Roundtable: Which player on Hall of Fame ballot deserves the call?
In just a few days, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza will officially become members of the baseball Hall of Fame. They’ll share the stage as equals, though both took much different routes to get there.
Griffey was a sure-fire Hall of Fame candidate. He was elected on the first ballot and, with 99.3 percent of the vote, set a record for the highest voting percentage of any player elected to the Hall of Fame.
Piazza had to wait until his fourth year on the ballot to get the call. Obviously, his numbers had not changed in those fours years, so it was a case of some voters changing their minds and giving Piazza their votes.
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Piazza was far from the only deserving candidate on the ballot to be denied entry initially. You could make the case for a number of players who are currently on the ballot, but haven’t received enough support just yet.
That’s exactly what we here at The Stew decided to do. Our experts each picked one candidate they feel deserves enshrinement into the Hall of Fame, and made the case for that guy.
As Piazza proved, it’s not over for you if you don’t make it in your first few years. There is still hope for each and every player below.
BARRY BONDS, OUTFIELDER, SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Wait. Before you say any of the things that immediately come to mind when you see the words “Barry Bonds” and “Hall of Fame” in the same sentence, at least hear me out. Give me a couple minutes before you make your jokes about steroids or his big head or whatever comment-section recycling is about to happen.
Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame because tasking the Hall of Fame and its voters with playing morality police isn’t fair. A majority of people believe that Barry Bonds used steroids and that his historic numbers are performance-enhanced, but belief ain’t proof. So what happens then is we open the Pandora’s box where baseball writers (and one day probably a veterans’ committee) have to weigh character and behavior and all these things that make Hall of Fame debates so muddy and frustrating.
When having this conversation, we have to think beyond Bonds. Sure, people have their well-documented suspicions about him, but don’t you think there are cheaters in the Hall of Fame who never raised an eyebrow? Who never attracted at attention? Don’t you think there are players in the Hall of Fame who used the enhancers of their day (mainly, greenies) and got away with it because that wasn’t something baseball was trying to clean up back then? They’re OK but Bonds isn’t? Why? Because more people were paying attention to him?
Bonds should be in because you can’t tell the story of baseball without him, for better or worse. We shouldn’t rewrite history, either to act like he doesn’t exist or to disavow his supposed sins, but we should drop the morality play. It’s time to put one of the greatest hitters of all time in the Hall of Fame. (Mike Oz)
TIM RAINES, OUTFIELDER, MONTREAL EXPOS
All right, Hall of Fame voters, this is your last chance to do what should have been done years ago: induct Tim Raines into Cooperstown. Raines is on the ballot for the 10th and final year. He either gets in as part of the class of 2017 or he drops off the ballot. The validity of his candidacy has grown in recent years, but now the pressure is really on.
The case for Raines isn’t too difficult to make. A career on-base percentage of .385; 808 stolen bases, good for fifth all-time; seven All-Star nods; the only player in MLB history with at least 100 triples, 150 home runs and 600 stolen bases. But because his prime seasons were spent with the Montreal Expos, his greatness has continually been overlooked. Well, hopefully that’s about to change. It’s about time Raines received his Hall call. (Israel Fehr)
MIKE MUSSINA, PITCHER, BALTIMORE ORIOLES
For a long time I thought Hall of Fame debates were a waste of time. If a name or the career behind it required any discussion, the case was already closed and that player shouldn’t get in. Mussina’s career is a perfect example of why that thinking doesn’t work. Though his numbers and accomplishments may not stand out compared to Hall of Famers like Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson, the body of his work is definitely worthy of discussion and ultimately deserving of enshrinement into baseball’s elite class.
Despite never winning a Cy Young award or a World Series championship, Mussina was a model of consistent brilliance. He was “the man” on several really good teams, and succeeded in that role in the face of tough competition. He pitched in MLB from 1991-2008, which is widely known as an offensive era. And he spent all 18 seasons in the AL East, which is no walk in the park on its own.
Through it all, Mussina was a winner, finishing with 270 victories for his career. Perhaps most impressively, his first and only 20-win campaign was his final season at age 39. He placed in the AL’s top 10 in pitcher WAR and ERA+ 11 times apiece. His 145 postseason strikeouts are the fourth-most for any pitcher in history. He won seven Gold Gloves. He was simply an elite player who elevated every team he pitched for. (Mark Townsend)
JEFF BAGWELL, FIRST BASEMAN, HOUSTON ASTROS
Jeff Bagwell is one of the best first baseman of all time, and he definitely deserves a spot in the Hall. He had everything you want in a first baseman: enough patience to take some walks, but enough power to hit a bunch of homers. He also played a ton: with the exception of three years, he played at least 142 games every season, if not more.
By the end of his 15-year career (which could have been longer if not for shoulder issues), Bagwell was in the top-100 all-time for a whole slew of categories (walks, doubles, home runs, extra base hits, the list goes on). And don’t forget, he did all of this while spending half his time at the Astrodome, one of baseball’s most atrociously awful hitting environments. Bagwell got 71.6% of the votes on the 2016 Hall of Fame ballot, so he has a decent shot at making it in next year. But that doesn’t erase the years where he should have made it, but didn’t. (Liz Roscher)
EDGAR MARTINEZ, DESIGNATED HITTER, SEATTLE MARINERS
There’s no way you can talk about hitters of the ’90s without mentioning Edgar Martinez. Despite not becoming a full-time player until age-27, he put himself in Hall of Fame consideration with his dominant hitting. Over his 18-year career, he holds a ridiculous .312/.418/.515 slash line, with 309 home runs.
During his run, led the league in batting average twice, on-base percentage three times and OPS once. He made seven All-Star teams and finished within the top-10 of MVP voting twice. He was, by pretty much every measurement, one of the greatest hitters of his era.
Martinez received just 43.4 percent of the vote last year, and faces an uphill battle for induction. Had he played another position, or perhaps started his career earlier, he might be a lock for the Hall. (Chris Cwik)
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
