If I had a vote for the Hall of Fame, which I don't, here are the ten names I would put on my ballot. With so many players deserving of a spot in Cooperstown, I chose the ten who I thought had the best cases.
1. Greg Maddux--The Sandy Koufax of the 1990s, but with longevity
2. Barry Bonds--Probably the greatest player of all-time, or just a hair below Babe Ruth
3. Roger Clemens--Best pitcher of all-time. Better than Cy Young and Walter Johnson
4. Craig Biggio--Did so many things well and has over 3,000 hits
5. Frank Thomas--In the conversation for best righthanded hitter to ever play the game
6. Mike Piazza--Best hitting-catcher of all-time
7. Tom Glavine--300 game winner, which we may never see again
8. Jeff Bagwell--Best first baseman since WWII (until Albert Pujols came along)
9. Mark McGwire--Best AB/HR ratio of all-time and 583 career dingers
10. Curt Schilling--Best K/BB ratio of all-time and probably the best postseason pitcher ever
The following players are Hall-worthy in my eyes, but because of the arbitrary ten player maximum I had to leave them off my imaginary ballot:
Tim Raines--Best percentage basestealer in the history of the game (Rickey Henderson clone)
Mike Mussina--Like Glavine, was very good for a long time
Larry Walker--Superb all-around player who was great away from Coors Field
Edgar Martinez--Best DH ever (sorry David Ortiz) and one of the best hitters period
Rafael Palmeiro--One of four players with 500+ homers and 3,000+ hits
Sammy Sosa--609 career bombs, only player with three 60 homer seasons
Fred McGriff--As many home runs as Lou Gehrig
Jeff Kent--Most home runs for a second baseman
Alan Trammell--Basically Barry Larkin
Let's hope the BBWAA actually votes someone in this year...
No way is Roger Clemens better than Cy Young and Walter Johnson. He's also another cheater.
ReplyDeleteClemens is absolutely better. His ERA+ is better than Young's and he has 1,800 more strikeouts despite pitching 2,400 fewer innings (let those numbers sink in for a second).
DeleteAs for Johnson, he seemed to be a product of the era in which he played. Once they livened the ball he became much less dominant. I'm sure age and massive innings totals had something to do with that as well (he was 32 in 1920), but I think it's telling how dramatically his numbers shifted. Before 1920 he never had an ERA over 2.22 in any season, and his career ERA up to that point was 1.65 (!) and ERA+ was 172. After that, his ERA more than doubled (3.33--ERA+ was 119). I think if Johnson was truly the greatest pitcher ever, he should've adjusted better and would've remained truly great (and not merely good) until the end, as Clemens and Randy Johnson did.
Neither comparison is totally fair since both pitched primarily in the Deadball era, while Clemens had to contend with steroid-fueled hitters and smaller parks for most of his career. There's no doubt the game favors the hitters much more now than it did 100 years ago.
I think my ballot(if l could have one) would've been awful similar to yours except I would've swapped Curt, Jeff, and Mike for Tim, Sammy, and Rafael, but my vote for best DH would go the Big Hurt.
ReplyDelete