Two superstars of the era when I first started watching the game, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg, were elected today to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Boggs on his first try and Sandberg on his third. With the two colorful players going in along with writers’ wing inductee Peter Gammons, it should be a hell of an induction weekend this July.
Among notables falling short this year were outfielders Jim Rice and Andre Dawson, closers Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter, overrated Yankee Don Mattingly, and Series-winning Twins hurlers Bert Blyleven (not circled) and Jack Morris. Of those, I vote only for Rice and Morris- the former because he was the most feared slugger of his day, and the latter because he was the winningest pitcher of the ‘80s, and won World Series for three teams. Alas, Gossage, Sutter, Morris, and Mattingly will have to settle for induction only into the Mustache Hall of Fame; the only current members of both Halls are Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter, and now Boggs.
And finally, a year after his classless admission that he indeed bet on baseball, the Pete Rose Protest Vote hit an all-time low, as the banished Hit King received only nine write-in votes, compared to 15 last year. But that’s still two more than onetime shoo-in Darryl Strawberry got. I highly doubt we’ll be seeing either of the disgraced former superstars enshrined in Cooperstown in our lifetimes.
Posted by Stephen Silver at January 4, 2005 05:39 PMStop the Insanity!!! Please!!!
Don Mattingly is NOT overrated in any way!
He is one of my top 3 fave's of all time after Joe DiMaggio and before Derek Jeter, but I am sure you think those 2 are OVERRATED as well...
I am a little surprised that you would omit Bert Blyleven from the Hall of Fame. I would have thought that all Twins fans are astounded at this point that he is not already enshrined in Cooperstown.
Posted by: Wes at January 4, 2005 10:11 PMBoggs had domestic violence issues while in Boston. Did anyone take that into account?
Posted by: matt at January 5, 2005 08:02 AMSandberg had to overcome Rafael Palmero having an affair with his wife in Chicago. I'm sure that helped him make it.
Mattingly overrated?? Two words: Kirby Puckett
Posted by: at January 5, 2005 10:58 AMMatt-
Boggs was defendant in a paternity suit while with the Red Sox- which you're probably thinking of- though I have no recollection of him being accused of any kind of domestic violence.
And yes, Mattingly is overrated. The key number is 2-0. That's how many championships Puckett won, compared to Don- and Puckett's team got worse after he retired, not better.
Posted by: Stephen Silver at January 5, 2005 11:17 AMOops, the Margo Adams thing was palimony, not paternity.
Posted by: Stephen Silver at January 5, 2005 11:53 AMSteve, How many women has Don Mattingly assaulted?... oh wait, that's a cheap shot. Sorry. But honestly, other than the obvious difference in championships between Puckett and Mattingly, compare their career stats and tell me that Kirby was any better than Donny Baseball.
Puckett's in because his numbers were as good as ever when he was struck in the eye by the baseball, and it isn't unreasonable to believe that he'd put up five more seasons averaging 150 hits, giving him the magic 3000.
Personally, I would have thought twice before making that automatic assumption.
Meanwhile, Mattingly's numbers took a nose dive after he turned 29. He went from a .327 hitter averaging 26 homers and 114 RBIS a year to a .286 hitter averaging 9 homers and 63 RBIS a year.
Yeah, he got hurt. And if he'd put up great numbers for ten years, I'd give him credit for the injury and vote for him. Six great years aren't enough. Puckett did it for 12 years.
Posted by: Bill McCabe at January 5, 2005 10:31 PMSteve,
One thing, I don't consider championship rings when considering HOF potential. Eddie Matthews' rings didn't make him a better player than Ernie Banks, he was just on better teams.
Posted by: Bill McCabe at January 5, 2005 10:36 PMJim Rice- Most feared hitter of his day- not even close. You mentioned a number of guys that were more dangerous, such as Reggie Jackson and Mike Schmidt.
Posted by: Jack at January 6, 2005 03:10 AM