The top candidates for the Class of 2008 Baseball Hall of Fame are: Tim Raines and David Justice :shock: These guys weren't even the best players on the teams they played on. Raines was a seven-time All-Star who played 23 seasons and batted .294 with 2,605 hits and 808 steals, fifth on the career list. He was the 1986 NL batting champion. Justice was the 1990 NL Rookie of the Year and a three-time All-Star. He had a .279 average, 305 homers and 1,017 RBIs in 14 seasons.
I've never ever thought of those two as HoF candidates. Slim pickin's this year. Maybe a couple of deserving veterans will make the grade.
ugh <t>maybe Raines. There are better players NOT in the Hall though.<br/> <br/> No way on Justice. Half of that guy's hardest lifetime hits came at home. He wasn't even a good 'clutch' hitter in the Braves bigger games.</t>
I'm one of Justice's biggest fans ever and even I know he doesn't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. He was instrumental in the Braves' early run but he wasn't even the best on his team as has been stated. I think it will be interesting to see if any of the Braves' positional players make the HoF from their incredible run. You can make a case for Chipper Jones but it isn't an incredibly strong one. Sheffield had a cup of tea to resurrect his career with Atlanta. After that, will anyone make it in? McGriff? Doubt it. Ron Gant? Kidding. Javy Lopez? No way. Andres Galarraga? Don't think so. Andruw Jones? Maybe if he can get to 500-600 homers, doesn't have another terrible year like this past one, and keeps winning gold gloves year after year. There really aren't any others you can seriously consider at this point. Just goes to show you how important starting pitching is in baseball. You'd think some other teams would take note of that and quit buying positional players for outrageous sums and invest that money where it counts.
I'm betting that three of them are HOFers, Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. I don't think Johm Rocker had enough saves to be considered. :lol:
re: Tim Raines 7 All-Star teams in 23 years How about a guy who made 7 All-Star teams in only 12 years?
:idea: How about a guy who was Rookie of the Year, lead both leagues in wins, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched, and ERA, tossed no-hitters and one-hitters, while leading nons like the Pittsburgh Pirates to the World Series and actually winning a World Series with the Minnesota Twins and becoming one of only three pitchers in history to win games before the age of 20 and after the age of 40?
Stats anyone?? Player Batting Average Runs Stolen Bases Hits MVP Awards Gold Gloves Pennants WS Champ Wills .281 1067 586 2134 1 2 4 3 Aparicio .262 1335 506 2677 0 9 2 1 Reese .269 1338 232 2170 0 0 7 1 Rizutto .273 877 149 1588 1 0 9 7 Fox .288 1279 76 2663 1 3 1 0 Mazeroski .260 769 27 2016 0 8 3 2 O. Smith .262 1257 580 2460 0 13 3 1 Sandburg .286 1318 344 2386 1 9 0 1
I left out the Braves' pitchers on purpose. I was only discussing position players. I think it's a given that Glavine and Maddux are first ballot guys. I also think that Smoltz gets in. The longer Smoltz pitches I think the more people realize how great he is and his accomplishments are starting to pile up as well. The thing about Smoltz is that I think if he had been a full time closer he would have been the greatest ever. I also think that if he had not had arm problems, he would have an outside shot at 300 wins. That pitching trio has to be the best ever....
Most of the knit unis from that era were ugly......White Sox, Astros, Pirates....even the Reds. As far as uniforms go, it was a forgettable era.
:idea: Yes, that's Bert Blyleven and why he's not already in the Hall of Fame I can't imagine. He really was one of the greatest pitchers of all-time and if he'd played in New York, instead of places like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Minnesota, there would be statues of him everywhere... Take a look at Maury Wills stats too. They're much better than Pee Wee Reese or Phil Rizzuto or Luis Aparicio, despite the fact that Wills wasn't brought up to the majors until he was nearly 30. He was forced to play in the minors for 10 years, because of baseball's reserve clause and racial discrimination. He was the guy who brought base stealing back to MLB after it had been absent for nearly 50 years and broke Ty Cobb's record at a time when nobody else had the guts to even attempt half as many tries. The Giants used to water the area in front of 1st base into a swampy mudhole between innings in San Francisco to try and slow him down. He was special and he was a better player than several shorstops in the HOF; including Reese and Rizutto...
It should be noted that Ted Williams once said that the only difference between his Red Sox and the Yankees of that era was #10. Also many of his team mates said that Rizzuto was the real MVP of that team. He retired with nine pennants and seven WS rings. :idea: