Examining the Credentials of the Current and Future Candidates for the Hall of Fame
Longtime Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins was a fun player to watch. The 5’7″ switch-hitter could hit equally well from both sides of the plate. He could run; Rollins was an excellent base-stealer and legged out more triples than any player in the game during his prime. He was a sure-handed defensive player, a part […]
Adrian Beltre is on the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) ballot for the first time, the top new candidate for a plaque in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Beltre, a five-time Gold Glove Award winner who finished his career with 477 home runs and 3,166 hits, is the one mortal lock […]
Joe Mauer, the longtime catcher/first baseman for the Minnesota Twins, is on the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) ballot for the first time. Mauer, a career .306 hitter who won three batting titles and was the 2009 MVP, was the top backstop in the American League for a decade, hitting .323 with a 135 […]
Torii Hunter was simply fun to watch when he was roaming center field. He was the quintessential “fly-chaser” who would relish a collision with the outfield wall as if he was still playing free safety in high school, colliding with an opposing running back or receiver. The Arkansas native won 9 Gold Gloves in his […]
A few weeks ago, when the results of the 2023 Hall of Fame balloting were announced, 8-time Gold Glove winner Scott Rolen was anointed as a Hall of Famer. One of the greatest players in baseball history, Alex Rodriguez, was on the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) ballot for the second time, but A-Rod […]
Francisco Rodriguez is one of those rare Major League Baseball players who was instantly transformed from someone who was unknown to all but the most hard-core of baseball fans to a household name. Rodriguez, at the age of 20, made his MLB debut with the Anaheim Angels on September 18, 2002. After pitching in just […]
Usually, when I write about a Hall of Fame candidate, I render my final verdict about the player’s Hall-worthiness at the end of the piece. With respect to David Ortiz, I have put my opinion in the title. This January, Big Papi was elected to receive a plaque in Cooperstown by the BBWAA (Baseball Writers […]
From 2003-13, Joe Nathan was arguably the second-best relief pitcher in all of Major League Baseball, second only to the greatest of all-time, Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera. Overall, in his 16-year MLB career, Nathan saved 377 games, the 8th highest total in baseball history. The right-handed throwing Nathan, a big man at 6’4″, 230 […]
Longtime rivals and now fellow Fox Sports analysts Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz are the headline first-time candidates on the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) Hall of Fame ballot. While A-Rod and Big Papi join a ballot for the first time, some of the biggest stars in the game in the last 35 years […]
Seemingly in every October, former Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz takes on a high profile. Besides being a regular figure on postseason diamonds from 2003-16, the likely future Hall of Famer has been a fixture in recent years on the FOX Sports postseason pre-game and post-game coverage along with Frank Thomas and Alex […]
Tomorrow, former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, after a wait of over one and a half years, will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Jeter was elected to the Hall’s Class of 2020, along with Larry Walker, Ted Simmons, and former union chief Marvin Miller (who was […]
Last week, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) started mailing out ballots to its members for candidates for plaques in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. There are 14 returning players to the ballot and 11 first-timers. The approximately 400 voting members of the BBWAA have the option to […]
On Monday, the names of the 25 Hall of Fame candidates on the 2021 Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) ballots were revealed. There are a total of 14 returning candidates along with 11 newcomers to the ballot. With just 25 listed candidates, this is the smallest BBWAA ballot since 2009, when Rickey Henderson and […]
For a couple of years around the recent turn of the century, Jason Giambi looked like a Hall of Fame player in the making. He won a MVP Award and posted eye-popping on-base and slugging numbers second only to Barry Bonds. The first baseman who made his mark primarily for the Oakland Athletics and New […]