Hall Of Fame Thread

Or $.05:

Blyleven, Alomar, Raines, Bagwell, and Larkin. It’s funny, I hadn’t originally thought of Larkin as a Hall of Famer until I was bickering with a Yankee fan friend that Jeter is basically as good as Barry Larkin. Given that I’ve always freely admitted that Jeter is a Hall of Famer, I guess that makes Larkin one too.

How does the process work exactly?

He’ll never get in though

I would love to see Bert finally get in.

As for Leiter and Olerud, they may not be in the HOF, but they still belong in the Hall of Awesome, an honor I just created of which they will be the first two recipients.

Bagwell
Blyleven
Alomar
Larkin
Lee Smith
Franco
Raines
McGriff
McGwire
Edgar

My only quibble is with Brown, and even then he has an amazingly good case. My friend pointed out his numbers to me a while back, and it took me by his surprise. Everyone remembers his burnout, but he was a pretty dominant pitcher for a decade.

These guys I have no problem with going in, some are more deserved than others but i think all belong.

Roberto Alomar
Jeff Bagwell
Bert Blyleven
Barry Larkin
Tim Raines
Alan Trammell
Larry Walker

These guys are close to belonging but meh, maybe not.

Fred McGriff
Lenny Harris
Edgar Martinez

I don’t believe there should ever be a place for McGwire or Palmeiro for obvious reasons.

He won’t get in because he was a bit testy with reporters & sucked as a Yankee(It’s not right, but that’s the zone that we’re left in). Brown had a stretch from 96-00 where he was a great pitcher(5 straight 6+ fWAR seasons including a 9.3 in 98, 5 straight years w/ a 3 or lower ERA including a 1.98 in ‘96 & 5 straight w/ 230+ IP) He was on his way to a 6th straight high-quality year in ’01, but only had 115.2 IP. And he has a much better resume than Hall of Fame lock Tom Glavine, who’s a guarantee to get in because of 300 wins.

Is the same as James’s. My one quibble is with putting Alomar in a tier before Larkin. Alomar did appear in a few more games than Larkin, but also had a lower WAR. The reason was principally defense. Alomar was probably a little overrated by the mainstream folks, though I do think the advanced metrics shortchanges him a little. But Larkin was a brilliant defender who would’ve won more Gold Gloves if not for Ozzie Smith. Considering the difference in position, there’s no doubt Larkin was more valuable defensively.

Larkin wasn’t as durable as Alomar in his prime. But Alomar also wasn’t good enough past 33 to stick around more than a couple years, whereas Larkin was still a good player into his middle and late 30’s. I think it mostly evens out.

The most interesting point of comparison between the two is in seasons of 6+ WAR and seasons of 5+ WAR. Alomar had 4 seasons of 6+ WAR, while Larkin had just two. But Larkin had 4 seasons valued between 5 and 6 WAR, while Alomar had just one. The reason is mostly injuries. In 1991, Larkin was worth 5.8 WAR in 123 games (!!). In 1995, Larkin was actually healthy, but only appeared in 130 games due to the strike (Alomar’s strike years weren’t his best).

If I could take either one at their best I might take Alomar, though I’d have to think hard. If I had to take the average season from either one, I think it would be a toss-up, since I’m giving Alomar a bump for defense and durability. Despite very different career shapes, I don’t see much difference in career value.

except they don’t have Kevin Brown. Whatever, their descriptive hall of fame ballot is funny as hell anyway.

We should not sully the HOF by including people we know used an illegal edge to get in.