection that has somehow not seen much exposure here.  Expect a similar post like the Big Hurt's there with his cards before July.


Bags (or Baggy or Bag Pipes) had his election delayed as so many have due to unfounded rumors of PED use.  Given his amazing and amazingly consistent numbers, his inclusion in Cooperstown is long overdue.  And given his quirky batting stance and fantastic facial hair, he deserved a better nickname than a simple twist of his name. 

Ivan Rodriguez.

Pudge was elected with 336 votes out of 442 for a narrow 76% of the vote in his first time on the ballot.  He somehow overcame the incessant PED rumors (and out right admissions) and got in without years of nonsense.  I hope this is a sign of things to come. 

Rodriguez was a teenage marvel and a 40-year old wonder and pretty damn good in between.  He set the record for the most game caught, threw out runners from his knees, stole an MVP award from Pedro Martinez, led teams with fiery gusto and ended a playoff series about as awesomely as possible.  The man was unique and deserved his own fitting nickname rather than a recycled one, though he did do Carlton Fisk proud in its appropriation.

Tim Raines.

Raines was checked off on 380 of 442 ballots (86.0%) in his 10th year on the ballot.  Given the new rules, I am pretty sure this would have been his last year on the ballot before being turned over to the veterans committee.

Why it took 10 years is pretty mystifying but given the writers usual biases, Raines found himself in a perfect storm of "why players don't make the Hall of Fame when it is obvious they should."  Raines began his career in obscurity in Montreal, hardly a media hot bed.  He was great at one thing and really good at a lot of things, but he was not the greatest at that one thing so the other things got lost.  The things he was best at are kind of obscure and not very glamorous.  Plus rather than stay on one team for his whole career, he bounced around at the end and settled for being a role player on winning Yankees teams rather than compile sexy numbers like 3000 hits or 1000 stolen bases.  The strongest argument as to why Raines should be in Cooperstown is the simple, yet overlooked, figure of times on base: he is right *ahead* of Tony Gwynn, a sure-fire first ballot guy, on that list in practically the same number of plate appearances.  But they don't give fancy awards for on base percentage and they do for batting titles.   He also was the second guy to ever play on a team with his son, and you can ask Larry Doby what the Hall thinks of dudes who do things second.  He even got sick at the end of his career but it was this time, it was lupus, a disease that can kill you but also brings out the jokes rather than the telethons.  And finally, it all comes back around to the nickname Rock, which while it innocently brings an image of a strong, sturdy guy (which Raines most certainly was) that nickname probably did not have such simple origins.  I seriously doubt you will see it on his plaque.

While these are three very deserving men to be inducted, as usual, there are a few elephants in the room.  One is the awful fact that Bud Selig was elected a few months ago by the Today's Game committee, which was inevitable given the penchant for long time commissioners to be elected no matter what the circumstance.  Some of the writers saw through this slight hypocrisy and the votes for many of the PED poster boys went up.  I really wanted Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens to go in with Selig to add to his embarrassment but alas, they will have to wait.  My other issue is with how Edgar Martinez has been treated by the writers.  Follow me here, Trevor Hoffman has been on the ballot for two years and came very close to getting in this year and will probably get over the hump next year.  Closers have been all over the map on the writers' radar - some have to wait, some skate in - but all in all, they have been pretty generous to them.  The writers have accepted that closers are part of the game.  But what did poor Edgar Martinez do?  It's not his fault the American League instituted the DH rule in 1973 and never rescinded it.  And it is certainly not his fault the Mariners were too stupid to give him a starting job before he was 27 years old.  He just played by the rules of the game.  The designated hitter is part of the game and has been for more than 40 years.  They are real baseball players.  Seriously, you can look it up.  Would Edgar Martinez be that much better a candidate if he had played a mediocre third or first base for most of his career like Harmon Killebrew did?  It comes down to a simple question, if you were going to start a team and have a player for 15 years, would you rather have Trevor Hoffman or Edgar Martinez?  Exactly.

Four For The Hall.

       Last year the baseball writers saw fit to elect three very worthy men to the Hall of Fame. This year, in an almost unfathomable gesture of generosity, they elected four very worthy men, the first time they have elected four players in 60 years.  Bravo, BBWAA, bra-fucking-vo.

Randy Johnson.

The Big Unit got 97.3% of the vote - more than Maddux!

Johnson is, was, and always will be a freak of nature, equal parts Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, Wilt Chamberlain, and spider monkey.  I think John Kruk said it all without saying a thing about what it was like to hit against him.

Pedro Martinez.

Petey got 91.1% of the vote.  I know there are always dumbasses who don't vote for first year players, which is why someone like Randy Johnson "only" gets 97.3% of the vote, but that nonsense is to be expected.  I know it is picking nits to a pathetic degree, but I find the percentage Pedro got to be more insulting.  I would like to interview the 49 men who thought he wasn't all Hall of Famer with these numbers during the steroid era.  I could and will argue that Pedro's 1999-2000 are the two best back-to-back pitching seasons ever.  Bar none.

Martinez is the polar opposite of Randy Johnson in terms of personality and body type but I find it very satisfying that they are going into the Hall together. No two pitchers laughed in the face of the cartoon inflated offensive statistics of the 90s and aughts with more aplomb than Pedro and Randy. 

Craig Biggio.

Craig Biggio (finally!) got in with 82.7% of the vote.  I guess he had a really good year last year which propelled him over the top, right?  That's how it works?  Hello?  Is this thing on?

I wrote very long and passionately about Biggio last year when he missed being elected by two freaking votes.  I suggest going back to read that post if you haven't already because it is one of the finest things I have ever written on this blog.

John Smoltz. 

Smoltz got in with 82.9% of the vote.  I broke from numerical protocol in listing the four new members and went with, what is in my eyes, overall worthiness.  John Smoltz was, I'll admit even as a Mets fan, a great pitcher for a long time.  His career is sort of a photo negative of Dennis Eckersley's and Eck went in on the first ballot too.  But I pause when Smoltz gets in on the first ballot when Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling, two pitchers who are both contemporaries and statistically superior, are on the outside looking in.  This is sort of where the writers lost their way in this vote. 

     Oh, you might ask, where else did they go awry?  Well, there is one glaring omission once again this year - and for the third year in a row.  I ranted about Biggio (amongst other things) last year, but was so mad about the Mike Piazza thing that I couldn't bring myself to actually condense into words their failings at not electing him.  And yes, I am aware that it is almost impossible that he won't get in next year.  But believe me my friends, my thoughts about Mike Piazza are going to come fast and furious and soon.  I know I haven't posted much in the last couple months (for a variety of reasons), but leave it to the baseball writers to wake the sleeping bear. 

A Little Food For Thought On A Monday Morning...

In 2001, Barry Bonds, a player in his late 30's who had come back from many injuries, including a career threatening one, broke one of his sport's most hallowed records.

Bonds was vilified; his motives questioned, his work ethic dismissed, rumors and hearsay reported as fact.  His word was not taken.  The media made up its mind and demanded asterisks, or worse, just decided the record didn't count. 

In 2014, Peyton Manning, a player in his late 30's who had come back from many injuries, including a career threatening one, broke one of his sport's most hallowed records.

Manning was celebrated;  his motives commended, his work ethic lauded, any questions about him was dismissed as sour grapes and hate.  His word was taken as gospel.  The media made up its mind and decided that he was everything right with a sport where so much has gone wrong recently. 

***

Am I missing something?  This can't just be a black/white thing, can it?  Is it just the way PEDs are viewed in their respective sports?  I mean, Manning plays a game where HGH is ingested like so much candy, so are we to believe that he came back from an injury that would cripple most people through only a lot of hard work and a good diet?  And all any hack writer can ever talk and/or joke about is the size of Barry Bonds' head.  Have you fucking seen Peyton Manning's head?!?!?

The fucking thing doesn't even fit inside his helmet!

Look, I am no Barry Bonds apologist.  I am a baseball hipster, I hated Barry Bonds way way way before it was cool.   But why has no one even questioned Peyton about the comeback from his injury?  Why has no one pointed out that Manning is playing as well or better at age 38 than just about any other quarterback ever (and that after a catastrophic injury)?  Most QBs are absolutely finished by age 36-37 - Unitas, Montana, Marino, Fouts, the list goes on and on.  Yet Peyton keeps breaking records and playing better than he ever has and all the media can do is fall over themselves to fawn over his greatness.  If no one cares about PEDs in football, why are they the end of the fucking world in baseball?  I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Rant #2: Alumni.

       There is a block of Hall of Fame voters absolutely obsessed with keeping out the steroid users.  Some won't vote for any player from the "steroid era" period.  But what if a player who did steroids, a player we all know and love, is already in the hall of fame.  I am not talking about 19th century health tonic drinkers, I am talking about a player who exhibits every trait of the modern PED users we all have memorized and that the all knowing arbiters of integrity have deemed contemptible and universally rejectable forever in perpetuity. I am talking about Rickey Henderson.

Now, everything I am about to lay out is pure conjecture, but the baseball writers have no problem using that to make their decisions, so please bear with me.  Rickey came up as a 20 year old rookie and was immediately someone to watch.  In his first five years in Oakland, he lead the league in stolen bases, three times swiping 100 or more.  He was dynamic, dangerous, deadly.  By 1985, the Athletics were rebuilding and Rickey was going to command a lot of money as a free agent, so he got traded to the Yankees.  He then had two of his most brilliant years at age 26 and 27 (as one would expect).  Then something odd happened in 1987, Rickey got hurt.  He came up with this muscular fire plug of a body and suddenly, it betrayed him.  He hurt his hamstrings and missed 70 games and didn't lead the league in steals for the first time in almost a decade.  George Steinbrenner, not known for his compassion or patience, thought Rickey was dogging it.  The media decided to agree with him.  The New York press turned on Rickey and even though he came back to have another wonderful typically Rickey campaign in 1988, the damage was done.  He was a hot dog but worse, just a dog.  He started out slow and injured again in 1989 and the howling became deafening.  He eventually got traded back to the A's in mid-season where suddenly, he was rejuvenated.  He helped them win the World Series that year.  Then in 1990, he had an amazing MVP season where he outdid all his previous hitting and power numbers (by a good margin) and then settled into a comfortable second phase of his career where he basically did not age.  His age 32 season is hardly discernible from his age 39 season, where back with the A's (again) he once again lead the league in stolen bases.  At age 39. 

Funny, who was on that 1989 and 1990 Oakland team?  Why, it's the godfather of steroids, one Jose Canseco.  Who else?  Why, it is one of the all time scapegoats for PEDs, Mark McGwire.  How did a man who made is living with his legs and was starting to get injured and breakdown in his late 20's suddenly able to win an MVP at age 31, then continue having amazing seasons well into his 30's and play until he was 44?  Was 1990 a steroid fueled Fuck You season a la Roger Clemens in 1997 and 1998?  Did his body change?  Well, his thighs certainly look a lot thicker in 1997 (Padres) than they did in 1982 with the A's.  How many players lead the league in steals in his 19th season?  One, Rickey Henderson.  By the end of his career, Rickey Henderson broke major single season and career records by Hall of Famers Lou Brock, Ty Cobb, and none other than Babe Ruth.  Why weren't the writers protecting the legacies of these men?  How did all these red flags get by the writers? Why is Rickey Henderson in the Hall of Fame?

Now, I cannot prove any of these things about Rickey Henderson but all these things when presented this way surely make you think.  And I could write a similar breakdown of Hall of Famers like Nolan Ryan (pitched 'til he was 46? throwing 98? really?), Kirby Puckett (sudden illness that lead to retirement, could it have been steroids?), Paul Molitor (overcame a lot of injuries, didn't he?), and heck, why not Roberto Alomar (suddenly stopped playing well when they talked about testing for PEDs) or even Dave Winfield (he played football, right?).  It wouldn't make it true, but the damage would be done.  Funny how that works...

Rant #1: Craig Biggio.

       What the hell did Craig Biggio do to anyone?  Did he murder someone?  Did he kidnap the family of a baseball writer and then rape and torture them on a webcam for the world to see?  All Craig Biggio did for 20 years is show up at his job and do it at a level we should all aspire to.  He got on base more times than all of 17 players in the history of the game.  He scored more runs than everyone but 14 players.  He's 5th all time in doubles - do you know who else in in that top ten?  Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial, Ty Cobb, George Brett, Napoleon Lajoie, Carl Yastrzemski, Honus Wagner, and Hank Aaron.  Maybe doubles aren't as sexy and home runs, but that is one hell of a list to be on.  He played catcher, second base, and center field.  Do you know how many other players have ever been regulars at those three positions in their careers?  None.  That's right, he played three of the four "up the middle" positions for entire seasons at a time.  I could go on and on, but just look at his numbers yourself, go on, I'll wait. 

Do you know what list you will not find Craig Biggio on?  Any list that includes steroid users or rumored steroid users.  Now, I am not a Houston Astros fan so I didn't follow his career every day, but I followed baseball pretty damn close for his entire tenure in the majors and never once did I hear even whispers.  I have seen several versions of the infamous Mitchell Report - mostly conjecture and nothing based on actual fact (because no one has ever seen it outside of the MLB offices) - and he's never on it.  A lot of rumors surround longtime teammate Jeff Bagwell so I guess he is guilty because he sat in the same dugout and clubhouse?  Rumors suddenly are contagious?  Perhaps Craig Biggio injected Ken Caminiti with the PEDs that won him the 1996 MVP and eventually led to his death?  Does the BBWAA have these incriminating photos circulating amongst themselves and they refuse to share them with the laymen fan?  I am still trying to piece all this together because the facts by themselves make little to no sense whatsoever. 

My eyes were opened to Craig Biggio, like a lot of fans, after reading Bill James' New Historical Abstract in 2001.  In it, he listed Biggio as the 35th best player of all time.  OF ALL TIME.  Now, lord knows James has been guilty of some hyperbole in his time, but he often uses it to make a point.  If you have never read the passage, I suggest you do.  Once again, I'll wait.  Click here if you can't read that link.

So Craig Biggio, who is comparable to first ballot Hall of Famers Robin Yount, Joe Morgan, Paul Molitor, Cal Ripken, and Brooks Robinson (and shoe-in Derek Jeter), has to wait until next year, his third on the ballot, because of second hand hearsay and unelected baseball writers who have decided to be judge and jury to a situation that they admit to not understanding.  I want to know where the spike in Craig Biggio's stats are? Where is his 50 home run season?  Where is his 30 pound weight gain with backne?  And as usual, where is his failed drug test?  The player I would compare him to is Charlie Gehringer, who they incidentally called The Mechanical Man.  Craig Biggio has the indignity of being a wonderful baseball player who was amazingly consistent who happened to play at the same time when some players used steroids.  The baseball writers hate players who are "merely" consistent and obviously have shown their aversion to PEDs and somehow, poor Craig Biggio has fallen through these two nasty cracks at once.  I hope when he is finally elected next year, his acceptance speech is simply him reading the names of the writers who didn't vote for him the last two years and then a gypsy curse to befoul all their houses. 

Three.

      The Baseball Writers Association of America got around to doing their job this year and elected three (very worthy) men to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Greg Maddux.

Greg got 97.2% of the vote.  What I would really like to know is, who are the 16 idiots who looked at his career numbers and said "meh" so we can publicly shame them.  

Maddux is one of the five best pitchers in the history of the game and this was a no-brainer, even for a group that is renown for their lack of brains.

Tom Glavine.

Glavine was a great Atlanta Braves pitcher and won 300 games.  He also pitched for another team in his career and I refuse to actually acknowledge he did so, for obvious reasons.  Still, bully for Tom.  He got an impressive 91.9% of the vote and he definitely belongs.

Frank Thomas.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Tom Glavine in my world is The Big Hurt. 

Frank Thomas is one of the most complete and dangerous hitters of all time.  He is also one of my all time favorite players.  I scanned these two pages, one from early in his career and one from later, but I could have chosen from an entire binder.  I also have a whole shoebox full of inserts and game used cards as well.  I was a Frank Thomas completest for a long time.  I am glad the writers used their brain and elected him.  Well, 83.7% of them did, the rest of them should probably have their membership in the BBWAA revoked.  But I digress.  I was trying to keep this post positive and congratulatory.  But rest assured, there are rants coming.  Oh my, are there rants coming.  I have two or three of them brewing and one complete dissertation.  But those will come in the next few days.  In fact, after I spend the next few days howling like a lunatic, maybe I will post my Frank Thomas player collection as a palate cleanser and reward for letting me vent.  For now though, I am quite happy that three very deserving men actually got elected into the Hall.

Sanctimony.

       Attention baseball writers: eat a bag of dicks. You are not the story, you are not the arbiters of morality, and - let's be honest here - you are tilting the rules only so it suits you. If Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Gaylord Perry, Whitey Ford, and Pud Galvin are all in the Hall of Fame, than all of this eras players can be too. (except for Rafael Palmerio, fuck that guy.)

I mean, hey, if Tom Yawkey and Kenesaw Mountain Landis are your moral pillars, I am shocked Hank Aaron and Willie Mays ever got in the Hall.

Basically, with members like Bill Conlin, the baseball writers have said that it is just fine to have sex with children but even the suspicion of steroids?  No way, Jose.

My real issue is the baseball writers applying arbitrary morality to the whole thing.   Racists and wife beaters and amphetamine users and on-the-field cheaters are fine, but if you used STEROIDS - oh noes! lordy lordy! What about the sanctity of the game? What about the children?  Give me a fucking break. 

/mini rant

Why is Mike Schmidt here?  Because he said in an interview that if they were around when he was a young player, he absolutely would have used steroids.  I think it is time for us all to be honest with ourselves about the steroid era. It was just that, an era.  Just like the dead ball era, the expansion era, or the pre integration era.  The baseball writers need to learn some of the history of baseball before they start applying their misguided criteria to the whole thing.