Baseball Hall of Fame: BBWAA gets it right…Somewhat
We need to realize that we live in a world where the Baseball Writers of America Association will always strive to get it right, and still mess up somewhere. These four aren’t that bad though.
It should come to no surprise that despite the fact that for the first time in 60 years the baseball writers chose four players in the same class that there’s still some controversy as to who did and didn’t get in.
Guess you really can’t make everyone happy.
This time around, the Baseball Writers of America Association selected three aces and a second baseman who also played everywhere else to be inducted into Cooperstown this summer. More than half of the voters chose the maximum 10 players on a ballot that was stacked with players with strong ties to steroids, including Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds who received more votes this year than they did last winter.
This time around, the writers tapped Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio to get into Cooperstown on July 26. Johnson, Martinez and Smoltz got the call on their first ballot while Biggio made it in on his third try after falling two votes shy last winter.
Many thought that the writers would induct five players with Mike Piazza on the list, however Piazza only received 69.9 percent of the vote on his third year.
“There’s so many guys on the ballot,” Biggio said. “I think the writers really did a nice job. We got four guys in this year, which frees up some space for next year.”
There should be no question that the four players selected by the writers deserved to get in.
Johnson is undoubtedly the greatest southpaw of his generation, and possibly all time, getting 97.3 percent of the votes, eighth-highest percentage in Hall of Fame voting history (Tom Seaver’s 98.8 percent remains the highest) after a 22-year career that saw him win 303 games and strike out 4,875 batters with a no-hitter (June 2, 1990) and a perfect game (May 18, 2004) under his belt.
Martinez (91.1 percent) only won 219 games in an 18-year career, however his .687 career winning percentage ranks sixth all-time and he’s the career winningest pitcher among starters who began after 1950, and he should be considered one of the greatest pitchers of our time considering that he was so dominant in the steroid era, winning three Cy Young awards. Toss in the fact that he led the Red Sox to their first World Series title in 86 years in Boston’s 2004 run and his entry into Cooperstown isn’t a surprise.
Smoltz is the only pitcher in baseball history with 200 wins and over 150 saves. He’s won a Cy Young (1996) and a World Series title (1995) and has one of the best postseason records ever, going 15-4 in 41 appearances with a 2.67 ERA in October with four saves. Also, you couldn’t just have Bobby Cox, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux inducted and not Smoltz.
Then there’s the apparent semi-fan favorite in Craig Biggio, who unsurprisingly got in after falling just two votes shy last winter.
For those who don’t know realize how good he was, despite playing on the Astros, listen to this: Biggio is the only player in baseball history with 3,000 hits, 600 doubles, 400 steals and 250 home runs. He’s a seven-time All-Star at two different positions (catcher, 1991, second baseman 1992, 1994-98) and fifth on the career-list in doubles with 668 (first among right-handed hitters), 13th in career at-bats (10,867), 15th in runs scored (1,844), 16th in games played (2,850) and 21st in hits (3,060). While Biggio took home no World Series rings, he did rack up four Gold Gloves at second base from 1994-97. In short, he was the Houston Astros for a majority of his 20-year career.
Biggio may not have been eye-popping “great,” however there’s always greatness to be found in consistency and Biggio was the definition of that in his two-decade career.
Most people are saying that Mike Piazza should’ve gotten in over Biggio, if not getting in as part of the 2015 class. Piazza fell just short of the 75 percent requirement for induction on his third time on the ballot, although he is expected to get in with the 2016 class.
Piazza is possibly the greatest offensive catcher ever, knocking out 427 career homers in a 16-year career, hitting .308 with a .922 career OPS and a 143 career OPS+ — a mark that matches those of Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Eddie Matthews. For those arguing Piazza’s induction, take a note that his voting percentage has constantly gone up in his past three tries (57.8 percent in 2013, 62.2 percent last year, 69.9 percent this year).
But Piazza wasn’t the only snub.
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Leadoff-hitting great Tim Raines (46.1 percent) is still waiting for the call along with Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina and Jeff Bagwell, while Don Mattingly only received 9.1 percent of the ballot in his final year of eligibility.
If it’s anything that this year’s class proved it’s that even though the baseball writer’s voting process still needs an overhaul with too many voters ignoring sabermetrics when deciding on a player’s Hall candidacy even as we enter an era that saw so much historical greatness through controversy.
The 90’s and early 00’s were a great time for baseball and it’s time we celebrate it.
(One more thing, the 2016 class will be Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Edmonds, Trevor Hoffman and Mike Piazza.)