I've been asked by several readers to comment on Hall of Fame voting. I have nothing new to add, including that I have nothing new to add. I think Barry Larkin, a slick fielding shortstop who combined pop and pizzazz for 15 years was a slam dunk.
Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Tim Raines clearly belong, in my opinion. Unless someone demonstrates that Bags was using, that's really a non-starter. Edgar was one of the greatest hitters of all time despite losing two-three seasons at the start of his career to Mariner mismanagement. Raines, as I have noted previously, is one of the best outfielders of all time, but he excelled in the overlooked elements of the game (walks, OBP, stealing percentage, non-flashy defense) and not in the over-valued (batting average, RBI) while playing in lousy hitting environments and on teams that were home in October.
Larry Walker, Jack Morris, Fred McGriff, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Bernie Williams Juan Gonzalez, Tim Salmon and Brad Radke were variously terrific players who, in my mind, didn't rise to the exceptional levels required for Cooperstown. Morris particularly, who appears poised to enter the Hall next year or the year following, is over-appreciated because he pitched for superb teams that pumped up his win total and had a signature World Series performance. For whatever you think it's worth, Morris posted a mediocre 1.8 K/BB ratio and is credited by seamheads with a 4.54 "fair run average," i.e., what his ERA should have been in a neutral ballpark with average defense and luck stripped out. Even without sabermetric adjustment, his 3.90 ERA was just five percent better than average for his career, hardly the standard of the Hall of Fame.
Three players on the ballot induce head-scratching. I don't remember Alan Trammel as a HOF-caliber player, but the retrospective statistical line suggests he deserves support. When in doubt I like to err on the side of caution, leaving Trammel to consort once again with his double-play partner, Lou Whitaker, on the sidelines. The same for Lee Smith, who excelled for eight different teams, each of which was happy to let him go. Relievers are a tough lot to evaluate because they pitch so little. In my book, Smith should console himself with $120 million in career earnings.
Then there's Mark McGwire, who appears headed to the Hall of Infamy. (Where would that be housed -- Devil Lake, N.D.? Needles, CA?) Absent the scandal, his .394 OBP/.588 SLG, 583 homers and 1317 walks would constitute a shoe-in candidacy regardless of sloth on the basepaths and foibles afield. I tend to lean towards leniency in the steroid debate -- and after all, Big Mac never broke a baseball rule -- but it's hard to argue that any career benefited more from artificial muscling than his. I remember shaking my head at McGwire crushing a one-handed, opposite field home run on a pitch that fooled him during his magical 70-home run season in 1998. With respect to his Hall candidacy, I shake my head still.
And that's the dilemma confronting voters beginning next year when Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa enter the fray along with McGwire and Rafael Palmiero. If voters are not of the mind that any cheating automatically disqualifies a player, how will they weigh the depth of misconduct -- much of which is unknown -- against the record of achievement. Bonds is the most despised of the group, yet we know that he began taking after he had already earned his Hall pass.
So to deliver on the opening promise of not offering anything new here, the Hall voters will have to navigate a winding whitewater river with one oar and no map over the next few years. Whatever they decide about steroid-tinged players, it will be better-reasoned than their votes to put Jack Morris in the Hall of Fame.
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