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2008 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

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David Ortiz should definitely be in the HOF. I don't buy the argument that he wasn't great enough for a number of years. For the last 4 seasons he's been legendary in terms of what he's done for a franchise, in important in game situations, and as a face of baseball. He has the numbers, and the postseason success.

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Guest My Pal, the Tortoise

Longevity is important to me, and I don't know if just four years is enough. If he gives us two more years of this, then sure.

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David Ortiz should definitely be in the HOF. I don't buy the argument that he wasn't great enough for a number of years. For the last 4 seasons he's been legendary in terms of what he's done for a franchise, in important in game situations, and as a face of baseball. He has the numbers, and the postseason success.

He's got the Hall of Fame peak. Dave Parker though had a five year stretch where he was just as great, and he's not close to the Hall. And Parker led his team to a World Series title as well, and hit .342 in the 1979 postseason. If these are the best years of Ortiz's career, that's Hall of Fame quality. But he has to back it up for a few years yet.

 

Let's see how Ortiz's prime stacks up.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/bDgf

 

It's great, but it's not transcendent. You have a handful of guys like Dick Allen who had great peaks but fizzled. What stands out though is that Ortiz, unlike Allen or Albert Belle, is immensely likeable. Also, Ortiz is dominant in MVP voting. I think that's the #1 predictor of future Hall of Fame viability.

 

The next couple years will be telling, as players of Ortiz's build generally do not age well.

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Remember when he threw the ball into the dirt on a routine throw to first base during the Yankees/Red Sox series in the 1999 playoff series.

 

My favorite was when he threw the ball into the crowd at Yankee Stadium and hit Keith Olberman's mom in the face.

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Guest NYankees
David Ortiz should definitely be in the HOF. I don't buy the argument that he wasn't great enough for a number of years. For the last 4 seasons he's been legendary in terms of what he's done for a franchise, in important in game situations, and as a face of baseball. He has the numbers, and the postseason success.

 

 

If you open the door for Ortiz, you are going to have to open it up for Albert Belle, Edgar Martinez and several other players.

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David Ortiz should definitely be in the HOF. I don't buy the argument that he wasn't great enough for a number of years. For the last 4 seasons he's been legendary in terms of what he's done for a franchise, in important in game situations, and as a face of baseball. He has the numbers, and the postseason success.

 

 

If you open the door for Ortiz, you are going to have to open it up for Albert Belle, Edgar Martinez and several other players.

 

Heh.

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David Ortiz should definitely be in the HOF. I don't buy the argument that he wasn't great enough for a number of years. For the last 4 seasons he's been legendary in terms of what he's done for a franchise, in important in game situations, and as a face of baseball. He has the numbers, and the postseason success.

 

 

If you open the door for Ortiz, you are going to have to open it up for Albert Belle, Edgar Martinez and several other players.

Each player makes the Hall of Fame on their own merits, not because some vaguely similar players have similar numbers. In Belle's case, he had an abruptly short career and he is the polar opposite of Ortiz on the character issue. Martinez I unquestionably feel SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame when eligible, so no problem there.

 

I'm not saying Ortiz is a Hall of Famer, just that he had a Hall of Fame caliber peak. So did Belle and Martinez. If Ortiz can produce for several more seasons, he's a solid candidate. Any player who consistently places top five in the MVP voting is a serious candidate.

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Guest NYankees
David Ortiz should definitely be in the HOF. I don't buy the argument that he wasn't great enough for a number of years. For the last 4 seasons he's been legendary in terms of what he's done for a franchise, in important in game situations, and as a face of baseball. He has the numbers, and the postseason success.

 

 

If you open the door for Ortiz, you are going to have to open it up for Albert Belle, Edgar Martinez and several other players.

Each player makes the Hall of Fame on their own merits, not because some vaguely similar players have similar numbers. In Belle's case, he had an abruptly short career and he is the polar opposite of Ortiz on the character issue. Martinez I unquestionably feel SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame when eligible, so no problem there.

 

I'm not saying Ortiz is a Hall of Famer, just that he had a Hall of Fame caliber peak. So did Belle and Martinez. If Ortiz can produce for several more seasons, he's a solid candidate. Any player who consistently places top five in the MVP voting is a serious candidate.

 

 

I agree with you on the several more years for Ortiz. It's just that right now he only has 260 hr's and 800 plus rbi's. In 4-5 years he should be 450 hr's plus and 1300 rbi's. It's just that he has to get to that point. You also brought up a great point that players with his body have shown to break down. Belle, Fielder and Mo Vaughn were the 3 classic sluggers from the 90's who all broke down.

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Ortiz is no where close to being a HOF at the moment but he's still relatively young. His career stats would have had a little more padding by now if the Twins hadn't dicked around with him for so long. He didn't even play enough to qualify for a batting title until his first year in Boston (2003) and that was his seventh year in the Majors.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hof08/news/story?id=3171257

 

Larry Stone convinces Phil Rogers to vote for Jim Rice. What's frustrating is how many superior players have been passed over while Rice hangs on. Tim Raines will get half the support, he was a superior player. Jose Cruz was a superior player. He got TWO votes in his only year of eligibility. Rice's supporters take his inflated numbers from Fenway Park and make their qualifiers 1975-86, exactly Rice's peak.

 

During those 12 years, Rice was the most dominant player in the American League. Maybe not the best player -- I'd give that nod to George Brett. But check out Rice from 1975 to '86. He ranked first in the AL in games (1,766), first in at-bats (7,060), first in runs (1,098), first in hits (2,145), first in home runs (350), first in runs batted in (1,276), first in slugging percentage (.520), first in total bases (3,670), first in extra-base hits (752), first in go-ahead RBIs (325), first in multihit games (640), fourth in triples (73) -- so much for the notion that Rice was nothing but a plodder -- and fourth in batting average (.304). He also was first in outfield assists with 125.

 

First in games and at bats, huh? No wonder he rates so highly in every counting stat. Let's expand this to 1970-1990, a few years on each side. Want to guess how many categories Rice leads? How about none of them.

 

Let's have some fun with that 1975-86 stuff for a moment though. One of the big arguments for Rice is that he was the most feared hitter of his day. When it comes to intentional walks in that period though (keep in mind we're using AL only), he rates eighth. Rating ahead of Jim Rice are such non-HOFers as Ben Oglivie, Ken Singleton and Don Baylor. Singleton was a great hitter, played on two pennant winners and had a higher OPS+ than Rice. He failed to receive a single HOF vote.

 

Yet Rice hangs on because he put up some superficially impressive seasons in Fenway. For the record, here are a list of the best seasons by LFers in terms of OPS+. Just look how "historic" Rice's seasons rate.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/m5Br

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Hall of Fame results are announced today.

 

ESPN's Sportsnation has SPOKEN! 75.6% for Rice, 43.6% for Tim Raines. Fucking morons.

 

Since the 12 year standard of dominance has already been debunked by Joe Podnanski, let's have some fun and compare Rice's THREE best seasons. How does Rice from ages 24-26 stack up against MLB history?

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/AgDd

 

33rd. Will Clark was every bit as good at his peak. Bobby Murcer had two seasons better than Rice's best. Ooh, Fred McGriff is a good one. Ignore Benny Kauff, he's only on there because that list includes his Federal League numbers.

 

The point is that while Rice's peak numbers were good, they are not this ungodly stretch that makes him a Hall of Famer. And he brings nothing else to the table.

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But he was SCARY! No one wanted to face him! Pitchers cowered in abject terror when he stepped to the plate!

 

Or something.

 

At least we only have to hear about him for one more year when he doesn't get in today.

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Goose Gossage with 86% of the vote, no other inductees. I'm surprised to see such a high vote percentage so late into his voting process.

 

With the standard for relievers established, Gossage meets those requirements. Deserving candidate.

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Player    Total Votes    Percentage
Rich Gossage    466    85.8%
Jim Rice    392    72.2%
Andre Dawson    358    65.9%
Bert Blyleven    336    61.9%
Lee Smith    235    43.3%
Jack Morris    233    42.9%
Tommy John    158    29.1%
Tim Raines    132    24.3%
Mark McGwire    128    23.6%
Alan Trammell    99    18.2%
Dave Concepcion    88    16.2%
Don Mattingly    86    15.8%
Dave Parker    82    15.1%
Dale Murphy    75    13.8%
Harold Baines    28    5.2%
Rod Beck    2    0.4%
Travis Fryman    2    0.4%
Robb Nen    2    0.4%
Shawon Dunston    1    0.2%
Chuck Finley    1    0.2%
David Justice    1    0.2%
Chuck Knoblauch    1    0.2%
Todd Stottlemyre    1    0.2%
Jose Rijo    0    0%
Brady Anderson    0    0%

 

Tim Raines got 24.3%. Jim Rice finished nearly 50% higher. That is absolutely pathetic, disgraceful.

 

Otherwise, the most interesting piece of information is that Mark McGwire failed to gain a SINGLE Hall of Fame vote.

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Player    Total Votes    Percentage
Mark McGwire    128    23.6%

 

Otherwise, the most interesting piece of information is that Mark McGwire failed to gain a SINGLE Hall of Fame vote.

 

Que?

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YES! Gossage should have gotten in ages ago.

 

Unfortunately, Rice will be getting in next year. I just don't get it.

 

 

Rickey is on the ballot next year, which will probably hurt the chances of Rice getting in.

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YES! Gossage should have gotten in ages ago.

 

Unfortunately, Rice will be getting in next year. I just don't get it.

 

 

Rickey is on the ballot next year, which will probably hurt the chances of Rice getting in.

But next year is Rice's last year on the ballot, so I expect a strong campaign to get him in.

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