Nick's 2007 Hall of Fame Ballot

The MLB Hall of Fame Class for 2007 will be announced later this month. My friend Chuck and I always have a good spirited argument about who should get in and who shouldn’t. I have somewhat high standards but no where near Chuck. He believes Cal Ripken should not be in the Hall of Fame, which is astonishing. I believe there are four players worthy of enshrinement on the ballot this year. Here is my case for all four.

Andre Dawson – The Hawk was a five tool player who could do it all. With 438 career homers, 314 stolen bases, 1,591 RBI’s and a career average just below .280 (that average was severely hurt by his last three unproductive seasons.) He should be a no-brainer. Sadly, Dawson has had to wait for awhile now, which is sad. Dawson is hurt by having his best seasons in Montreal but anyone that saw him play knew he was an elite player as evidenced by his 8 all star game selections and the MVP in 1987 while playing for a last place team.

Rich “Goose” Gossage – Finally, last year a reliever was elected into the Hall Of Fame with Bruce Sutter. Another long over looked candidate needs to be added this year with Gossage. All you need to do is look at his numbers from 1977-1985. During a 9 year span his ERA never got above 2.90. On top of the numbers the guy was the most feared reliever in the American League in the late 70’s and early 80’s and was a catalyst on the 77 and 78 Yankee Championships. Gossage was a Nine time All Star and earned a lot of saves when that stat meant something.

Tony Gwynn – The ultimate in No Brainers. If this guy is not a Hall of Famer then no one is. All you need to know is that this guy won eight batting titles. Or how about the fact that he never hit below .309 in his eighteen year career. I don’t need to build an argument for this guy his 3,141 hits speak volumes.

Cal Ripken – Forget the Iron Man streak, impressive as it was. The guy redefined the shortstop position. His 431 homers and almost 1,700 RBI’s are unheard of numbers for a shortstop. He was a nineteen time all star and was the ‘82 rookie of the year and won the MVP twice. He garnered MVP votes in ten different seasons. Plus he won two gold gloves. Now let’s add in that he played in 2,632 consecutive games while he put up those numbers. That is over 16 consecutive seasons without missing a game. Anyone who doesn’t think this guy is a HOF’er is nuts (Sorry, Chuck.)

Okay, now here some other guys who will get some votes but would not get mine.

Jim Rice – Rice was a great player but in my mind is just short of Hall worthy. Sure, he had some great seasons with the bat but he didn’t sustain it long enough for my money. He was a butcher in Left Field and for as great of a hitter as he was only has 382 homers. To put that in perspective Dave Kingman had 442 homers.

Lee Smith – Smith is a close call for me but just misses. I saw him pitch for a number of years and let me tell you he was good. However I don’t think he was great. He was the king of the one inning save, which while nice is over-rated. Also factoring in, is that while he only had two post season appearances in both of them he was brutal. In the ‘84 NLCS his ERA was a robust 9 with a blown save. Then in ‘88 in the ALCS he had 8.10 with another blown save.

Bert Byleven – If there is ever a longevity Hall of Fame, then he belongs. But to put him in on plain numbers misses the point. He only had one twenty win year in 22 seasons in the big’s. He never won a Cy Young and was only an All-Star twice. Sorry, that is not a player that belongs enshrined.

Mark McGwire – Forget about the steroids talk, I don’t think he belongs based on his numbers. Sure, the 583 homers are impressive. But, that is all he has to hang his hat on. He was a career .263 hitter and was one dimensional. Sure, he could hit the ball out of the park but that was it. In 1991, for example the guy in 483 AB’s hit .201. I love the homer as much as the next guy but in my mind McGwire was a carnival side show who could hit the ball a country mile. If he gets in, then so does Dave Kingman.