Looks like Larkin has a good shot to gain admittance next year. If he doesn’t, no one will go in, and the backlog will be enormous as we head toward the 2012-2013 glut of steroid-era candidates.
In short, the BBWAA did what was expected and no more. They have once again dropped the ball. Jeff Bagwell with less than half the vote? Ridiculous. My personal Hall is larger than many, but there’s no logical argument against inducting Larkin, Bagwell, Raines and Trammell, never mind the strong borderline cases brought by Walker and Brown, who is off the ballot after receiving only 12 votes.
Can I reiterate that Jeff Bagwell, who has no-doubt HOF numbers, received less than 50 percent of the vote? The only conclusion I can draw is that he is being punished for looking like a steroid user. That is asinine.
Let me also point out that Lee Smith got more votes than Bagwell, Raines, and Edgar Martinez.
Paul, do you think Larkin’s lack of durability hurts him? Check out his games per season totals. Just curious.
In other news the Sox signed Max Ramirez. The same kid the Rangers wouldn’t move for Mike Lowell. Now all the Sox need is to sign Taylor Teagarden and they have all of the Rangers former top catching prospects. Ramirez has the highest ceiling of all the C’s mentioned, good for the Sox.
Over his peak, 1991-98, Larkin did average just 122 games per season, but of course two of those years were shortened by the strike. He played 110 of 114 games in 1994 and 131 of 144 in 1995. Extrapolate those percentages to 162 games, and he should get credit for 156 and 147 games played, respectively. Add those back into his 1991-98 total, and he’s up a 130 games-per-season average. That’s a litle misleading, as he missed more than half of 1997 and played essentially full seasons (140 or more games) in 1992, 1994-96 and ’98.
Anyway, the point isn’t that he was durable; he had injury problems, as you note. But he extended his peak for so long — and he was so good during that peak — that the value he provided more than outweighs the time he missed. Larkin averaged more than 5 WAR per season in that span, which takes the lost time into account. His 69 total WAR was third among all eligible candidates this year, above even Alomar, behind only Blyleven and Bagwell. That’s because, even in somewhat more limited time than ideal, he put up tremendous numbers as a shortstop in an era largely before the late-1990s shortstop explosion.
Oh I agree Paul, he is deserving in my eyes. I just heard someone mention it today as a possible obstacle and wanted to get your take.
Don’t they get inducted this summer?
Sorry to nitpick.
“…Can I reiterate that Jeff Bagwell, who has no-doubt HOF numbers, received less than 50 percent of the vote? The only conclusion I can draw is that he is being punished for looking like a steroid user. That is asinine….”
i couldn’t agree more with you paul…this guy deserves to be in…i did hear something on espn yesterday about the whispered steroid suspicions, and i couldn’t believe it…so now they’re going to punish a guy for “looking like a steroid user”?…total bs…
just as an aside, i don’t know why all the noise about keeping known [either by being caught, or by admission] steroid users out of the hall anyway…simply create a separate wing/exhibit for this period of baseball to acknowledge the feats, even though they were artifically facilitated, of the steroid users…kind of a cheaters wing…that way, they’re “in the hall”, sorta, just not as prominently as the “regular” inductees…that way we avoid the never-ending debates about the bonds, macguire, and palmiero types…they’re in but with an “asterisk”…of course, that would make for an awkward induction ceremony…i can hear the intro now: “ok, now we’re going to [dis]honor this year’s class of cheater wing inductees”…ugh
The funny thing is that Rafael Palmeiro is being kept out of the Hall despite being one of just four 500 HR/3,000 hit players in the history of the game because he failed a drug test.
That’s fine, except two of the other three 500/3,000 guys are known amphetamine users.
The inconsistency in how steroids are treated versus other PEDs is particularly galling to me.
9 replies on “Alomar, Blyleven Inducted”
Looks like Larkin has a good shot to gain admittance next year. If he doesn’t, no one will go in, and the backlog will be enormous as we head toward the 2012-2013 glut of steroid-era candidates.
In short, the BBWAA did what was expected and no more. They have once again dropped the ball. Jeff Bagwell with less than half the vote? Ridiculous. My personal Hall is larger than many, but there’s no logical argument against inducting Larkin, Bagwell, Raines and Trammell, never mind the strong borderline cases brought by Walker and Brown, who is off the ballot after receiving only 12 votes.
Can I reiterate that Jeff Bagwell, who has no-doubt HOF numbers, received less than 50 percent of the vote? The only conclusion I can draw is that he is being punished for looking like a steroid user. That is asinine.
Let me also point out that Lee Smith got more votes than Bagwell, Raines, and Edgar Martinez.
Paul, do you think Larkin’s lack of durability hurts him? Check out his games per season totals. Just curious.
In other news the Sox signed Max Ramirez. The same kid the Rangers wouldn’t move for Mike Lowell. Now all the Sox need is to sign Taylor Teagarden and they have all of the Rangers former top catching prospects. Ramirez has the highest ceiling of all the C’s mentioned, good for the Sox.
Over his peak, 1991-98, Larkin did average just 122 games per season, but of course two of those years were shortened by the strike. He played 110 of 114 games in 1994 and 131 of 144 in 1995. Extrapolate those percentages to 162 games, and he should get credit for 156 and 147 games played, respectively. Add those back into his 1991-98 total, and he’s up a 130 games-per-season average. That’s a litle misleading, as he missed more than half of 1997 and played essentially full seasons (140 or more games) in 1992, 1994-96 and ’98.
Anyway, the point isn’t that he was durable; he had injury problems, as you note. But he extended his peak for so long — and he was so good during that peak — that the value he provided more than outweighs the time he missed. Larkin averaged more than 5 WAR per season in that span, which takes the lost time into account. His 69 total WAR was third among all eligible candidates this year, above even Alomar, behind only Blyleven and Bagwell. That’s because, even in somewhat more limited time than ideal, he put up tremendous numbers as a shortstop in an era largely before the late-1990s shortstop explosion.
Oh I agree Paul, he is deserving in my eyes. I just heard someone mention it today as a possible obstacle and wanted to get your take.
Don’t they get inducted this summer?
Sorry to nitpick.
“…Can I reiterate that Jeff Bagwell, who has no-doubt HOF numbers, received less than 50 percent of the vote? The only conclusion I can draw is that he is being punished for looking like a steroid user. That is asinine….”
i couldn’t agree more with you paul…this guy deserves to be in…i did hear something on espn yesterday about the whispered steroid suspicions, and i couldn’t believe it…so now they’re going to punish a guy for “looking like a steroid user”?…total bs…
just as an aside, i don’t know why all the noise about keeping known [either by being caught, or by admission] steroid users out of the hall anyway…simply create a separate wing/exhibit for this period of baseball to acknowledge the feats, even though they were artifically facilitated, of the steroid users…kind of a cheaters wing…that way, they’re “in the hall”, sorta, just not as prominently as the “regular” inductees…that way we avoid the never-ending debates about the bonds, macguire, and palmiero types…they’re in but with an “asterisk”…of course, that would make for an awkward induction ceremony…i can hear the intro now: “ok, now we’re going to [dis]honor this year’s class of cheater wing inductees”…ugh
The funny thing is that Rafael Palmeiro is being kept out of the Hall despite being one of just four 500 HR/3,000 hit players in the history of the game because he failed a drug test.
That’s fine, except two of the other three 500/3,000 guys are known amphetamine users.
The inconsistency in how steroids are treated versus other PEDs is particularly galling to me.