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[Carlos del Vaca]

Well, his pitching ability has been rather mediocre this year, yes.  But in 2005 when he was with the Nats, damned if he wasn't my favorite player.  Changed speeds as well as anyone in the game, ate up innings, and you just felt like the team was going to win every time out.  I was at the game where he threw 150 (yes one hundred fifty) pitches.  Plus, he's a big fat guy, and I like the big fat guys, being one myself.  (See also Daryle Ward and Dmitri Young.)

[JorgeFabregas]

Travis Hafner will never make the hall of fame because he didn't really get into the swing of things until he was 27--the prime of his career, basically. He's 30 and only has 142 home runs.

[Turbo Ninja]

Travis Hafner will never make the hall of fame because he didn't really get into the swing of things until he was 27--the prime of his career, basically. He's 30 and only has 142 home runs.

True enough, but this morning I'm feeling no Indians-related pain.  They have a shot at the Series and ARod has to wait at least another year.  Shit be good this fine day.

[pmcd9]

Guess who made it into the hall of fame.

[Carlos del Vaca]

https://twitter.com/oldhossradbourn/status/278631540920025088
"#90: C. Biggio. In my day, a man hit by 285 pitches dies 285 times." -- Old Hoss Radbourn

[AugustWest]

Smoltz should get there, as will Mike Piazza, and Randy Johnson, and probably some other dudes who have played a good chunk of their careers in the NL.  I just didn't feel like cataloging them all.

Pretty good prediction from 7 years ago, Mr. Mayor.  Didn't Piazza miss by like 28 votes or something?

[Carlos del Vaca]

Yeah, Piazza got like 65%. Not sure who's coming on the ballot next year, but he'll likely get in then. Part of the problem is limiting voters to 10 names. If there's an argument to be made for people who did NOT vote for Pedro or the Big Unit, it's that they were confident that those guys would get in and they wanted to use their limited votes on someone else. (The other case is usually "He was mean to me once," which is like, whatever, you big baby.)

Smoltz is amusing because a lot of people are comparing him to Schilling and Mussina and finding him actually behind those other two on paper. Having Maddux and Glavine get in before him helped Smoltz a great deal, I think. And maybe now having Smoltz in will help Schilling and Mussina, if there's a beneficial comparison to be made.

Of course, I still think Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and Clemens should be in. I'm a realist like that.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Are you sure about Sosa on that? Except for a short peak that included chest bumps and finger kisses to some lady I'm not sure he reaches the positional standards.

609 career home runs, 8th all-time? I think that's pretty good.

[pmcd9]

I think they should be putting less people in the hall. 1-2 per year tops. That way when you get in it really means something. Instead we get guys like Biggio who had solid careers, but nobody will remember in 30 years.

[AugustWest]

Man, the Baseball Hall of Fame exists for two reasons.  One, to support the economy of Cooperstown, New York and Two to give baseball fans one more fuck*ng thing to endlessly argue over.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Yeah. It's the Hall of FAME, anyway, not the Hall of Comparisons to Some Arbitrary Stat Lines. And McGwire and Sosa were famous as all get out for a while there.

(BTW, Ben Lindbergh put together a list of all the "It's the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of..." bits he could find. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=22248)