EVIL~! alkeiper

You know who had the best winning percentage in the 80s? The Yankees.

I probably put more thought into this then is healthy. In any case, I drew up a spreadsheet with those 10 and Brown, and took a look. Right off the bat, I'd scratch Rivera. Starting pitchers are fundamentally better than relievers. He's easily above Glavine as well. The thing with Brown is that he doesn't give up many home runs. Only Rivera and Maddux on that list allow home runs at a lower rate. If you look at the active pitching leaders, you'll see Brown many times on those lists. Brown is one of baseball's elite, but no one noticed because he hasn't played on good teams, outside of '97.

Four hours if you're a Yankees fan.

As far as Anglesault goes, its a matter of optimism vs. pessimism as far as I see it. I can't look at it the way Anglesault does, because I see a sporting event as a competition, in which by definition, one team must lose. It doesn't mean they've failed. It just happens. If you go through life looking at a non-championship as a complete failure, you'll never be happy.

Just out of curiousity, who are the ten pitchers who would rank ahead of Kevin Brown?

In all fairness to the writers, the only undeserving player they've elected the last decade was Tony Perez. They might leave deserving players out, but they don't let bad ones in.

The big problem with pitchers like Franco is that so many similar pitchers exist. Jeff Montgomery, Dan Quisenberry, Rick Aguilera, Robb Nen, etc. Criteria 1 of any HOF is standing out from the pack. I don't see it from Franco.

Fair point. But even so, 13.8% is entirely too low.

If four seasons of 90+ win baseball doesn't entice fans to show up, I don't see what a new stadium would do.

True. My Bill James Handbook pegs Palmeiro as an 86% shot for 3,000 hits. Larry Walker. Oy. The first real test of Colorado. I'd have to say no right now. He doesn't stand out from Parker, Rice, et al., and none of those guys are in. Albert Belle. Good enough, but his career was too short. Bernie Williams. No, but could make it if he puts a few good seasons together. Edgar Martinez. Yes. I don't count his DHing against him, because he could've played first if he had to. Simply one of the dominant hitters of our era. Barry Larkin. Yes. Fred McGriff. Yes, as long as he tops 500 home runs. Craig Biggio. Yes. I great player in all facets of the game. Curt Schilling. Not enough wins yet. He'll need to pitch well into his 40s. John Franco. No. Mike Mussina. Yes. 199 wins along with an amazing .644 winning percentage. Kevin Brown. No. See Curt Schilling. Trevor Hoffman. Not with under 1,000 career innings pitched.

Ok. Lets get the little notes out of the way first..... 1. Bruce Sutter got more votes than Goose Gossage. I agree with ranking Eckersley above Gossage. He's got 190+ wins to go along with 390 saves. But what argument exists that Sutter is better than Gossage? Its utter nonsense. Gossage played a full DECADE longer than Sutter. 2. Sandberg made a 10% progression in voting. Those type of players are usually elected eventually. 3. Let me provide you with a short list of players. Joe Tinker, Bobby Wallace, Phil Rizzuto, Luis Aparicio, Pee Wee Reese, Travis Jackson, Dave Bancroft, Rabbit Maranville These players have three things in common. I. They are all in the Hall of Fame II. They are all shortstops III. None of them are as good as Alan Trammell. The BBWAA's refusal to give Trammell any consideration is completely sickening. He is CLEARLY in the realm of the HOF's established standards. CLEARLY. I'd also like to run a quote from MikeSC in another thread..... I took a look at Jeter's baseball-reference.com page, and his most similar player at age 29 is.....Alan Trammell. So how the heck is Jeter a HOF type player, and Trammell can't even get 20%? Disgusting.

Griffey's in. He was one of the best players in baseball for ten years, and not many hall of famers can say that. He only needs 19 home runs for 500 as well. Glavine's at 251 wins right now. If he can make it to 275, I say put him in. 163-120 just isn't that impressive for a hall of famer. As for the closer role, you need to be pretty damned good to stand out from the pack. If Gossage can't make the hall, I don't see how Smoltz's relief work can help. Eckersley has more wins than Smoltz, and 200 more saves, so that's not a good comparison. In. He's got the 14th highest career slugging percentage of all time, AS A CATCHER. He's the best hitting catcher who ever played. Considering he'll likely retire around the 550 home run mark, I can't see leaving him out.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/events/h...y2004/index.jsp With the HOF announcement coming Tuesday, I think this is a good time to discuss HOF candidates. Who are your picks. Here's mine, and why. Paul Molitor Of the 19 eligible players with 3,000 or more hits, not one of them is excluded from the Hall of Fame. With 3,319 hits, Molitor is in solid company. Goose Gossage If you are going to elect any relievers into the Hall, you have to start with Gossage. For ten years, he was the best relief pitcher in baseball. Gossage went nine years without posting an ERA above 3. Dennis Eckersley 197 career wins AND 390 career saves. Eckerlsey redefined the closer role, and pitched effectively into his 40s. The fact that no similar pitchers exist speaks volumes about his career. Ryne Sandberg Not only was Sandberg the best hitting second baseman of his day, he was also a perennial gold glove winner. Also stole 344 bases. Andre Dawson The Hall is loaded with outfielders, so why add Dawson? For starters, Dawson is one of the best power/speed players in history. He hit 438 home runs, gathered 2,774 hits, and stole 314 bases. Don't forget that he played center field for half of his career, and that he won several gold gloves while playing center. Alan Trammell Of all my picks, I suspect this one will take the most effort. The argument here is simple. Alan Trammell is superior to above half of the players currently in the Hall of Fame. I entered the career stats of all HOF shortstops into a spreadsheet, and computed the averages. Trammell works out just about even or above in all aspects. The average HOF SS has a career OPS of 758. Trammell's career OPS is 767. Quite simply, there's no excuse to excuse Trammell, given the established standards of the Hall of Fame. Bert Blyleven The popular pick among sabermetricians. Blyleven has 287 career wins. If he had 13 more, he'd be in already. Blyleven retired 3rd all time in strikeouts, and his three most similar comps (Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins) are in the Hall of Fame. Blyleven was actually very similar to Don Drysdale, except Blyleven pitched after the age of 32.

For those interested, mlb.com will have live radio coverage of the announcement.

I just remember about my ancient baseball blooper tapes, featuring introductions by Tug McGraw. The man was certainly a cut-up.

Essentially, Looper is a stopgap while they wait for their minor league guys to develop.

And they would've gotten screwed. Especially fouls, which are sometimes used as in-game strategy.

M's trade Cirillo to Padres Essentially a salary trade. Jarvis makes about $4.5 million next season, but his contract runs out. I don't get this trade from the Padres perspective. They already have Sean Burroughs. Why bother getting Cirillo? Still, they give up no real talent. Same with the Mariners. This trade is essentially a push for both teams, although watching Scott Spiezio field at third could get interesting.

Now now. Studies have shown that new ballparks increase attendance, leading to an increase in payroll, and a BOOM period for the team and its fans. Just ask Cincinnati. And Pittsburgh. And Milwaukee.

If they ever build a new Mets' home field, they should model it after Ebbets Field, except with the fences moved back. The right field looks in that direction.

I think next time, simply giving a win or loss instead of 8 a game would be ideal. I've been destroyed the last three weeks, going a combined 0-24, and its probably killed my season.

http://www.nbc10.com/news/2742861/detail.html

I believe it was. I'm sure Comcast will have alot to say after the Sixers game.

Good call. Mattingly is very much on the fence. I doubt he'll go in, however, and I can't support his candidacy. His career was just too short, and he wasn't good enough for long enough. Will Clark was just as good, and no one's passing his name along as a serious candidate.

should Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa also be banned for life. both are certain hall of famers, but both apparently used performance enhancers and McGwire of course admitted to/quit doing that at the end of his career; and Sosa was caught using a corked bat. these clearly call into question the legitamacy of the game. and, if Rose only bet on his team winning...how is that really 'bad', hes betting on him team winning. if he admitted betting against the reds, thatd be alot different. To answer the first part, no. My comment serves to answer why gambling is bad, not who should be banned. Of course baseball should work to ensure that illegal performance enhancers are not used, but you can't apply those rules retroactively. If you do, keep in mind that Babe Ruth used a corked bat as well. As for the second part, Jayson Stark answered that statement quite well. Simply, those directly involved in the outcome of a sporting event should not wager on the outcomes of those events. It is a conflict of interest.