HOF Day - Alomar and Blyleven

[Rob L]

Longevity doesn't equal greatness( although it can). In blyleven's case it shows the ability to pitch consistently and avoid career/perfomance ending injury. In 22 seasons He made 2 all-star teams, finished in the top 10 in cy young voting 4 times and won 20 games 1 time. That doesnt seem like someone who is deserving of being honored as one of baseballs all time greats.

I think his W-L record would have been much better if he hadn't been on crappy teams the majority of his career. Hell, The Big Train would have blown Cy Youngs win record out of the water if the Senators were remotely decent during his time. Too be really shallow, his strike out total deserves the moniker of "great".

[Rob L]

BTW, I was hoping this would be a "show your Alomar and Blyleven GU items" thread. The moderators need to move this to the General Sports Discussion forum.

[Mark17]

I guess I just didn't see him pitch enough but to me he was just very good over a long period of time. I just don't think of greatness when I think of Blyleven's career. I don't think you can say he was the dominant pitcher of his era or even a top 5 guy really. But who am I to say. He got in and that's all that counts. He's been waiting a long time for this so you have to be happy for the guy.

Define "dominant." The most dominating thing a pitcher can do to a batter is to strikle him out. The most dominating thing a pitcher can do to a team (besides no-hitting them, which Bert did once) is shut them out.

Bert ranks 5th all-time in strikeouts (3701) and ninth all-time in shutouts (60).

The shutouts ranking is particularly impressive because of all the pitchers who broke into the big leagues since 1942, the leaders are Ryan (61), Seaver (61), and Bert (60.)

[5kRunner]

Alomar is a hall of famer in my book. He was probably the best 2b in baseball for a decade.

I've always been on the fence about Blyleven. I agree his career stats seem to make hime a hall of famer. The strikeouts and shutouts are impressive. But the one stat I can't seem to turn away from is that he was an all-star only twice. A legit hall of fame in my mind should be a fixture on the all-star team. But, I don't vote, so who cares. He's a hall of famer now.

Congrats to them both.

[xpress34]

I'm just going to say this on the 'All-Star' scale that everyone seems to want to throw around... rating on a guy (especially current players) on how many All-Star games they make is a joke, since fans have voted for them since 1970.

Fans vote for who is POPULAR - not who deserves to go. This was really highlighted last year when Jimmy Rollins was in the lead for SS in the NL despite having only played in 12 games due to injuries.

Most fans who vote pay no attention to actual stats and simply vote because they like a player, so the players's shouldn't be punished in their HOF selection because of FAN voting.

Even GOLD GLOVES won is becoming a popularity contest and is no longer based on what it was intended to be based on - the players DEFENSE. Examples? How about a guy being discussed in another thread - Rafael Palmeiro winning the Gold Glove at 1st after only playing like a 1/4 of the season there? Another? I'll use Jimmy Rollins again. In 2007 Troy Tulowitzki had the HIGHEST Fielding % of ANY player in the Majors. Not just SS and not just NL, but every position in both leagues. Why didn't he win the GG? Because the writers said, "A Rookie has NEVER won the Gold Glove and a Rookie won't win it this year either". When asked why Rollins won it, there was a comment made about his HRs and such... when did OFFENSIVE numbers contribute to a DEFENSIVE award? Give him the Silver Slugger, but Tulo should have had the GG.

Sorry for the rant, but I get a little worked up when awards/honors that are now just popularity contests are used to rate players on their careers.

To put it all in perspective - Dick Allen was one of (if not the best) 1B of his era - and a multi time All-Star - and he's not in the HOF. Why? Because he didn't like the press (i.e. BWAA) and they paid him back in kind but not giving him the votes.

- Smitty

[kellsox]

In the case of Blyleven the amount of all star appearances are telling because pitchers are not picked by fans

[Mark17]

In the case of Blyleven the amount of all star appearances are telling because pitchers are not picked by fans

Using that logic, maybe Nolan Ryan shouldn't be in the Hall then, since he played in just 5 All Star games in his 27 year career.

[5kRunner]

Using that logic, maybe Nolan Ryan shouldn't be in the Hall then, since he played in just 5 All Star games in his 27 year career.

Unless I can't count. Nolan Ryan was an All Star 8 times.

[Mark17]

Unless I can't count. Nolan Ryan was an All Star 8 times.

It's either you or Retrosheet.org:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/R/Pryann001.htm

1973, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1989

[Fnazxc0114]

Im glad to see blyleven get in