Hall of Fame Committee

Committees are not usually the most efficient or accurate way to make a decision. It has been suggested that God created all animals except the Duck Billed Platypus, which was designed by a committee. That being said there is a group which will decide on Major League Baseball HOF membership for eight individuals. Results will be released this weekend, starting a whole round of debates and arguments about who should be approved. Don’t you love how there’s always something going on in baseball to provoke discussions among fans? I do!

The Committee is made up of 7 Hall of Fame players, 6 current or former baseball executives, and 3 media members/historians. Sadly, I am not included in that group, but as you would expect, I do have an opinion. Each member can only vote for 3 of the 8 on the ballot, and election requires 75%, or 12 votes, so it is a tough mark to achieve. As a result, there will not be many who get the required votes. I would predict that only two will be elected: Jeff Kent and Gary Sheffield. I would certainly agree with their inclusion. Kent was among the best hitting second basemen ever, with the most home runs at his position. Sheffield was one of the truly dominant hitters of his time.

So I would be glad to see these two elected, but if I only had three votes, I would use them differently. I would vote for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, the premiere hitter and pitcher of this generation (maybe ever). There is no way to truly determine how many players were using steroids during their career, but it was rampant. Odds were pretty good that a “juiced” batter was also facing a PED assisted pitcher. The only basis for comparison is how a player did against their peers, and their records are compelling. And although they absolutely looked very suspicious, they were never suspended for failing a drug test. So I would vote for both.

My other vote would go to Carlos Delgado, who is a glaring omission in Cooperstown. In a 17 year career, he had 473 homers (most ever by a Puerto Rican) and 1512 RBI. Despite these numbers he didn’t even receive enough votes in his first year of eligibility to remain on the ballot. Why? Voters could only cast their votes for 10 players, and in 2015 that ballot included 4 were were elected to the Hall that year and 9 others who were inducted later so it was a numbers game. Still, how do you not vote for Delgado, who had a lifetime OPS ( On base % + Slugging %) of .929, which is the 24th best in the entire history of baseball. Also take a look at his numbers alongside Willie Stargell’s. They are almost identical! Carlos deserves a plaque!

The next two are Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy, very good and well respected players. I would compare them to two other players: Harold Baines and Dwight Evans. Numbers are very similar for the four, with Dwight as the best and Baines the weakest. So my solution is to get Evans in at the next opportunity and either add Mattingly and Murphy or remove Baines. I’m good either way.

The last candidate is Fernando Valenzuela. Although his career numbers are insufficient for the Hall, there is no denying that he had a tremendous influence on baseball. So I propose that he be awarded the prestigious Buck O’Neil Award for overall contributions to the game.

Ok, so that’s the way I see it from here. There will be more to say after the results are released, and much more to say when the BBWA votes come out next year. Stay tuned.

That’s one man’s opinion - What’s yours?