Hear hear! God, did you see Piazza's too? His was beautiful too... and when it showed a close up of his dad... good lord, straight to the heart.
I haven't yet but will check it out later. Mariners looked good against the Blue Jays yesterday..Cruz with 7 RBIs on two homers...great hitting..about 20 hits or so in the game for the good guys
Griffey was my reason for loving baseball as a kid and my interest quickly faded once he left Seattle. Definitely one of the greatest of all time.
I imagine the 3 guys that left him off are some purists that don't think anyone should get in, their first time on the ticket. They exist. Either way, always going to be my favorite player of all time. Not a chance I see that changing. Unless Cano leads them to rings for the rest of his career.
I'm not a Mariners fan, but in the past ~25 years, they've had Griffey, Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez. That's quite a cavalcade of superstars over that stretch. All but Martinez are basically first-ballot locks on talent (Rodriguez won't be due to the steroid issue) and Martinez should be an easy Hall of Famer.
I agree. If you're going to put designated hitters in the HOF, Martinez should be the first one in. Red Sox fans have been waiting to cast Big Papi in bronze and saying he's a first ballot. That's crap. You could easily have put Martinez as being the best hitter in baseball for a good stretch of time. He won two batting titles and redefined the position. Before Edgar played designated hitters were Chili Davis or Harold Baines types.... RBI men who hit a fair number of home runs. Edgar was one of the most feared hitters and baseball and he did it after an injury ruined his career at 3b. My guess is Edgar won't really gave a shot until Ortiz gets in. They have pretty much all but yelled, "He's going to be the first DH in!" But then it will have least opened the door. Still he will probably have to wait until the last year of eligibility then it goes to the veterans committee. Which kind of sucks. But there it is.
I think if anyone represents the DH, and the pureness of hitting from the 90's on, it's Edgar. But, Ortiz will be the DH ambassador. And while well well deserved, I think Edgar should really be the "godfather" of the DH. No matter what, that's how I'll think of it.
Should be, but won't be. To true baseball fans, they know who defined the position. But Ortiz did it flashier, and did win rings, and played mostly in Boston. If Ortiz stayed in Minnesota, he'd be getting the Edgar treatment, as well, IMO.
Flashier, rings, PEDS, I keeed I keeed..... it was just talk. There was nothing behind it!!!! Papi is a great hitter though. Still don't know how he gets with showing up the pitcher on that patented 10 minute gaze towards while tossing the bat look.
I heard that Griffey was the first #1 pick in the draft to make the HOF. Also Piazza was the lowest drafted player ever to make the HOF.
Mediocre Man, there are people who did not vote for Hank Aaron or Willie Mays. And they also hid behind anonymity. No one came out and publicly said "I want to explain why Willie Mays does not belong in the Hall of Fame". Of course, Mays, Aaron and Griffey have something in common aside from being great baseball players... a factor?
Of course it was a factor; for Jackie Robinson too. Clearly it's also the only reason Bonds isn't in. As for Ruth, Cobb, Young, Mantle, Williams, Musial, Seaver, Koufax, etc--I'm sure that if they weren't either Jews, Gays, or Democrats, they'd have been unanimous. If that unanimous selection barrier is ever broken, it will undoubtedly be a straight, white, Christian republican. It's amazing that Curt Schilling didn't get 100% of the vote--seems like he checks all the privilege boxes.
I think you're reading too much into this. Even the most conservative non-PC jerk treats his HOF as seriously as he does his freedom of press. I remember Henry Aaron writing in his autobiography about how a beat writer he despised. His way of getting even was hitting a home run and flipping him the bird when he rounded the bases. It's shit like THAT gets writers' goats and loses HOF votes. The voters will never make a unanimous decision because of long time grudges and the fact they are amateur statistical gurus. A bunch of guys would have Mike Mussina as a top 50 all-time pitcher. Another would tell you he can adjust Wahoo Sam Crawford career totals to make him one of the best players ever. There is no sport where statistical analysis plays a part. You got tons of Bill James wannabes our there. Shit. Just ask Canzano. He is voter.... but to say. "How did this guy not get in on the first ballot, he fits the demographics they value?" That's not how the shit works. Fuck. Id be more suprised if they kicked Ty Cobb OUT of the HOF now. He rightly considered a borderline sociopath who hit a lot doubles and singles.
Sorry if I didn't catch it. I'm just used to people not understanding the dynamics of the game. I'm fairly certain many people think baseball players where woolen uniforms and listen to shellac records.
