MLB’s Hall of Blame

By Brett Parker Neal on January 30, 2014 • ( 0 )

In January, 1937, one of our nation’s greatest Presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, wrote a letter to the Baseball Writers Association of America expressing his gratitude for the work they had done to bring the excitement of baseball to the American people at a time in which the United States had been struggling for so long to pull itself out of the Great Depression. Nowadays, a baseball writer could win a Pulitzer Prize for their season’s work, yet have all recognition striped from them if their hall of fame ballots don’t reflect the wishes of their readers. It makes me wonder how President Roosevelt would feel about the Baseball Writers Association this day in age.

I wrote an article back in the fall about how professional football is steadily taking over as “America’s pastime,” a nickname previously associated with professional baseball since before the Great War. Fantasy football, steroids, video games, and the freakish athleticism displayed by NFL athletes have all contributed to the takeover, but baseball’s decline has also been hastened by some of those whose job is to preserve the sport’s sanctity. Since 2006, the Baseball Writers Association has voted in a total of 13 players. The list includes shoe-ins like Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, and most recently, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. All of these were no-doubters for first-ballot glory, but there were others who had to wait their turn for baseball writers to give them the nod.

Take “Goose” Gossage for instance. Goose was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2008, and showed up on a stout 85.8% of baseball writer’s ballots. 85.8% is a strong number, but it was Goose’s 9^th time to be on the ballot. In his first year of eligibility, Gossage only received 33.3% of the 75% needed for induction. So what happened in those 9 years that made 350 voters change their minds? If you compare Goose’s statistics to closers since his time, he’s nothing special. Upon his retirement, Gossage’s 310 saves was 2^nd all-time behind Rollie Fingers, but was bumped out of the top 10 by his induction year of 2008. So what happened in those 9 years that made writer’s realize that this 9 time all-star, World Series champion and pioneer of the closer’s role was HOF worthy? Discrimination was taken out of baseball thanks to the great Jackie Robinson, but there is evident discrimination against relief pitchers in their path to Cooperstown. It is difficult to take a player who finished his 22 year career in 1994 and argue for his greatness when he’s since been passed by the likes of Robb Nen, Francisco Cordero, Jose Mesa, and Troy Percival (among others). Let’s compare Gossage to Nen, who only played 10 years, yet had arguably better numbers in half that time period.

Player	Goose Gossage	Robb Nen
Years played	22	10
Career ERA	3.01	2.98
Career WHIP	1.23	1.21
Career Saves	310	314
Career K’s per 9 innings	7.5	10.0

So why is it that in 2008, Robb Nen received 2 votes, and Gossage received 466? I’m not arguing that Robb Nen should be in Cooperstown, and I’m not arguing that Goose Gossage should’ve been left out, but I don’t understand how a player of Gossage’s caliber wasn’t recognized in his first ballot year when his stats were way more eye popping. I understand the significance of the title “First-Ballot Hall-of-Famer,” as voters are trying to make a distinction between the players that were great, and the players that were truly legendary. Ok, so what about their second year? What ends up happening is that the list grows bigger and bigger each year, and eventually one of the “greats” gets left out in the cold. This past year that player was Jack Morris, who had the door shut on him after 13 unsuccessful tries. In Morris’ last year of eligibility, many members of the BBWAA scrambled to write convincing articles in favor of the Tigers long-time Ace in attempt to urge fellow voters to carefully consider placing Morris on their ballot. Only 61.8% voted in favor of Morris, who was the poster-child for American League pitching in the 80’s.

Since Gossage’s time, voters have had a whole other curveball thrown their way. Steroids have not only tainted the game of baseball, but voters are doing their best to make sure the Hall of Fame remains uncontaminated. This means that voters have to take extra care when selecting their nominees. But have the writers taken too much caution? Some members of the Baseball writers association have decided that they wouldn’t dare vote for anyone who played during the steroid era, regardless of position, or history of speculation. In 2013, ESPN’s Howard Bryant sent in a blank ballot with this stance. “I didn’t vote for any of the players on this ballot,” claims Bryant, ”not Bonds or Clemens, not Mike Piazza or Jeff Bagwell, because the damages to the game were real.” In his article, Bryant attacks those who are guilty of steroid use, but throws Bagwell and Piazza into the fire based purely on the time period in which they played. Say what you will about the power arms and bats during the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but what did voters like Bryant have against a scrappy second baseman like Craig Biggio. Granted, Biggio did receive 68% of voter’s approval in 2013, which usually points to eventual induction in the near future. Baseball enthusiasts everywhere believed that 2014 would be Biggio’s year, accompanying the likes of presumed “First-Ballot Hall-of-Famers” Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas. But only 74.8% of voters agreed. Sure, Biggio missed out by 2 votes, but 144 of BBWAA voters decided that Craig Biggio was not good enough. Since 1900, here’s how Biggio’s career numbers stack up all time

Category	Career numbers	Overall
Hits	3,060	21^st
Doubles	668	5^th
Extra base hits	1,014	32^nd
Runs scored	1,844	15^th
Hit by pitch	285	1^st
Double-plays turned	1,153	19^th

Not to mention Biggio was a 7-time All Star, 5-time Silver Slugger, and 3-time Gold Glove award winner who played three completely different positions in a 20-year career. If experts agree that Craig Biggio is a no-doubt Hall of Famer, then why isn’t he in Cooperstown already? Why do these once-in-a-generation type players have to wait? Does the “First-Ballot Hall-of-Famer” label matter to anyone other than the writers? If their numbers are the same each year after retirement, then why are players like Goose Gossage, Andre Dawson, Roberto Alomar, Jim Rice, Barry Larkin, Bert Blyleven, and Craig Biggio having to wait so long for their induction day?