Premeditated ignorance is no virtue.

Disraeli said, “There are three kinds of lies. Lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Benjamin was wrong. Statistics never lie, but the one touting them may be.

Dave Kindred is a Senior Writer doing a column and features for Golf Digest

If there was one player you could remove from the Hall of Fame who would it be and why?

My make-room-for-a-player designation goes to Chick Hafey, the Gas House Gang left-fielder with bad eyes who played more than 100 games in only seven of his 13 seasons. He was by-passed by the BBWAA but finally chosen by the Veterans Committee 34 years after his retirement, no doubt one more bow by the old-timers to the great Cardinals teams of Branch Rickey.

Hafey's not the worst HOF pick, but Kindred is right that he was a big mistake.

Benjamin was wrong. Statistics never lie, but the one touting them may be.


If you put your faith in the central limit theorem, statistics will be a harsh and deceitful mistress.

Before anyone think that Kindred is anti-stats, he knows Bill James and asked him his opinion of McGwire and the Hall of Fame.

From the interview:

Rice just missed being inducted last year after receiving 72.2% of the vote and many expect him to be inducted this year, but he’s getting little support from my Seamheads group at Facebook (40.9% after 181 ballots). MLB.com senior columnist Barry Bloom didn’t vote for Rice (and hasn’t since Rice became eligible in 1995) and he recently explained to me why he believes Rice isn’t a Hall of Famer. So please tell us why you believe Rice is a Hall of Famer.

Pitchers feared him for years. They know a Hall of Famer when they see him come out of the dugout.

Oh boy. TEH FEAR.

At this point, I completely support voting Jim Rice for the Haunted House Hall of Fame.

To join original members...Boo Ferriss and Don Mossi.

Hafey's not the worst HOF pick, but Kindred is right that he was a big mistake

I have been thinking about Hafey in the midst of the HOF threads this past week, for want of anything better to think about. He was a really, really good hitter for a couple of years, could do well on the Keltner questions like "Could a team win a pennant if he were their best ..." well, 3/4-time slugger, anyways. He was a starter in four World Series. But he can't have been much better than Kevin McReynolds or Howard Johnson or somebody like that. A Hall that included everyone as good as Hafey would need a plaque room several acres big.

All those are fun, and someday, when I grow up, I hope to have my elders explain them to me.

Kindred graduated from high school in '59, so he's 67 years old, give or take. I guess the problem here is that James, the B-Pro folks, and Voros are all under 80.

Before anyone think that Kindred is anti-stats, he knows Bill James and asked him his opinion of McGwire and the Hall of Fame.

Did he ask James if he thought a room would be a better place with McGwire in it? Evidently, this is a criterion of his. One imagines that he hopes the veterans' committee will vote in Gandi for just such a reason.

he hopes the veterans' committee will vote in Gandi

Mahatma or Chick?

Rice just missed being inducted last year after receiving 72.2% of the vote and many expect him to be inducted this year, but he’s getting little support from my Seamheads group at Facebook (40.9% after 181 ballots). MLB.com senior columnist Barry Bloom didn’t vote for Rice (and hasn’t since Rice became eligible in 1995) and he recently explained to me why he believes Rice isn’t a Hall of Famer. So please tell us why you believe Rice is a Hall of Famer.

Pitchers feared him for years. They know a Hall of Famer when they see him come out of the dugout.

***

Mahatma or Chick?

The Amazing Gandi.

all under 80.

Phew. Just made it......

Phew. Just made it......

Heh. They would have moved the bar up just for you. :-)