Tag / Barry Larkin

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Hall Of Fame Batting Leaders

baseballhofgriffeyToday, former White Sox outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. takes his place in Cooperstown, alongside Mike Piazza.  It has been 2 years since we last looked at the overall leaders amongst Hall of Famers, so let’s check back in with the inclusion of 2 classes worth of Hall of Famers on both sides of the ball for all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2016, starting with the offense.

Home Runs

Name Total
Frank Thomas 15
Carlton Fisk 2
Craig Biggio 2
Mike Piazza 2
Ken Griffey Jr 2
Eddie Murray 2

Hits

Name Total
Frank Thomas 54
Ken Griffey Jr 32
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Franchise Four – NL Central

Major League Baseball is asking its fans to vote for the four most impactful players who best represent the history of each franchise.  The winners will be announced in July at the All Star Game in Cincinnati.  Today, I will give my Franchise Four picks for the National League Central, minus the Cubs.

F4Reds5 Hall of Famers should make this an easy choice, but the permanent exclusion of the all-time hit king adds a slight wrinkle to the proceedings for the Reds.  Let’s say that Johnny Bench and Frank Robinson hold down two of the spots.  That leaves Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Barry Larkin, and Pete Rose for the final two slots.  I’m going to go with the exiled Rose and Morgan.

F4Brewers

For a franchise that dates back to 1969, the Brewers, once you get past Robin Yount and Paul Molitor, don’t have much to choose from.  Ryan Braun, despite his association with PEDs, get my third slot.  I guess I’d give the final position to Rollie Fingers.

F4Pirates Continue reading →

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Hall Of Fame Batting Leaders

52174766Today, former White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas takes his place in Cooperstown alongside pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and former managers Joe Torre, Bobby Cox, and Tony LaRussa.  I thought it would be interesting to look at the overall leaders amongst Hall of Famers on both sides of the ball from all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2013, starting with the offense.

Home Runs

Name Total
Frank Thomas 15
Carlton Fisk 2
Eddie Murray 2
Barry Larkin 1
Ryne Sandberg 1
Roberto Alomar 1

Hits

Name Total
Frank Thomas 54
Carlton Fisk 13
Continue reading →
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Blockbuster

SamardzijaAs we head towards the trade deadline at the end of the month, everyone expected the Cubs to move both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel.  I don’t think anyone expected them to go as part of the same deal.  Which is exactly what happened Friday night, when word leaked that the Cubs would send both pitchers to the A’s in exchange for Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, Dan Straily, and a player to be named later.

Russell, a shortstop, was the A’s first round draft pick in 2012 and the top prospect in their system.  The 20 year old, who has been compared to Barry Larkin with power by one scout, joins the collection of middle infield prospects the Cubs have assembled, including Javier Baez, 21, and current starter Starlin Castro, who is still only 24.  Assuming everything pans out, the Cubs will have flexibility to use their surplus at shortstop to fill other holes, most likely in the rotation.

McKinney, the A’s first round pick in last year’s draft, is an outfielder who was the 2nd rated prospect in the A’s system.  Straily garnered some support for AL rookie of the year last season, but struggled with Oakland this year and was back pitching in Triple A at the time of the trade.

Samardzija had been with the Cubs since being drafted out of Notre Dame in 2006.  He made his major league debut in 2008, working out of the bullpen for the division champions.  He moved in to the starting rotation in 2012 and has been the ace of the Cub’s staff ever since.  Hammel was signed as a free agent this past winter with the intention of flipping him to a contender, should he have a good first half.  He certainly held up his end of the bargain.

Samardzija’s numbers in a Cubs uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
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HOF Thoughts

As expected Barry Larkin got the only call to Cooperstown yesterday, joining Ron Santo in the Hall of Fame class of 2012.  As I explained earlier, I think he is well deserving and was somewhat surprised his election took this long.  Another surprising thing, as I look at the stats of the games I have attended, is that he, by far, has the worst numbers of any Hall of Famer I’ve seen play in more than 1 game.

HOF Career Batting

BA At Bats Runs Hits RBI Walks Strike Outs Doubles Triples HR SB GIDP Errors Games
0.111 27 4 3 4 5 6 1 0 1 1 1 0 7

After his .111 average, the next lowest is (again, those I’ve seen more than once) is Carlton Fisk at .302.  Anyway, let’s take a look at the overall election results and see if there are any interesting tidbits. Continue reading →

by jim

2012 Hall Of Fame Ballot

The ballot for next year’s Hall of Fame induction was released earlier this week.  Results will be announced on January 9th.  Here’s my thoughts on each candidate.

Jeff Bagwell – I think that the longtime Astros firstbaseman will eventually get in, but he may have to wait for a few years. 

Jeromy Burnitz – Ah, good old Fabe.  He has no chance, but will go down in history as the man who replaced Sammy Sosa in the Cubs lineup.

Vinny Castilla – A decent player who benefited greatly from the thin Colorado air.

Juan Gonzalez – Seemed destined for Cooperstown before injuries and his own self-importance got in the way.

Brian Jordan – A two sport star that had a solid career, but nothing more.

Barry Larkin – The leading vote getter among non-inductees last year, he should make it this year.

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by jim

Hall of Fame Musings

The 2011 Hall of Fame class was announced today and Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven get to make a summer trip to beautiful Cooperstown, New York.  Alomar, who should have made it last year, raised his vote total by 126, meaning that there are 126 people who don’t deserve to have a Hall of Fame vote. 

Blyleven needed to wait a little longer, making it in his 14th year of eligibility.  His numbers certainly didn’t improve over that time, so I don’t necessarily agree with his selection.  But, if Jim Rice is a Hall of Famer, why not Bert Blyleven?

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2010 Hall of Fame Inductees

The BBWAA will announce the results of their Hall of Fame voting for 2010 tomorrow afternoon. Yesterday, we looked at the 26 candidates and dismissed over half of them. Today, we’ll take a look at the remaining 8 who have a better chance and the 4 who should be elected.

Try Again Next Year: A case can be made, but will need to be made again next year.

  • Fred McGriff – Probably has the numbers to make it, but will suffer due to never being thought of as a potential Hall of Famer while he was playing.  He and Alan Trammell were probably hurt the most by the late-90’s offensive (and steroid) explosion.
  • Bert Blyleven – In his first year of eligibility, he got 26 fewer votes than Tommy John, and nobody is looking to put Tommy John in the Hall of Fame.
  • Harold Baines – He barely got enough votes last year to stay on the ballot, which is a shame.  He’s hurt by being a DH for the majority of his career after knee injuries, and played the majority of his career in the shadows of Chicago’s south side and Baltimore.  If Jim Rice makes it in, so should Harold.  But he won’t.
  • Lee Smith – He was the all-time saves leader when he retired, but benefited from the transition of the closer role from fireman to guy who gets the last three outs and racks up saves.  He’s already been passed twice on the career saves list.
  • Jack Morris – One of the best, if not the best, Game 7 World Series performance of all time, but, overall, an very good pitcher who wasn’t quite good enough to make the Hall of Fame.
  • Don Mattingly – No offense to Donnie Baseball, but being the best Yankee in a decade of bad Yankee teams does not a Hall of Famer make.  If it weren’t for injuries, he may have had a legitimate shot.
  • Edgar Martinez – Will probably make it some day, but will need to overcome the DH stigma.  Many are excusing that he didn’t hit the big numbers due to not making the majors full-time until age 27, but I don’t see why he gets a pass for that.
  • Barry Larkin – Again, will probably make it but not on the first shot.  Might be slightly overlooked after spending his entire career in Cincinnati.

The 2010 Hall of Fame Class (according to me)

Andre Dawson

Seeing as Jim Rice made it last year, Andre Dawson should have no problems punching his ticket this year.  While Rice may have been the “most feared” hitter in the AL during the 1970s, an argument could be made that Dawson filled a similar role in the NL.  In addition to the power numbers, Dawson was also able to play defense and wasn’t a hindrance on the base paths.  He was the 1977 NL Rookie of the Year and the 1987 NL Most Valuable Player.

Some of the things that will hold back his election is the low career OBP and his spending his formative years in the spotlight graveyard known as Montreal, but after getting 67% of the vote last year, he’s due for a bump this year.

Tim Raines

Last year, Raines garnered only 22.6% of the vote, which is mind-blowing.  He is quite possibly the best leadoff hitter in the history of the game not named Rickey Henderson, with a similar, if not as potent, blend of speed and power.

The only downsides are, again, his best years were spent in Montreal and his involvement in the Pittsburgh Drug Trials.  There’s really no reason why Raines shouldn’t be in Cooperstown.

Mark McGwire

So, what to say about McGwire.  His numbers speak for themselves, but he’s been locked out of Cooperstown so far due to a backlash against the “steroid era” stemming from his testimony, or lack thereof, in front of Congress.

I think this is the year that things start to turn around for McGwire.  For one, he is returning to the game as the hitting coach for the Cardinals.  Secondly, while McGwire was the first of the suspected users to come up for election, he won’t be the last and they are coming soon.  I seriously don’t see how the BBWAA can justify keeping Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens out of the HOF, given the numbers they put up before they “allegedly” started using PEDs.  And once you let one in, you’ll have to let the rest in.

So, while it may not be this year, but McGwire will end up in Cooperstown someday.

Roberto Alomar

Like McGwire, Alomar, numbers wise, is a sure bet for the Hall of Fame, but there is that one incident that casts doubt upon his candidacy.  Unlike McGwire, Alomar apologized, took responsibility for what he had done, and has continued to make amends through charity work.

On the field, there was no doubt that Alomar belongs in the Hall of Fame.  Certainly one of the best second baseman of all time, he combined offense and defense at a position where few had done so before.

So there you have it.  The Class of 2010 (according to me) for the Baseball Hall of Fame.