I remember that '93 season. So many fans were getting upset with him because he had just signed that big contract, and he didn't know how to "win" games, while I thought he was throwing darts out there and the team wasn't scoring runs for him. Same problem plagued Appier in his career, although the fans were way more forgiving of him.

David Cone was my favorite pitcher growing up and I think he's one of the most insightful analysts around. I want him to get a national job. Perhaps pairing him with Boog Sciambi?

I always liked David Cone, but he's one of the players I always miss on Sporcle quizzes, along with Jimmy Key, Rafael Palmeiro, and Larry Walker.

David Cone was the first player who made me wonder whether he was a Hall of Famer or not. The answer is no, of course, but he certainly had Hall of Fame ability.

He was one of the few positive memories from the 2001 Red Sox as his pitching kept the Red Sox in the race for longer than you'd expect given the Jimy meltdown. I remember him pitching his butt off with not much beyond guile and heart against Mike Mussina, who nearly threw a perfect game. Virtually everybody else on the team had given up by that point except for Cone.

David Cone was the first player who made me wonder whether he was a Hall of Famer or not. The answer is no, of course, but he certainly had Hall of Fame ability.

No of course? Really?

His career ERA+ is only tied for 101st (with Appier ironically among others), at 121 and he only pitched 2,900 innings, but I think both measures are deceiving.

In this era 2,900 innings is more than reasonable for a starter, that's 14 full years at 207 innings average.

And the career ERA+ list has more than a few pitchers who pitched less than 1,500 innings (Tekulve, Lee Smith, and Brandon Webb and his OMG 142 ERA+).

In BBREF Pitcher WAR Cone is tied for 50th. In Fangraphs Pitcher WAR he's 70th. Do you really think that the HOF should contain less than 1 pitcher for every 2 years of it's existence? And of course the minor accomplishments of pitching in 21 playoff games, overall he sucked in the ALDS, but was excellent over 5 world series and 6 league championships. And toss in a Cy Young award.

But most importantly, we have recently discovered the Fangraphs interview, which clearly makes his candidacy a lock. Even for me, who hated this Met/Yankee ########## from the moment he pitched in NY until the very second I read the Fangraphs piece. Now I realize he's the greatest eligible pitcher ever snubbed by the HOF, and probably one of the best guys ever to play in the MLB, and would be ecstatic if he married my daughters, both of them.

It is time for the a new saber campaign!

Cone is in the Hall of Merit, which to me is more than enough to consider him a plausible HOF candidate.