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The Spectacle Blog
Let me take a moment away from the euphoria surrounding the new House of Representatives.
Today was also a big day for Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven who were elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) to the Nationafl Baseball Hall of Fame. The pair will be inducted along with longtime baseball executive Pat Gillick (who was picked by the Veterans Committee) as well as sportswriter Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News and Florida Marlins radio broadcaster Dave Van Horne who will be bestowed with J.G Taylor Spink Award and the Ford C. Frick Award, respectively. (Of course, I remember Van Horne when he did the TV play-by-play for the Montreal Expos on the English language CBC). After both falling short a year ago, Alomar received 90% of the vote from the BBWAA while Blyleven managed to sneak over the 75% threshold with 79.7% of ballots cast. The ceremony wil take place in Cooperstown, New York on July 24, 2011.
Alomar spent 17 seasons in the big leagues with the San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox (twice) and the Arizona Diamondbacks. He amassed 2,724 hits, a .300 lifetime batting average, ten Gold Gloves for his defense at second base and back to back World Series rings with the Blue Jays in ‘92 and ‘93.
It is widely believed the BBWAA did not elect Alomar last year because of an incident that took place in 1996 in which he spit in the face of umpire John Hirshbeck over a called third strike (I saw this game on TV). Alomar later said Hirshbeck was bitter over the death of his young son who was afflicted with Siemerling-Creutzfeldt Disease. However, Alomar and Hirshbeck would bury the hatchet and join forces to raise money to combat Siemerling-Creutzfeldt. Hirshbeck later publicly called for Alomar to be elected to the Hall.
As for Blyleven, time was running out on his candidacy having been rejected by the BBWAA thirteen years in a row. Blyleven won 287 big league games but lost 250. But he generally pitched for mediocre teams and lost a lot of 1-0 games. Let’s also say that his personality is very off color (language warning) and that has probably turned off some Hall voters over the years.
Yet Blyleven’s possessed arguably the best curveball ever thrown by a pitcher in big league history. His 3,701 strikeouts are good enough for fifth on the all-time list. Had Blyleven pitched with teams like the Oakland A’s, Cincinnati Reds or Baltimore Orioles early in his career he probably would have exceeded 300 wins. Instead he pitched for teams like Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians and California Angels. Nevertheless, he did collect two World Series rings from the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1987 Minnesota Twins.
As for some of the players who were on the ballot whom I deemed worthy of greater consideration for Cooperstown, relief pitcher extraordinaire Lee Smith’s vote dropped 2% and although Alan Trammell’s got a 2% increase he still got less than 25% of the overall vote. It’s tougher to get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame than it is to get elected to Congress.
View all comments (22) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/05/alomar-blyleven-elected-to-coo
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Tex Expatriate| 1.5.11 @ 4:23PM
The fact that Baseball Writers Association of America members decide the Hall members by vote notwithstanding, why are writers included in the Hall of Fame? These are people who, like remoras, make their livings off the work of others. A good deal of the time they make things up.
Bob K.| 1.5.11 @ 5:50PM
Excellent point Tex, which I agree with.
By the way did you notice the 1st person singular pronoun our writer here used in the first sentence of the last paragraph? "....................which I deemed worthy................. ."
That is the problem with the HOF selection process: Too many writers "deeming" worthiness!
Also, Mr. Goldstein, why didn't you mention Blyleven's 60 shutouts and many complete game wins instead of dredging up some allegations about his salty language. Or aren't they considered evidence anymore of the pride, will to win, self sufficiency and ego strength needed to be a Great Pitcher! Any starter worth his salt will complete what he starts if he still know he will win it. Who could they bring off the bench he would consider better than himself? Unless he is looking to make himself look good instead of proving he is good!
Would 13 more wins, giving him 300, have made his election easier. And if you say yes, explain why! Round numbers seem to be very important to you writers!
Jim| 1.5.11 @ 5:33PM
Should change the name to 'Hall of Shame' when the spitter crawls in.....
tonypal| 1.5.11 @ 5:56PM
I'm no fan of Roberto Alomar, but there are far worse people in the hall of fame. Ty Cobb was an unrepentant racist, for one.
Bert Blyleven getting into the hall is an absolute joke. The man was no more than a good pitcher who was fortunate enough to pitch long enough to compile big numbers. But if you look at his career average for wins and losses, it's something like 14 W -12 L. He was never close to being the best pitcher at any time during his career, no Cy Youngs, most home runs given up all time. Sorry, but that's hardly a hall of famer. Good guy, but not a great pitcher.
Warrior | 1.5.11 @ 8:57PM
Babe Ruth was no altar boy. Gaylord Perry notorious for his spitballs. Kennesaw Mountain Landis is credited for delaying by two decades the entrance of blacks into baseball. We could have a field day with some of the characters with questionable character that are already enshrined.
Nelson H.| 1.5.11 @ 10:48PM
Single most damning this: picked for the All Star team only twice in his long career. Think how many pitchers get picked every year. He wasn't in the top ten throughout his career except for a couple of seasons.
Cris| 1.6.11 @ 6:51AM
What's more an important springtime event for you, Jim, the return of baseball or the Easter Bunny?
Clint| 1.5.11 @ 6:05PM
Indeed, The Hall needs more refined sportsmen & gentlemen.
I ask ya, where is the next Ty Cobb ?
Will| 1.6.11 @ 6:09AM
Just a matter of time before Bonds gets in, the writing's on the wall. Bly's nomination helps counter opposition to rat bastard Alomar, I suppose. A nod to the grey beards that remember a different game. Soon, it will be all gangsta, all the time.
MacDaddy| 1.6.11 @ 8:43AM
Will: The day Mr. Bonds is elected to the MLB Hall of Fame is the day I will completely divorce myself from the game I have loved since I was a small child. I will not attend, I will not watch or listen to, nor will I support sponsors of the game. Perhaps my reaction seems extreme and many will doubt my conviction. Nonetheless, I will be resolute. Mr. Bonds is a criminal and a cheat. He no more belongs in the MLB Hall of Fame than the current denizen of the White House deserves to hold that lofty office.
tonypal| 1.6.11 @ 12:06PM
The crazy thing about Bonds is that he was well on his way to the hall of fame before he swelled up to the size of a running back. The man was a dominant, muliple MVP winner at 185 lbs (or whatever he was). Unlike Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, I think a strong case can be made for Bonds being in the hall. The guy is a hall of fame asshole, but in my opinion he should get in the hall.
Wayne | 1.6.11 @ 12:19PM
Too late for me. I quit watching baseball. The only thing that would bring me back would be for MLB to do the same thing Track and Field does and completely expunge his records.
Will| 1.6.11 @ 10:29AM
MacDaddy: I struggle with attempts at optimisim and positive thinking daily. However, I am a realist. Folks ask me why I no longer follow the NBA, and exhibit a marked decrease in NFL interest. Of course, much of the blame rests on the shoulders of the "press" and what they choose to cover. Ochocincoism sells, modesty and humility do not. Our culture is dying, being replaced by something not easily summed up in a sentence. I too, will continue to watch the National pastime, but as I said to my then twelve year old son, when he asked me why the Toronto infielder spit in the umpire's face, "I just don't know..."
astorian| 1.6.11 @ 11:09AM
That Bert Blyleven was finally elected to the Hall of Fame reflects a major change in the thinking of sportswriters- a change that can be seen in Cy Young Award voting, as well.
For a long, long time, tremendous emphasis was put on a pitcher's Wins. For many years, a pitcher with a 23- record and a 3.50 ERA would be given the Cy Young Award over a guy with a 16-14 record and a 2.25 ERA. LaMarr Hoyt is just one of many mediocre pitchers who were rewarded for having a lot of wins.
Over the past few years, however, we've seen the Cy Young Award given to guys like Zach Greinke and Felix Hernandez, highly deserving pitchers who didn't win a lot of games.
Sportswriters have started to realize that wins are a flawed, nearly useless stat. That benefits guys like Bert Blyleven. It will probably HURT guys like Jack Morris, whose candidacy stalled this year.
Writers USED to believe wins were the ultimate measure of a pitcher, and that a guy who wins by a score or 6-4 somehow performed better thana pitcher who lost by a score of 2-1. "Winning Ugly" no longer commands that kind of respect, and nobody takes the concept of "pitching to the score" seriously any longer.
Wayne | 1.6.11 @ 12:23PM
A similar pitcher had a much easier time making it into the Hall. That is Ferguson Jenkins. In fact his numbers were not really as good as Blyleven. He averaged 15-12 with a 3.34 ERA and had 49 shutouts.
astorian| 1.6.11 @ 12:28PM
But Fergie won 20 games numerous times (including six consecutive seasons) back when sportswriters regarded winning 20 games an awesome feat.
Blyleven only won 20 games in a season once. That's one reason that he was shunned for so long. Only when people started looking past wins did Blyleven have a chance.
Wayne | 1.6.11 @ 12:49PM
So I guess you are talking about single seasons rather than career.
astorian| 1.6.11 @ 3:31PM
Both, actually.
Blyleven WOULD surely have been elected to the Hall ages ago if he'd won 300 total games. And he probably would have commanded a lot more respect during his playing days if he'd won 20 in a few more seasons.
Wayne | 1.6.11 @ 12:14PM
Finally Blyleven is in the Hall. He had 60 shut outs. Shutouts are almost a forgotten stat any more. If he didn't get in, then the door to the Hall would virtually close for starting pitchers.
I think the Hall lowered its standards for hitters last year by putting in Andre Dawson. How is a Dawson a hall of famer and a Harold Baines gets 5 percent of the vote? Look at the numbers and Baines beats Dawson by a mile. A similar case was Billy Williams, another good, but not great outfielder with rather ordinary stats.
Alomar is arguably the best second baseman ever and easily deserved to be in the Hall.