The 3 that left off Jr should have their voting rights taken away If he isn't a hall of fame player, then who is
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bagwell vote totals by years: 2011 (41.7%) 2012 (56.0%) 2013 (59.6%) 2014 (54.3%) 2015 (55.7%) 2016 (71.6 %)</p>— Brian McTaggart ⚾️ (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/status/684873941383434240">January 6, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It's funny to me that because Bagwell didn't connect 51 more times in what many considered a tough home run ball park, that he is getting shafted. What was Bags away home run rate per plate appearance? Watching Bags and Thomas growing up you always felt Bagwell was a better all around played.
Greg Tepper is the managing editor of Dave Campbell's Texas Football <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hall of Fame voters that didn’t vote for Ken Griffey Jr.: 3 Hall of Fame voters that did vote for David Eckstein: 2</p>— Greg Tepper (@Tepper) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tepper/status/684874990475329536">January 6, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I'm not a baseball fanatic but I did follow it a lot lot more 15 years ago. I don't recall ever thinking that Piazza was a better player than Bagwell. I know Piazza is a great great hitting catcher and had some comparable years but I just don't remember many years where if I was ranking baseball players I'd have wanted Piazza as a hitter more than Bags. And I don't recall Piazza ever being an amazing catcher defensively. Mind you I'm not arguing Piazza is t a hall of Famer. Just thinking back.
He played in New York. Dominated a weak position. How do his numbers stack up if he would have been a first baseman/DH for a career?
looking forward--newbies likely to get votes: Pudge, Manny, Vlad. Trammell falls off. Can't see Bagwell going down.. would expect some increase. All the way to 75%? Not sure with Pudge/Manny likely taking the place of Jr and Piazza on a lot of ballots + Vlad to deal with. (though it appears history is on his side of course) Sidenote: any idea why Bill James' HoF monitor rating has Vlad significantly higher than Bags? (209 vs 150) I see them as similar at best for Vlad. But dwarfing Bags in a measure developed by a statistics guy? Is it just that he played OF or something?
I got extremely nervous, but am unbelievably happy with this result (better than my optimistic view of 70). My 2014 thought will now hold true: And I think Bagwell/Raines/Hoffman will end up holding true.
In baseball, you have to compare offensive numbers by position. That's just how it works. You cannot compare a Catcher or Shortstop to a 1st-Baseman. So don't waste time comparing Piazza's numbers to Bagwell. A better person to use is Frank Thomas.
Manny may not get the needed 5% to stay on the ballot; he's been busted twice for steroids. He's a non-factor. Pudge, like Bagwell, is drenched in speculation - one difference: he was implicated by Canseco in his book. I think his first year will be rough. Vlad, also like Bagwell, is a guy that's going to take a little digging and I suspect his road will be similar to Bagwell's. Everyone needs to relax; Bagwell is now a 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000% lock for next year. There is zero chance he won't make it. Short of him getting in, obviously, this news is fantastic.
