04/26/24
January 05, 2011
Alomar and Blyleven Elected to the Hall of Fame:
They join Pat Gillick, Bill Conlin, and Dave Van Horne as 2011 inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
There's no crying in baseball. But there is spitting, and it's OK.
posted by graymatters at 04:34 PM on January 05, 2011
Notes:
Alomar's 90.0% vote total is the highest ever by a player not elected in his first year on the ballot.
Blyleven took 14 years to get elected, starting with a paltry 17.5% in his first year on the ballot.
Changes in ballot totals from last year:
(found on Baseball Think Factory)
Roberto Alomar...............+126
Bert Blyleven...................+63
Barry Larkin....................+83
Tim Raines......................+54
Jack Morris....................+29
Alan Trammell...................+20
Dale Murphy....................+10
Lee Smith.........................+8
Dave Parker......................+7
Edgar Martinez..................-4
Harold Baines....................-5
Don Mattingly....................-8
Fred McGriff....................-12
Mark McGwire....................-13
Analysis:
The only candidate joining the ballot for next year that might draw more than 5% of the vote is Bernie Williams. Therefore, look for the vote totals for anyone with more than 20% of the votes to go up significantly. However, if you haven't been elected by 2012, the deluge of insanely overqualified (but possibly tainted) candidates in 2013 and beyond will cripple all the backlog players' chances.
Barry Larkin has the best chance of being elected next year, while Jack Morris will probably fall short (and then get buried in 2013 by the arrival of Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, Piazza, Schilling, Biggio, and even worse in 2014 with Maddux, Thomas, Glavine, Kent, Mussina). Morris will have to look to be a Veteran's Committee selection (in 2017 or so).
posted by grum@work at 04:41 PM on January 05, 2011
Also, it looks like telling the truth didn't help McGwire, despite what writers might have said.
Now that Blyleven has finally made it to the promised land, look for sabermetric bloggers to throw their weight behind getting Tim Raines elected. It might take 14 years (like Blyleven).
posted by grum@work at 04:45 PM on January 05, 2011
Yes, well it's a crime Raines isn't in. His stats suggest he should have been a first ballot guy.
And the bullshit about making sure Alomar waited a year - and THEN gets 90% shows how dumb this system has gotten.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 06:00 PM on January 05, 2011
Not that I didn't appreciate his time in Seattle, but I wonder if the one guy who voted for Bret Boone is also one of the 90% who didnt vote for Palmiero, presumably to protect the integrity of the hall.
Also, I thought Bagwell would do better, but pleased that Edgar didn't drop too much; he might be one of the ones to sneak in after a few years when there's a lull in powerhouse candidates like grum@work details.
posted by hincandenza at 06:07 PM on January 05, 2011
I wondered why Boone got that one vote. I also wonder who Kevin Brown pissed off. That guy could pitch. I guess it was the stigma of injuries and being overpaid.
I definitely think Morris and Raines should be in. Interesting that the rise of sabermetrics (which helped Blyleven) is what is killing Morris. Many argue for Morris over Blyleven, pointing out the postseason record of Morris, but Blyleven was 5-1 in the postseason, including a win in Game 2 of the 1987 ALCS over...Jack Morris.
posted by TheQatarian at 08:38 PM on January 05, 2011
Many argue for Morris over Blyleven, pointing out the postseason record of Morris, but Blyleven was 5-1 in the postseason, including a win in Game 2 of the 1987 ALCS over...Jack Morris.
See, it's not Morris' post-season record they point to, but a single goddamn game in the post season (game 7, 1991). (To be fair, his performance in his other two starts in the 1991 World Series were pretty good as well, but are easily overshadowed by his 10-inning masterpiece.)
Morris is 7-4 in the post-season, with a 3.80 ERA. That really isn't all that spectacular and shouldn't really be considered a "plus" for his HOF candidacy.
Kevin Brown being one-and-done on the ballot is a sad thing. I'm not saying he's a HOF'er, but he definitely deserves more respect than that. It was like watching Lou Whitaker and Dave Stieb go one-and-done.
Bagwell is an interesting case as he's put up solid numbers throughout his career, but nothing eye-popping. His greatest year (when he won his only MVP award) was overshadowed by the strike (and lack of World Series), so no one really remembers it that well.
posted by grum@work at 10:52 PM on January 05, 2011
Morris pitched well in the postseason with Detroit, too. He only lost one postseason game prior to 1992, which was the aforementioned game against Blyleven. He wasn't very good in the postseason with the Blue Jays, though. He had multiple chances to become the first pitcher to win a World Series game with three different teams and failed.
That being said, I think Morris will eventually have a similar outcome as Bill Mazeroski. Both were borderline Hall of Fame cases with the one big memorable Game 7 moment (though Morris's was a full-game effort, while Mazeroski's was one swing). Mazeroski got in eventually, and I believe Morris will, too.
posted by TheQatarian at 11:29 PM on January 05, 2011
Mazeroski got in eventually,
He got in because he was one of the best fielding second basemen in history, and the Veterans Committee thought that was good enough.
I have no doubt that Morris will make it into the HOF through the newer version of the VC at some point in the next 10 years.
posted by grum@work at 01:23 AM on January 06, 2011
There's no crying in baseball. But there is spitting, and it's OK
Robbie Alomar's Hall of Fame career is much more than that one incident. Alomar re-defined the position of 2nd base and it's a shame that the spitting incident is the first thing that people tend to bring up.
Congrats Robbie!
posted by BornIcon at 07:10 AM on January 06, 2011
There are now five former Texas Rangers players in the Hall of Fame: Blyleven, Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins and Goose Gossage. It's ironic that all of them are pitchers, since the Rangers always fell short due to lack thereof.
posted by rcade at 08:26 AM on January 06, 2011
In case you were wondering how Palmeiro is taking his dismal 11% vote: "This is one of those dark days in my life. The last five years, ever since that incident, I've felt like they were putting me in a coffin and putting nails in. Today, they were throwing dirt on my coffin."
posted by rcade at 09:23 AM on January 06, 2011
He should just take a Viagra and find something to do.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:16 AM on January 06, 2011
He should just take a Viagra and find something someone to do.
Fixed.
posted by BornIcon at 02:34 PM on January 06, 2011
Blyleven is #1 on my list of major league baseball players whose names confound all of my attempts to pronounce them correctly.
posted by Joey Michaels at 03:02 PM on January 06, 2011
Robbie Alomar Palmeiro's Hall of Fame career is much more than that one incident. . . it's a shame that the spitting failed test incident is the first thing that people tend to bring up.
posted by graymatters at 03:03 PM on January 06, 2011
Re: the spitting incident.
Really, the best response to this (and almost any bad behavior by a baseball player) is "Ty Cobb is in the Hall of Fame."
That really sort of justifies virtually anyone's inclusion.
posted by Joey Michaels at 03:34 PM on January 06, 2011
If someone says "Alomar" and all you think of is that he spit on an umpire once, you missed one helluva baseball player. Watching him play was just such a pleasure. I understand the spitting taints it a bit - it should - but my god he was great at everything.
I'm also super-pumped that he'll go in as a Jay. He's the first. (Winfield, Molitor, Phil Niekro and Rickey were Jays too, but obviously not known for it.)
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:39 PM on January 06, 2011
It may help to note that Alomar and Hirschbeck have fundraised together to help find a cure for adrenoleukodystrophy, which claimed one of Hirschbeck's son's lives.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:11 PM on January 06, 2011
Vote totals below:
% of vote, Name, (total votes)
Elected (greater than 75% of the vote)
90.0% Roberto Alomar (523)
79.7% Bert Blyleven (463)
-
Remain on the ballot for next year (more than 5%)
62.1% Barry Larkin (361)
53.5% Jack Morris (311)
45.4% Lee Smith (263)
41.7% Jeff Bagwell (242)
37.5% Tim Raines (218)
32.9% Edgar Martinez (191)
24.3% Alan Trammell (141)
20.3% Larry Walker (118)
19.8% Mark McGwire (115)
17.9% Fred McGriff (104)
13.6% Don Mattingly (79)
12.6% Dale Murphy (73)
10.0% Rafael Palmeiro (64)
5.2% Juan Gonzalez (30)
-
Final year on the ballot
15.3% Dave Parker (89)
-
Drop off the ballot (less than 5%)
4.8% Harold Baines (28)
4.6% John Franco (27)
2.1% Kevin Brown (12)
1.0% Tino Martinez (6)
0.7% Marquis Grissom (4)
0.7% Al Leiter (4)
0.7% John Olerud (4)
0.3% BJ Surhoff (2)
0.2% Bret Boone (1)
0.2% Benito Santiago (1)
0.0% Carlos Baerga (0)
0.0% Lenny Harris (0)
0.0% Bobby Higginson (0)
0.0% Charles Johnson (0)
0.0% Raul Mondesi (0)
0.0% Kirk Rueter (0)