Thursday, June 13, 2013
Posnanski: Andy Pettitte and the Van Doren Gene
(joeposnanski.blogspot.com)
600* BBWAA writers voted, but no one saw a thing.
* give or take
Read More...This, I think, was what made the Bert Blyleven-Jack Morris Hall of Fame discussion so interesting. The statistics made it abundantly clear that Blyleven was not just a better pitcher than Morris but light years better. But Blyleven just doesn’t have the Van Doren Gene … and Morris does. And so the debate over which pitcher was better raged on; in some quarters it rages on still. People don’t just see Morris as a Hall of ...
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1. Rafael Bellylard: Built like a Fielder posted on December 22, 2012 at 10:12 AM # hit 0 | hit 0And no Biggio. I'm starting to think zero inductees from the BBWAA is the clubhouse favorite.
Right. Lee Smith but not Piazza or Biggio? I'm just going to focus on Raines' inclusion so I don't go nuts.
There's no debating that this is a Fine ballot.
There are at least a dozen guys on the ballot who have no business being there. I suspect that Tim Raines plus nine of them would not meet with your approval. So I have to ask, are you forgiving the Lee Smith vote, or do you actually think Smith should be elected?
I think that makes perfect sense. You are picking the best of the best so it is somewhat counterintuitive that such a list would require a "continued on next ballot" line.
I still think Morris goes in alone.
Well ...
Let me state unequivocably that I would not have voted for Sutter or Gossage. Maybe I would have voted for Eck. But ...
Lee Smith would not be out of place in a HoF group where Sutter, Gossage and Fingers form 60-75% of the inductees (Wilhelm not really a closer). You might make the case that he's the worst of that bunch in which case he's borderline, but if you think closers belong, a vote for Smith is not unreasonable.
And under the Morris argument, you can probably argue that Smith was the best closer between Sutter (last big season 1984) and Rivera (first big closer season 1997). If closers belong in the HoF and Smith was the "best of his era" (if he was) ...
The problem isn't Lee Smith's HoF-worthiness per se, it's the HoF-worthiness of closers. The induction of Gossage and Sutter creates a real conundrum for us thinking fans -- closers have been deemed HoF-worthy which means we have to give at least serious consideration to guys like Smith, Rivera and Hoffman.
Now Lee Smith on this ballot from a roids-accepter makes no sense at all ... but neither does Dale Murphy.
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