ELECTION
2012 BASEBALL STYLE
Well it’s that
time of the year again. Where the
baseball writers take out their pens and cast their ballots for the Hall of
Fame. And just like every year, there
are questions about who will get in, who should get in, and will Pete Rose ever
be inducted? Well, today’s blog is all
about that. Let’s start with the people
that will get in. Up first, Mike Piazza,
arguably the greatest hitting catcher of all time. With a career batting average over .300 and
427 home runs is a pretty safe bet to make the Hall. Secondly, Craig Biggio and no, not because he
was hit by 285 pitches. For me, over
3000 hits, and 291 home runs from mainly a second baseman gets you into the
Hall.
Now
for the players that should get inducted.
Lee Smith, 478 career saves.
Smith should have been inducted a long time ago (this is his 11th
year on the ballot) when he was the career saves leader and now sits third on
the list behind Hoffman and Rivera. Next
up with 254 career wins and over 3800 innings pitched, Jack Morris who was
close last year with 66.7% of the votes.
And lastly, my homer pick, Roger Clemens. Yea, yea, I hear all the steroid talk and
what not. But you know what? He wasn’t convicted with the fine Judicial System
we have set up in America. But to make
this argument more compelling, going strictly by his earned run averages, which
is really what makes people think he was on steroids, he was for the most part
pretty consistent. He had two phenomenal
years in Houston with another great year.
But also, let’s think about the fact that he was transitioning from the
AL East to the NL Central. Also, if we
are going to bring age into this, Bob Gibson was 32 when he had a 1.12 era, and
36 when he had a 2.46 era. So stop whining, Vote for Rocket.
Now
for my personal favorite topic, Pete Rose.
Is it really fair that we have people linked to steroids and actually
did take steroids on the ballot and not Pete Rose? If anything, Rose should be allowed on the
ballot to let the decision go to the baseball writer’s. I for one, think that the all time hits
leader should be in the hall of fame. So
he bet on baseball while managing the team, it doesn’t take away from him
getting 4256 hits in his career. I
personally think it would be worse to vote Barry Bonds into the Hall of Fame
rather than Rose. He did post a winning
percentage better than .500 as a manager and has very little involvement in
baseball since being banned. I think that has been punishment enough for
someone that loves the game.
In
conclusion, Piazza, Biggio, Smith, Morris, Clemens, and Rose should all be
inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
-Stretch
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