:idea: :arrow: Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, and Trevor Hoffman. This is perfect. Those are the four who deserved it.
Agree all deserve it. Any discussion about others on the ballot? http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2018/01/path_to_cooperstown_will_not_b.html
I can tell you one guy who will be getting in next year...Mariano Rivera. He'll be in the high 90% on his first ballot. Discussion this week on local sports radio was about a guy who was a closer for the Astros and others...Billy Wagner. Whether he is going to make the HOF. He is 6th on the all time saves list, Rivera is of course the leader followed closely by Trevor Hoffman. But Billy has more saves than either Dennis Eckersley or Rollie Fingers or Goose Gossage. But he probably won't make it.
:idea: :arrow: Curt Schilling should make it next year. He was certainly one of the greatest of all time. He pitched the Phillies, Dbacks, and Red Sox to the World Series with a 11-2 post season record. He was one of the greatest "Big game" pitchers ever...
:idea: :!: Do not be stunned. Although I agree with you, the fact is NO player has ever received 100% of the vote on their first try; not even Babe Ruth.
I know. But no one that I can thnk of anyone in sports is unquestionably the best in his craft of all time as Rivera was. His numbers are completely unequaled and untouchable.
I see that Chief Wahoo is going to the Happy Hunting grounds. Indians gear will not have his logo on it starting with the 2019 season.
RE: 100% votes in the HOF Local guy who is a voter wrote a column about his vote. He voted for Jim Deshaies a former Astro. He said he knows that Jim is not a HOF guy, but that after being around him for the 5 or 6 years he was here in Houston he feels like he was a HOF if effort was a factor. Said he just wanted Jim to have a vote to recognize what a great guy he was, great teammate, real grinder, etc. So he knew he wasn't a HOF but he put him on the ballot anyway. I saw that somebody put Carlos Lee on his ballot, El Caballo! I remember reading some guy who didn't vote for Nolan Ryan because while he said he was no doubt a 1st ballot HOF and well deserving, he wanted to vote for other guys who needed the vote to up their %. I wouldn't be shocked if some voters out there hate the Yankee's and won't put a Yankee on the ballot.
I found the Jim Deshaies article... In 12 major league seasons from 1984-1995, Jim Deshaies pitched for six teams. He had a losing record and never made an All-Star team, got a Cy Young vote or pitched in the postseason. Yet five years after he retired, Deshaies' career earned one lasting piece of validation when he received a vote for the Hall of Fame. The vote was a testament more to Deshaies' character than his career. In the weeks leading up to the balloting for the Class of 2001, he launched a campaign called "One Man, One Vote" and a website --- www.putjdinthehall.com -- and did several interviews promoting his tongue-in-cheek candidacy. His efforts were rewarded when then-Houston Chronicle columnist John Lopez, now a contributor to SI.com, gave Deshaies the one vote he so desperately desired. "It was a vote for the good-old fashioned guy that loved playing baseball, the regular guy,'' Lopez said. Friends of Deshaies' celebrated by putting on a parade in his Houston neighborhood. He knew he wasn't a legitimate Hall candidate, so he said that he was using the platform for educational purposes. His career was so forgotten about that he had to explain that he was a left-handed pitcher.
RIP Oscar Gamble. He died of a tumor of the Jaw, called Ameloblastoma. I've seen them only in Oral Pathology seminars. While he did not have a HOF career, he had a Hall of Fame Afro! I always wondered how he got his cap on and kept it on.
I remember him well. He came up through the Cubs organization and played for a bunch of teams throughout his career. He was a solid hitter. R.I.P.