Secrets of the City

They just won’t circle Bert.

This is an outrage. That they would elect Goose Gossage over Bert Blyleven is an insult to my baseball intelligence.

My 2 cents worth:
2009 inductees: Andre Dawson & Ricky Henderson
2010 inductees: mark my words, 2010 will be a banner year for the Twinkies…2 HOFers in Blyleven and Jack Morris PLUS a new stadium.

Morris is not HOF material.

Statwise, Morris and Blyleven are pretty close. Bert had more wins, but Jack had a better winning percentage. Bert was much more of a journeyman (at least that is the perception.) where as Jack played primarily for the Tigers. Jack’s 10 inning masterpiece is what people think of when they think of him. Bert, they think of the 50 HR he gave up in 1986.

I think Jack and Bert both should be in, the stats for Bert speak for themselves and Morris was the winningest pitcher of the 80s and played on three world champions, he would get my vote. But then again, so would Lee Smith and Andre Dawson. Jim Rice I am undecided on.

Oh and next year Rickey Henderson should be a friggin unanimous selection.

10 time all star

10 time all star
1 time AL MVP
1 time ALCS MVP
All Time Steals Leader
All Time Runs Leader
All Time #2 in Walks
All Time #21 in Hits.

Baseball writers are a notoriously petulant bunch with long memories. I’ll bet you there are 2 or 3 writers who keep him off just because he was rude to them during his playing days.

Henderson is obviously a first ballot next year. Some of those records he set were owned by Ty Cobb and considered unbreakable.

Everyone who passes one of Bert’s stats is called a future hall-of-famer, so I don’t understand why Bert isn’t a hall-of-famer.

Bert should be in the HOF

Look at his ERA. Think he could have got to 300 wins if he hadn’t played for so many crappy Twins teams? How many games did he lose 2-1?

The baseball writers dragged their feet on Nolan Ryan. Supposedly, he didn’t win enough games or something. It sucks to be drafted (and/or traded) to crappy teams. Bert has the same problem, but without the 100 MPH fastball.

The man is fifth in strikeouts ALL TIME. He was third until the Clemens and Randy Johnson passed him a couple years ago.

He was a superior pitcher to Morris. He has him beat in almost every category other than wins and losses, which are not reliable ways of evaluating a pitcher because a pitcher has no control over his team’s offense.

Bert belongs!

The baseball writers dragged their feet on Nolan Ryan. Supposedly, he didn’t win enough games or something. It sucks to be drafted (and/or traded) to crappy teams. Bert has the same problem, but without the 100 MPH fastball.

Ryan was elected in his first year of elegibility, thats not feet dragging. There is a some knock on Ryan for his strikeouts and longevity overshadwoing his ability to win games.

Bert had a pretty good fastball too in the old days actually – although he is correctly reknowned for having the greatest curveball ever.

Bert belongs.

Morris, despite his playoff success, will never get in because his career ERA is almost four.

Many thoughts.

Congrats to the Goose. He could bring it and, although this had no bearing on his election, I think it’s a Hall of Fame quote from when he wa a Padre. Unfortunately, I’ll have to paraphrase — “Joan Kroc is poisoning the world with her hamburgers!”

Bert belongs. He may not get there, but he belongs.

It looks like Rice will get in next year, even though his case is shaky.

If Rickey isn’t a first ballot inductee, it will reflect very badly on the voters.

Andre Dawson and Tim Raines should both be in. Raines is severely underrated.

Too bad. Maybe he should shred tears like Clinton did in New Hampshire in order to get better votes, playing the victim.

There’s no one standing outside the Hall of Fame who deserves to get in more than Blyleven. Britt Robson wrote a swell piece about it a few spring trainings ago…

By dragging their feet, I meant that the big dig against voting in Nolan Ryan was his poor winning percentage. It appears no one believed that knock, as almost everyone voted for him.

There is another thing that Bert has going against him. He played in small markets. If he played for the Yankees or the Mets or another large market team with a major TV contract he would already be in. So, the moral of the story is don’t play in a small market or for a lousy teams. Nice job sports writers!

And yes, Bert has the credentials to be in, so he should be in. He will be! If the dumb sports writers don’t elect him, the Veteran’s committee would certainly rectify the situation. He has the credentials.

Further, if he keeps on as a broadcaster, he should get in for that as well. He is fantastic!