Wished Biggio had got in this year, because next year will be crowded. Maddux and Glavine are locks, and Frank Thomas will probably get in because he is believed, for whatever reason, to be cleaner than other guys. Bagwell was a better player though. At least 3 will get in, maybe 4.
Frank Thomas worked with the MLB to start and develop initial standards on drug testing. He then volunteered to testify before Congress about how he was clean and how the steroid era affected baseball, hurting integrity of the game. At the time, he the only active player to testify. While we all believe other players to have clean (Piazza, Kent, Bagwell, etc.), no recent player has actively done as much as Frank Thomas to clean up the game. Because he was a DH for much of career, he was always going to have some difficulty with Hall of Fame election on that alone. But due to the image of many sportswriters that he "attempted to clean up the game", he will definitely be chosen. Maybe not first ballot, but definitely by 3rd-4th.
Frank Thomas & Curt Schilling are probably the two most outspoken. I wish the BBWAA would just quit guessing. Some cheaters are going to get in, and some innocent will probably get jobbed.
Agree and so does John Kruk. Unless you have proof, you can't tell and you need to just go by the numbers.
I'm pretty confident Frank Thomas will walk into the HoF next year by a pretty wide margin - but Bagwell was absolutely a better player, a fact that will, unfortunately, be lost on far too many voters. The lack of respect for Jeff Bagwell is staggering and borderline criminal. I've argued this for years, but prior to Puljos, he was the greatest NL first baseman of all-time. And his numbers are in-line with the greatest (AL) first basemen of all-time.
Bagwell will not get in because there is a suspicion of steroids, especially north of the Mason-Dixon line. Thomas, for whatever reason is free of suspicion and will actually get MORE votes based on a protest of the steroids era.
Agreed. If they were DHs only, the Big Hurt may have a *slight* edge on Bagwell. But since in baseball you also play defense and run bases, there is no contest. Bagwell is head-and-shoulders a better player than the Big Hurt. Before his shoulder fell off, Jeff Bagwell was a no-doubt five-tool superstar. Indeed.
That was directed to "Hey Now", the post above. Nook, if Bagwell really is kept out of the hall based on a witch hunt, that crime will take the last shred of credibility that institution has left.
It's an issue, Nook, certainly. But I've gone toe-to-toe with writers who, for instance, didn't think Bagwell was appreciably better than Steve Freaking Garvey*. His HoF credentials, IMO, have always been more impreesive than Biggio's. I think far too many voters are unaware of how good he was. And I think that opens the door for far too many of them to land of the lazy "guilty by association" side of things. It requires less thought, less work, less brain cells. * scroll down the comment #237
It's scary how similar their hitting stats were and their nearly identical insane OPS in 1994. Of course, it is even more freakish how closely Lance Berkman's numbers were to Jeff Bagwell's. Too bad his knees have hurt his career. He literally was Bagwell without the baserunning and defense. I wouldn't be shocked for Bagwell to take 15 years. Too many people wanting to wait for evidence that hasn't turned up. He hasn't been tied as one of the 104 players that tested positive in 2003. He didn't test positive in 2004 & 2005, and it has been 10 years of trying to catch him. Once we get to the 15th year, they can't say there's always next year.
Holy crap, please please please tell me you wrote the long, brilliant post that started out talking about how you researched communication through the ages before you began. That was solid gold.
Unbelievably... I mean, UNBELIEVABLY, he's at it again. I called him out on reversing is stated 2012 decision to vote for Bagwell and it took him... 3 posts before Stephen Patrick Garvey was invoked.... (scroll down to the comments)
