Baseball Bloggers Alliance

So, here we are. After two articles that ended up being much longer than I anticipated we are finally at the end. It’s time to me to defend my choices and explain why I voted for the five candidates that I did for the Baseball Blogger’s Alliance virtual Hall of Fame.

In the first blog in this series, I talked about my voting criteria and the players who belonged in the “Hall of Pretty Good”.

In the second blog in the series, I talked about the players who just missed my cut and were in the “Hall of Maybe Next Year”.

Now, without further ado, I present to you my five vote getters for BBA Hall of Fame induction.

Hall of Fame

Dale Murphy – Lets get things started by talking about Murphy, one of the top players of the 1980s. In fact, only one player, Mike Schmidt, had more home runs in the 1980s than Murphy’s 308. Furthermore, Murphy won consecutive MVP awards in the National League and was one of baseball’s first 30-30 men, hitting 36 home runs and stealing 30 bases in 1983. Even his peers recognized him as one of the leagues best players, putting him on the All-Star team in seven of the ten seasons in the 1980s. The main knock against Murphy of course was his low .265 batting average and his sharp decline at the end of his career. However, Murphy was a consistant power threat, hitting more than 30 home runs six times and 20 or more home runs 13 times. He also was reliable in the outfield, winning five Gold Glove Awards in his career.

Ultimately, I think that Murphy is hurt by having played in Atlanta and not playing in New York or Boston. As I stated in the first blog two days ago, I have never been a big fan of the idea that just because one player is in the Hall of Fame, that another player should be. Therefore, I won’t mention that Murphy won more MVPs and Gold Gloves than Jim Rice. I also won’t bring up the fact that Murphy had more home runs in less at bats than Rice did.

Why Murphy isn’t getting more support is beyond me, but I think that he deserves to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.

Roberto Alomar – Alomar has the distinction of being the only player that I’m voting for who is on their first ballot. However, being a first ballot Hall of Famer is something that I think Alomar deserves. During his career, Alomar consistently one of the best players in the league and should go down in history as one of the best second basemen ever. Alomar was a career .300 hitter and stole more than 30 bases eight times. He was elected to 12 straight All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove Award 10 times. Furthermore, he finished in the top six in MVP voting five times. While Alomar may not have been quite as good a fielder as Barry Larkin or Alan Trammell, he was a substantially better hitter and was still an excellent second baseman.

Andre Dawson – It looks like 2010 might be the year Andre Dawson finally gets the recognition that he deserves. After all the 1977 Rookie of the Year and 1987 MVP winner hit over 400 home runs and stole over 300 bases during his career. The big knock against Dawson seems to be his career batting average, however, Dawson was really hurt in this area during his last eight seasons, when hobbled by knee injuries, only once hit above his cumulative batting average of .279. Dawson though was one of the most feared hitters in the 80s and until hobbled by knee injuries was one of the best players in baseball.

Tim Raines – Why Raines hasn’t gotten more support for the Hall of Fame is beyond me. While I admittedly was on the fence with him at first, it was hard to overlook the fact that no one in baseball history with more than 300 steals had a better stolen base percentage than Raines’s .847. By the time Raines hung up his cleats, he had swiped 808 bases, good for fifth all-time and had swiped 70 or more bases six times, including a career best 90 bases in 1983. Ulitimately, Raines, along with Ricky Henderson, helped to revolutionize the leadoff position. Combining his speed with a little bit of pop (170 home runs for his career), Tim Raines made every team he played on better.

Lee Smith – Smith was simply one of the best closers of all-time. Over the course of his career, Smith recorded more saves than any player in baseball history had up until that time and he held the saves record from early 1993 until Trevor Hoffman broke his record of 478 saves at the end of the 2006 season. Smith was also incredibly durable, recording 25 or more saves in 13 consecutive seasons. Of course, the big knock against Smith is that he pitched so few innings and that he was primarily a reliever. However, as demonstrated all the time, being a closer and staying a closer is incredibly difficult (just look at Brad Lidge). For Smith to be so durable, and so dominant, for so long is incredibly rare. I can understand if a Hall of Fame voter doesn’t want to vote for any relief pitchers, but if a voter is willing to consider voting for a relief pitcher for the Hall of Fame, then Lee Smith should get a vote.

So there you have it folks, my 2010 Baseball Blogger’s Alliance Hall of Fame ballot. I ended up marking yes for Dale Murphy, Roberto Alomar, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, and Lee Smith.

What do you think? Am I an idiot or did I hit the nail on the head? Leave a comment below and let me know.

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