Examining the Credentials of the Current and Future Candidates for the Hall of Fame
There have been four all-time great relief pitchers eligible to make the Hall of Fame in the past seven years. On the January 2018 ballot, Trevor Hoffman was voted into the Hall. In July 2019, Lee Smith and Mariano Rivera received plaques in Cooperstown. If the 2018-19 voting were a game of musical chairs for […]
If you’re a baseball fan of a certain age or one with a strong sense of the sport’s history, the title of this piece may seem patently bizarre. If you’re an Atlanta Braves fan who watched Andruw Jones play every day from 1997-2006, your answer might be a simple “yes, of course, he is.” If […]
Gary Sheffield, one of the most feared sluggers in baseball for 22 years, is on the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) Hall of Fame ballot for the 10th and final time right now, with the results scheduled to be announced next Tuesday. For 14 years (a remarkably long time for a player’s “peak”), Sheffield […]
For 17 years, Todd Helton was a mainstay at first base for the Colorado Rockies. The left-handed-hitting Helton was a consistent force with both the bat and the glove during his 17 years playing in the Mile High City. A former quarterback at the University of Tennessee, Helton had an exceptionally strong and accurate throwing […]
If you’re a mild Hall of Fame enthusiast, you might have read something like this in the postscript of the January 2019 BBWAA election of four players: “The ballot is much less clogged in the next two years, with Derek Jeter the only obvious Hall of Famer becoming eligible in 2020 and no obvious candidates […]
If you’re a baseball fan over the age of 50, Mark Buehrle was a pitcher who would remind you of baseball in the 1970s. He didn’t throw over 95 miles per hour. Even at 6’2″ and 240 pounds (per Baseball-Reference), Buehrle could be described as a “crafty” lefthander, one who mixed a curve, slider, cutter, […]
On this year’s 2024 Hall of Fame ballot, the case of longtime starting pitcher Andy Pettitte is one of the most interesting and complex. On the “yes” side, you have a 256-game winner who contributed to 5 World Championships and 8 pennants. On the “no” side, you have a pitcher with a career ERA of […]
This Sunday, Scott Rolen, one of the greatest defensive third basemen in the history of baseball, will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. This January, the 389 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) elected Rolen to the Hall with 76.3% of the […]
Of all of the candidates on the 2023 BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot, there are none more mercurial or enigmatic than Manny Ramirez, the supremely talented right-handed hitter who hit .312 with 555 home runs in 19 Major League Baseball seasons. Ramirez was a superb hitter, one whose statistical resume is undoubtedly worthy of a […]
Omar Vizquel played more games at shortstop than any other man in the history of baseball. His career spanned four decades and 24 seasons, over which he won 11 Gold Gloves. Vizquel will be on the Hall of Fame ballot for the seventh time this December and is seeing his chances at the Hall of […]
In a sense, the answer to the title of this piece can be summed up this way: Jeff Kent snuck up on the baseball world as a Hall of Fame-caliber player. Having bounced from the Blue Jays to the Mets to the Indians early in his career, Kent was an average player at best for […]
For five years (1998-2002), Sammy Sosa was one of baseball’s greatest superstars. His Home Run Chase with Mark McGwire in 1998 captivated the nation’s imagination and aided in the sport’s continued healing from the ’94 strike that canceled the World Series. Both players eclipsed the single-season home run mark of 61 (by Roger Maris in […]
Tim Hudson, who won 222 games in his 17 years pitching Major League Baseball, is on the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) Hall of Fame ballot for the second time this month. Earlier this year, in his first turn on the ballot, Hudson got 5.2% of the vote, barely above the 5% minimum required […]
It seemed as if Omar Vizquel played forever and, sort of, he did, for parts of 24 MLB seasons. He debuted in 1989 with Seattle Mariners a few weeks before his 22nd birthday and continued to play until he was 45 years old, finishing his career in 2012 with the Toronto Blue Jays. He is […]
(Photo: Phillie Phanatics) It will be an interesting case come this December when Scott Rolen appears on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. Rolen was a solid hitter and outstanding defender at third base while manning the hot corner for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds during a highly productive 17-year […]
He is one of the greatest post-season pitchers in the history of baseball. His career 80.8 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is 6th best of any pitcher to debut in the last 40 years. His career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.38 is the best for any pitcher with a minimum of 1,500 innings thrown since the 19th […]
(Photo: The Sporting News) As it is with fellow first-time Hall of Fame candidates Scott Rolen and Omar Vizquel, the case for Andruw Jones rests primarily with his glove. According to multiple websites that track advanced defensive metrics, the pride of Willemstad, Curacao is the best defensive outfielder in the history of baseball, better than […]