Tag / HOF

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Hall Of Fame Pitching Leaders


Tomorrow, the Hall of Fame class of 2025 will be inducted in Cooperstown and CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner will boost the number of Hall of Fame pitchers I’ve seen live to twelve.  To celebrate this momentous occasion, we will take another look at the pitching leaders amongst Hall of Famers in games I have attended between 1984 and 2024.

Wins

Name Total
Greg Maddux 9
CC Sabathia 6
Tom Glavine 1
Rich Gossage 1
Roy Halladay 1
Mike Mussina 1

Losses

Name Total
Greg Maddux 12
Tom Glavine 2
Tom Seaver 2
Mike Mussina 2
Roy Halladay 1
Rich Gossage 1

ERA

Name Total
Lee Smith 0.00
Mariano Rivera 0.00
Billy Wagner 1.59
Trevor Hoffman 2.25
Roy Halladay 3.00

Strikeouts

Name Total
Greg Maddux 92
CC Sabathia 48
Continue reading →
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Eligible For The Hall

Last week, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that anyone on the league’s permanently ineligible list that was now deceased would be removed, making them eligible for Hall of Fame consideration.  In a statement, Manfred said, “In my view, once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served.  Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game.”  Later in the statement, he said, “I have concluded that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual.”

The driving force behind this change was, of course, Pete Rose.  Rose, who died last September, agreed to be banned by then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti in 1989 after a report by investigator John Dowd confirmed that he had bet on Reds games while he was the manager.  That agreement prohibited Dowd from further investigation which likely would have uncovered that Rose had bet on his team to lose.  Complicating matters, Giamatti died of a heart attack eight days later, making his successors hesitant to remove Rose from the ineligible list during his lifetime.

Along with Rose, this decision applies to 16 other deceased individuals, including members of the 1919 White Sox like Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver, among others.  2028 would be the earliest any of the newly eligible players could be inducted into the Hall of Fame, as the Classic Baseball Era Committee will next meet and vote in December 2027.  The two most likely to get any consideration are Rose and Jackson, and neither is the shoe-in their supporters may think.

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A New Class Of Imortals

With temperatures hovering around four degrees Tuesday night in the hamlet of Cooperstown, New York, the attention of the baseball world turns to summer of the past now that the votes have been tallied, and the 2025 Hall of Fame class is complete.  Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner join Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who were elected by the Veteran’s Committee last month, in obtaining baseball immortality.  Suzuki and Sabathia make it on their first try while Wagner made it in his final shot.

Just two others scored greater than 50% of the vote, led by Carlos Beltran, who came just short at 70.3% and seems likely to make it next year.  Andruw Jones rose to 66.2% with two more years to go.

On the local front, Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox at the tail end of his career, saw a small increase in support, finishing with 34.3% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions.  Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 18% in his fourth go-around.  The disgraced Omar Vizquel, accused of both sexual abuse of an autistic teen and spousal abuse since being added to the ballot, stayed stagnant with 17.8%.    Mark Buehrle saw a small increase, going up to 11.4% in his fifth time on the ballot, living to fight another day.  Former Cubs Carlos González, Fernando Rodney, and Ben Zobrist nabbed a single vote between them.

Ten players will fall off the ballot after failing to score 5% of the vote.

As for the newest Hall of Famers, I’ve seen Suzuki play fifteen times, Sabathia eight times, and Wagner five times.  They will get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 27.

Ichiro Suzuki’s numbers in games I’ve attended were: Continue reading →

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The Hall Calls

Sunday night, the results of the Classic Baseball Era Veteran’s Committee vote was revealed, adding two players to the Hall of Fame class of 2025: Dick Allen and Dave Parker.  Parker was named on fourteen ballots from the 16-person committee, while Allen nabbed thirteen votes, the one more than the minimum needed for election.

Allen spent three of his fifteen big league seasons with the White Sox, earning the MVP award in 1972.  He was the Rookie of the Year in 1964 with the Phillies and also spent time with the Cardinals, Dodgers, and A’s.  He hit 20 or more home runs in nine consecutive seasons and finished his career with 351 homers, 1,119 RBI and a .292 career batting average.  Unfortunately, Allen passed away in December of 2020.

Parker, 73, was a seven-time All-Star in his 19-year career, hitting 339 home runs and posting a lifetime .290 batting average.  He won back-to-back batting titles with the Pirates in 1977 and 1978, winning the NL MVP award in ’78.  He earned All-Star MVP honors in 1979 while leading the Pirates to their last World Series championship.  After leaving the Pirates, he bounced around to the Reds, A’s, Brewers, Angels and Blue Jays, winning a second title with the A’s in 1989.

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Beltin’ Bill Melton Says Goodbye

Bill Melton, the former White Sox third baseman and pre- and post-game host, passed away early this morning in Phoenix after a brief illness. He was 79 years old.

Melton became the first White Sox player to surpass 30 home runs in a season in 1970 when he launched 30 round trippers.  He replicated that effort the following year, becoming the first south sider to lead the league.  After a back injury in 1972, Melton worked to get back, but felt snubbed, first by his omission from the All Star team in 1973 and then by the 1974 acquisition of future-Hall of Famer Ron Santo.  A feud with broadcaster Harry Caray sealed his fate in Chicago and, after the 1975 season, he was traded to the Angels.  His 154 home runs still ranks ninth in franchise history.

Melton returned to the White Sox family in 1992 as a community relations representative.  He joined WGN in 1998 as an analyst for pre- and post-game shows.  In 2005, he moved over to Comcast SportsNet, performing the same role.  He retired in 2020.

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2025 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Newcomers

Last week, the BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2025, with the results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 21st, and induction taking place July 27th.  With Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer as the electees last year, the new ballot contains fourteen holdovers along with another fourteen newcomers.

On Friday, we looked at the returning candidates.  Today, it’s time to look at the newcomers and see who may be thankful come January.

Carlos González

I don’t foresee a long run on the ballot for the long-time Rockie.

Curtis Granderson

Granderson was a very good player for a very long time, but I don’t see him getting any serious consideration.

Félix Hernández

Hernández looked to be a shoo-in for Cooperstown early in his career, but his last dominant season came in his age 28 season, and he was done by age 33.

Adam Jones

The Oriole standout had a nice career, but not a Hall of Fame career.

Ian Kinsler

Falling one hit shy of 2000 for his career, Kinsler will probably just get this one shot on the ballot.

Russell Martin

A four-time All Star, Martin had a very nice career but will need to purchase a ticket if he wants to see the inside of the Hall of Fame.

Brian McCann

Despite seven All Star appearances, McCann likely isn’t going to see much support

Dustin Pedroia Continue reading →

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2025 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers

Monday, the BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2025.  The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 21st, with induction taking place July 27th.  Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer were elected in last year’s voting and Gary Sheffield reached the ten-year maximum, leaving fourteen holdovers along with another fourteen newcomers.

Let’s take a look at the returning candidates today before moving on to the newcomers next time.

Bobby Abreu
Years on ballot: 5
2024 Percentage: 14.8

A slight downward trend for Abreu, who has a long way to go and not a lot of time to do it.

Carlos Beltran
Years on ballot: 2
2024 Percentage: 57.1

A nice bump in his second go-around for Beltran means the Astros cheating scandal might just delay his entry to Cooperstown rather than derailing it outright.

Mark Buehrle
Years on ballot: 4
2024 Percentage: 8.3

Buehrle keeps bouncing up and down but lives to fight another day in his uphill climb to make it to Cooperstown.

Torii Hunter
Years on ballot: 4
2024 Percentage: 7.3

Despite a small increase from the previous year, things do not look good for the long-term prospects of the former Twin and Angel.

Andruw Jones
Years on ballot: 7
2024 Percentage: 61.6

With just three elections left, Jones keeps trending in the right direction but doesn’t have all that much time left.

Andy Pettitte
Years on ballot: 6
2024 Percentage: 13.5

Continue reading →

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Hall Of Fame Batting Leaders



The Hall of Fame Class of 2024, Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, Joe Mauer, and veterans committee choice Jim Leyland, get enshrined in Cooperstown today.  With three new hitters joining the list of Hall of Famers I’ve seen play live, let’s check back in with the leaders on the offensive side of the ball amongst Hall of Famers for all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2023.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jim Thome 35
Frank Thomas 15
Scott Rolen 7
David Ortiz 6
Vladimir Guerrero 6

Hits

Name Total
Jim Thome 110
Frank Thomas 54
Joe Mauer 43
Ken Griffey Jr. 32
Fred McGriff 28

Runs

Name Total
Jim Thome 82
Frank Thomas 42
Joe Mauer 19
David Ortiz 16
Scott Rolen 14

RBI

Name Total
Jim Thome 84
Frank Thomas 38
Fred McGriff 23
David Ortiz 19
Continue reading →
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Say Hey

Last night, during the slate of games on the night’s schedule, the Giants issued a statement that Willie Mays, the 93-year-old Hall of Famer, had passed away earlier in the day.  The 24-time All Star spent 23 seasons in the majors, batting .301 with 660 home runs, 339 stolen bases and 3,293 hits.  He won only two MVP awards, despite leading the NL in WAR nine times.

Mays began his career in the Negro Leagues, when he was just 16.  He played with the Birmingham Black Barons for three seasons, prior to joining the Giants, and was originally scheduled to appear at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, the same stadium he played in 75 years earlier, along with the Giants this week to honor the legacy of the Negro Leagues, but he announced he would not attend late last week.

Both local teams were home and playing last night, with the Cubs hosting the Giants and the White Sox, with Mays’ former teammate Steve Stone in the booth, hosting the Astros.  The Cubs held a moment of silence between innings, the first notification some of the Giants starters, including pitcher Logan Webb, had that Mays had passed.  On the White Sox broadcast, Stone told stories of his time as a young rookie pitching with the Hall of Fame center fielder behind him.

Mays leaves behind a tremendous legacy, not just in New York and San Francisco, where he starred for those 23 seasons, but across all of baseball.  The Say Hey Kid may now be gone, but his spirit lives on and he will never be forgotten.

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Three Of A Kind

On a cold winter’s day, the attention of the baseball world turns to upstate New York and the hamlet of Cooperstown, where the votes were tallied, and the 2024 Hall of Fame class is now complete.  Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer join Jim Leyland, who was elected by the Veteran’s Committee last month, in obtaining baseball immortality.  Beltre, the former Dodger/Mariner/Ranger, and Mauer, the long-time Twin, make it on their first try.  Helton, the former Rockie first baseman, was on his sixth go-around.

Four others tallied greater than 50% of the vote, led by Billy Wagner, who came just short at 73.8% and seems likely to make it next year, his final year on the ballot.  Gary Sheffield saw a not-insignificant jump in his final election, rising to 63.9%.  Andruw Jones rose to 61.6% with three more years to go.  In his second go-around, Carlos Beltran jumped up to 57.1%.

On the local front, Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox at the tail end of his career, saw a small decrease in support, finishing with 32.5% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions.  The disgraced Omar Vizquel, accused of both sexual abuse of an autistic teen and spousal abuse since being added to the ballot, dropped again, going down to 17.7%.  Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 14.8% in his third go-around.  Mark Buehrle fell back again, dropping to 8.3% in his fourth time on the ballot, living to fight another day.  Former White Sox pitchers Bartolo Colon and James Shields nabbed five votes between them.

Eight players will fall off the ballot after failing to score 5% of the vote.

As for the newest Hall of Famers, I’ve seen Mauer play 42 times, Beltre 17 times, and Helton eleven times.  They will get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 21.

Joe Mauer’s numbers in games I’ve attended were:

Continue reading →