This HOF ballot includes seven names -- two automatic
By Scott Miller | CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer Follow ScottKnow whose box I'd love to check on my Hall of Fame ballot this year?
Tony Fernandez, based simply on one of my all-time favorite pregame incidents. This was several years ago in San Diego, and a misunderstanding during batting practice between Fernandez, making his first appearance on the Hall ballot this winter, and then-coach Rob Picciolo, boiled over into the clubhouse -- in full view of teammates, reporters, clubhouse guys, everybody.
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| Jack Morris simply dominated in the '80s and he deserves to be in the Hall. (Getty Images) |
So we went back to Fernandez one last time to see if he would talk. Sitting slumped over in front of his locker, a still-fuming Fernandez asked what Picciolo said.
"He said, 'No comment,'" we told him.
At which point, Fernandez went ballistic. He threw both arms up into the air and shrieked, "HE'S LYING!"
Know whose box I'd also love to check on my ballot?
The late Ken Caminiti's, as a show of respect toward the one player out of hundreds who had the guts to publicly discuss the game's raging steroids problem.
That it took so long for a player -- any player -- to publicly identify the insidious cancer that was growing inside major league clubhouses is just one glimpse into the union's steely code of silence.
By speaking out shortly before his death -- admitting his own steroid use and discussing the high percentage of others who were using -- Caminiti performed a far greater service to the game and to the future health of his fellow players than anybody had to that point, including commissioner Bud Selig and union chief Don Fehr.
But there is little room for humor and grand statements on the Hall ballot (the only statement to be made is regarding Mark McGwire, which I wrote about earlier this week.
Which is why I mailed back my Hall ballot with these names checked this year:
Bert Blyleven
Ferguson Jenkins had a lifetime record of 284-226, an ERA of 3.34 and worked 4,499 innings. Blyleven was 287-250 with a 3.31 ERA and 4,970 innings pitched. Yet Jenkins, with 49 shutouts and 3,192 strikeouts, is in the Hall. And Blyleven, with 60 shutouts and 3,701 strikeouts, is not.
Had Blyleven reached the 300-win mark, he'd be an automatic (if not for too many years pitching for bad Minnesota and Cleveland teams, he'd have 300). My point with him is this: The guy ranks fifth all-time in strikeouts -- and was third until Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson recently passed him. Third! He also ranks ninth all-time in shutouts -- ahead of such luminaries as Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Juan Marichal and Clemens.
A player needs to obtain at least 75 percent of the vote to enter Cooperstown's pearly gates. Blyleven's percentage has been creeping up in recent years, but at 53.3 percent last winter, he still has miles to go. He deserves to get there.
Goose Gossage
My attitude with Lee Smith, who was the all-time saves leader until San Diego's Trevor Hoffman passed him in September, always has been this: When Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage land in Cooperstown, that's when I'll begin to consider Mr. Smith.
Gossage worked back in the day when men were men and closers were, too. His 310 career saves are very impressive, though not as glitzy as the numbers modern one-inning specialists like Dennis Eckersley, Smith and John Franco have stacked up.
But what too many voters don't consider is the fact that it's not just about numbers. Gossage typically worked two or three innings at a clip, which is why he also earned 124 wins. Smith? Seventy-one over 18 years. Franco? Ninety over 21 seasons.
When Gossage led the AL with 27 saves for the Yankees in 1978, he pitched 134 innings. Smith, meanwhile, worked a whole 38 innings to get 33 saves in the strike-shortened 1994 season. Sutter finally was elected last summer, and hopefully that portends good things for the Goose.
Tony Gwynn
One of two no-brainers on this year's ballot. If Gwynn isn't a Hall of Famer, then former Sen. George Mitchell will need to halt his steroids investigation and look into this (wait ... you mean Mitchell and his bulldogs haven't found anything yet?)
Gwynn never batted lower than .309 in a full season, and when he hit .394 in 1994, it was the highest batting average in the NL since Bill Terry batted .401 in 1930. He was such a magician with the bat that he practically has a hit named after him. Whenever a single rolls through the "5.5 Hole" -- the spot in the infield between third base (5 on your scorecard) and shortstop (6) -- anybody who spent significant time watching Gwynn carve up opposing pitchers thinks of him immediately.
Jack Morris
OK, so his relatively high career ERA (3.90) is one reason why only 41.2 percent of the voters included him on their ballots last winter. Of the 59 pitchers enshrined in Cooperstown, none has an ERA so bloated.
But what too many people don't consider is this: Beginning his career less than 10 years after the mound was lowered and in the decade in which the designated hitter was introduced, Morris was one of the unfortunate chaps to help usher in our current golden age for hitters. Soon enough, you're going to see ERAs in the 3.90 range for most pitchers going into the Hall.
Meanwhile, chew on this: Morris led all major league pitchers in the 1980s in wins (162), complete games (133), starts (332) and innings pitched (2,443).
Seems to me that qualifies Morris as one of the most dominant pitcher of his generation -- if not the most dominant -- and that resume should be good enough for Cooperstown. Plus, the guy anchored three World Series champion staffs -- 1984 Tigers, 1991 Twins and 1992 Blue Jays-- and in Game 7 in '91, pitched arguably the most masterful game in Series history, a 10-inning shutout against the Braves.
Jim Rice
The question among opposing pitchers in the late 1970s wasn't whether they liked their Rice steamed or fried, but whether they preferred to intentionally walk him or have him given the day off, with the chance of him pinch-hitting in a crucial late situation.
The argument against Rice -- that his years of dominance didn't stretch much more than a decade -- should be completely trumped by how dominant he was during his peak. The guy finished among the top five in MVP voting five times, and his MVP 1978 season, with 406 total bases, remains one for the ages.
Cal Ripken Jr.
The other no-brainer on this year's ballot. Both Ripken and Gwynn should be elected in first-ballot mandates. Looking back, it's easy to forget that among all of Ripken's other skills, the guy had power. He finished with 431 career homers -- he was part of a trio with Robin Yount and Alan Trammell that helped change forever the way people viewed shortstops offensively.
With 3,184 hits, Ripken is one of just eight players in history -- not just shortstops, but players -- to collect more than 3,000 hits and 400 homers. Then there was something about him being an Iron Man, and playing in a few games in a row.
Oh, right -- 2,632 consecutive games.
Somebody said J.D. Drew was closing in on that mark. No?
Alan Trammell
I've been shouting at the ocean for years on this one, and given the 17.7 percent of the vote that Trammell received last winter, it doesn't appear to be making much difference.
But here goes: Ozzie Smith rode 91.74 percent of the vote into Cooperstown in 2002. Trammell last year received 17.7 percent of the votes. Trammell isn't a slam-dunk Hall of Famer, but I know this: No freakin' way there should be that significant of a gap in the voting between him and Smith.
In the 1980s, you probably would have taken Smith over Trammell defensively, but it was darn close. While Trammell wasn't as flashy, he still made all of the routine plays, and his range was significant. He was above average defensively.
Across the board offensively, it wasn't even close: You'd take Trammell in a heartbeat. He outhit Smith over their careers (.285-.262), significantly outhomered him (185-28), collected more RBI (1,003-793), outslugged him (.415-.328) and compiled a better on-base percentage (.352-.337).
If you polled general managers in the 1980s on whether they would have taken Trammell or Smith on their team, I bet at least half or more would have opted for Trammell because he had more weapons.
And Smith is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and Trammell can't get more than 17 percent of the votes.
Ludicrous.
