2010 Baseball Hall of Fame Candidates. Who Would Get Your Vote?

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-Digger's Daily-

Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were officially inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame representing the Class of 2009. Both players had distinguished and celebrated careers. Over 21,000 fans attended the induction ceremonies. Focus is now shifting towards players eligible for 2010.

The Baseball Writers Association of America decides who gets in and who does not. We're entering the era of how this group will handle the steroids generation of players eligible for consideration. My personal feelings is to keep each and everyone out. This is a subject to be debated intensely in years to come. In some cases, a handful of players have been suspected of doping without any concrete evidence. How the BBWAA handles suspected players remains to be seen. Observing how Mark McGwire receives only a few token votes then it's safe to say most suspected players will be on the outside looking in as those who played within the rules, or with stricter moral's, earn their stripes. Writers can select up to 10 players on their ballots. Players need to be named on 75% of ballots to get in. Any player receiving less than 5% is dropped from future ballots.

2010 class includes returning players and a few new one's for consideration. Here's the list:

(First time players on ballot) - Paul Abbott, Roberto Alomar, Kevin Appier, Andy Ashby, Danny Bautista, Brian Boehringer, Darren Bragg, Dave Burba, Ellis Burks, Greg Colbrunn, Mike Fetters, Brook Fordyce, Andrés Galarraga, Karim Garcia, Tom Goodwin, Ricky Gutierrez, Jimmy Haynes, Pat Hentgen, Sterling Hitchcock, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Barry Larkin, Curt Leskanic, Josias Manzanillo, Edgar Martinez, Brent Mayne, Fred McGriff, Mark McLemore, Shane Reynolds, David Segui, Scott Service, Chris Stynes, Scott Sullivan, Todd Van Poppel, John Vander Wal, Robin Ventura, Fernando Viña, Turk Wendell and Todd Zeile.

(Returning players) - Harold Baines, Bert Blyleven, Andre Dawson, Don Mattingly, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Lee Smith and Alan Trammell.

As you can see 2010 is a loaded ballot. Plenty of deserving players on this ballot. Whether or not they gain entrance as first timer is yet to be seen. Here are my picks for the Class of 2010:

Andre Dawson
Bert Blyleven
Roberto Alomar
Fred McGriff
Edgar Martinez

Official BBWAA results will be announced in November. Debates will soon start raging on blogs around the country.

Dawson (493 career HR) played hurt throughout his career. He was a class act on and off the field. His stats speak for themselves. Not sure what's holding up his nomination.
Blyleven has been a controversial nominee for years. He pitched admirably for many subpar teams and ranks 5th all time in strikeouts. He's eligibility has been denied for years. Many point to his 287 wins being less than the "auto" nomination of 300. Those nay-sayers fail to appreciate he pitched many years for poor teams.
Alomar was a tremendous talent who helped revolutionize how 2B was played. Outstanding fielder, clutch hitter and perrenial All Star. Might become one of the few 1st timers elected.
McGriff was steady as they come. His 493 home runs seem most impressive considering he played clean while others around him were juicing up. A true model of consistency. Deserving 1st timer will get many votes.
Martinez was DH extraordinaire. He may have to wait since DH became his primary position but there's little arguing with his hitting prowess. He'll probably have to wait a few years to get in. He's another 1st timer on my hypothetical ballot.

Let the debate begin. Who would get your vote from this 2010 ballot?

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Old Time Hockey

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by Digger

NHL '08-09 has been an action packed season. Three teams have dominated rinks from city to city (Boston, San Jose, Detroit). The Boston Bruins are back. I used to be a big Bruins and Rangers fan growing up (odd combo... rival teams).

The game has changed from generation to generation. Back in the late 60's early 70's pounding physical play dominated games. Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Rangers, Chicago, Buffalo, Vancouver, and probably a few others left off, were the rough house teams. After the Bobby Orr/Phil Esposito era in Boston things shifted to the Terry O'Reilly, Peter McNabb, Rick Middleton, Ray Bourque era. Great teams, hard hitting play but slow. Slow skating skills doomed them during playoff finals vs speedskating Montreal and later on in the 90's vs Gretzky's Oilers. Classic Bruins Playoff fights included a Terry O'Reilly triple header vs Islanders. He fought Gillies twice (draw) and then was induced into a 3rd by Garry Howatt (auto game ejection).
Rangers vs Islanders always seem to play classic games. Late 70's, early 80's were tops. Many of hockey's greats skated in these matchups. New York vs Philadelphia left plenty of rinks discolored. Chicago vs Vancouver were known to set a few penalty records.

Hockey has produced many mini-dynasties. Montreal Canadiens have won more Stanley Cups than any other. Their successes began back in 1918. Detroit is another super organization fielding Championship calibur teams and Hall of Famers.

Baseball does a great job replaying old classic games. Not enough old NHL games are rebroadcast. There were some great Finals and even better early round matches. Toronto vs Islanders quarters in '78 was one of my all time favorites. 1979 it was Montreal in game 7 OT vs Boston (Semi's). 1994 Rangers/Devils epic 7 game thriller (3 OT's including 7th). 1979 Challenge Cup Series (NHL All Stars vs USSR). Washington vs Islanders kept many fans awake during wee hours watching double and triple OT thillers. Plenty of others series which would be too cumbersome to list here.

This season, Boston vs Detroit for all the marbles would make a great Finals. Two storied franchises going toe to toe. Bruins have two great goalies in Thomas and Fernandez. Offense and defense have been firing on all cylinders. Detroit keeps cranking out great team after great team. Wings D is a bit shaky this year but they keep winning. San Jose is probably the only NHL team capable of taking Boston in a deep series. Only 8 losses and won't lose many more.

Hockey is one sport which hasn't had too many Hollywood hits. Miracle (USA Olympic story) and Slap Shot (comedy) are the only two coming to mind. Mystery, Alaska was a good movie but far from a box office hit. There's plenty of untold old time hockey stories which could make great sports flicks. Maybe in years to come?

Henderson & Rice Newest Hall of Fame Members!

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by Digger

Baseball Hall of Fame’s newest members were announced Monday. All Time Stolen Base leader Rickey Henderson and former Red Sox slugger Jim Rice will forever reside with baseball’s greatest players. Anyone who had the thrill of watching these two tear up opposing teams was treated to two players who dominated their era.

Rickey Henderson (career stats):

Henderson was arguably baseball’s all time greatest leadoff hitter. 10 All-Star selections, three Silver Slugger Awards, the 1990 American League Most Valuable Player, the 1989 AL Championship Series MVP and 12 seasons as the AL leader in stolen bases. Single season (130) and career (1406) stolen base record holder. He’s also baseball’s all time runs scored record holder (2295).

Everyone knew the flamboyant Henderson would become a first time ballot winner. There was never any doubt. Only one question was floated regarding his candidacy. Was Rickey to become the first ever unanimous selection? No. Henderson received 94.8% of ballots cast. There will be plenty of talk in the following years as to how it’s conceivable the games greatest leadoff hitter wasn’t named on all ballots.

Henderson’s early career was a sight to see. Every pitcher/catcher battery attempted to slow down Rickey’s base stealing ability. Not many succeeded. He stole at will. Perhaps one of the least talked about attributes Henderson possessed was his ability to make teammates better hitters while he was on the base paths. Pitchers, managers, coaches and catchers were always on guard doing whatever possible to disrupt his skills. More often than not, pitch counts would advantage hitters over pitchers due to so many pitchouts, bad pitches, and throws designed to keep Rickey off balance. Countless times batters hitting with Henderson on base were soon swinging away in comfortable 2-0 & 3-1 counts or getting a few mistakes right down broadway. There may never be another player of his calibur ever to play baseball again. His 130 single season stolen base record seems forever out of reach.

Jim Rice (career stats):

Jim Rice was often called the American Leagues most feared hitter of his generation. And yet, for some strange reason, it took Rice 14 long years before he was finally elected into Cooperstown’s shrine. Hall of Fame Class of 2009 was the last time Rice’s name would be on a HOF ballot. He garnered 76.4% of the vote which makes him one of three players elected on final season eligibility voting joining Ralph Kiner and Red Ruffing.

An 8 time All Star, 382 career HR, 1978 MVP, 8 100-RBI seasons, .298 career hitter. Rice will now hopefully get his Red Sox #14 jersey retired and hung with former Boston LF greats Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski.

1975 World Series was one of baseball’s greatest ever. Outside of Boston, there’s one tremendously overlooked ingredient which was missing as the Red Sox lost the epic Series 4 games to 3. There was no Jim Rice. ‘75 was his 1st full season and any Yankees fan will tell you his arrival made quite an impact. During his rookie year he was beating up pitchers to a .309 tune with 55 extra base hits and 102 rbi’s before breaking his wrist late in the season. We’ll never know if his injury was the difference maker? But, the Reds had to breathe a sigh of relief knowing their weaker junk ball starting pitchers didn’t have to face slugger Jim Rice.

Baseball has many players on the bubble who deserve Hall of Fame recognition after tremendous careers. All have been the focus of great debate which I’ll get to in future blogs. Here are a few names which spark fierce reactions: Burt Blyleven, Andre Dawson, Mark McGwire, Lee Smith, Dale Murphy & Alan Trammell.