Hall of Fame

I have a cold, something I rarely get, and my frustration is palpable. It just frustrates me so much not to be able to ignore something as puny as a virus. Hopefully it's a three-day bug because I feel stupid (can't grade papers), listless (too tired to work out, too tired to sleep), and frustrated (days at school are pretty horrible right now).

I've tried to dump my energy into reading (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), watching television (24 rules so far this year), and DVDs (I've been making my way through The Sopranos, and just finished Season 2). I've also spent a bit of time arguing about the Hall of Fame.

See, Ricky Henderson was just voted in, as well as Jim Rice. I'm glad both of them made it in.

Still, I'd like to see more. Here would have been my ballot, in this order:

Henderson

Raines

Blyleven

Rice

Trammell

Morris

L. Smith


I've spent a lot of time in recent days debating the merits of each, and I'm pretty confident in my justifications and arguments. On Lee Smith, I go up and down on, but he's clearly a better pick than freakin' Bruce Sutter. That's not the only reason, though, of course - Smith was a fine closer when closers were expected to pitch 90+ innings a year in the first half of his career, than a fine one when closers dropped down to 1-inning guys. He retired with more saves than anyone else. Blyleven was the best pitcher of his generation (the one between Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens), Jack Morris was the 2nd best. Trammell was the 2nd best SS of his generation, after Cal Ripken (far better than Ozzie Smith), and Tim Raines was the 2nd best leadoff hitter of his generation, after Henderson. Both also compare well to others in their spots throughout the history of baseball.

Still, no on Andre Dawson. He'll probably make it in the next time through, which is mystifying to me. A .323 OBP is not a Hall of Famer.

Next year, Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin deserve to be voted in. Maybe Fred McGriff too.