DIAMONDS & HORSEHIDE: Getting Closer(s)

A while back, I promised to get to the other two elections being held for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Since the electors will announce their results on January 10, I'm thinking that now is a pretty good time to talk about that.

The Ballot for the 2006 Election

Fourteen new candidates on the ballot this year, and I'm not at all certain that any of them are going to get the necessary 5% of the vote to make it to 2007. The best of the bunch are guys who had great potential, but never quite realized it. Will Clark was a strong first baseman, but eventually petered out. Orel Hershiser is notable for a scoreless innings streak that boggles the mind, but doesn't have a particularly outstanding career as a whole. Dwight Gooden had such a stellar start, and snorted it all away. For an honor that recognizes a career, I can't really justify voting for any of them.

Possibly my most disappointing non-vote is Albert Belle. As players I actually have seen go, he's one of the few that made me gawk in astonishment. I had the privilege of attending the home run derby as part of the All-Star Game celebration in the Ballpark in Arlington in 1995. We all knew his ability, but we also knew he was a surly jerk. So he did not exactly have us in the palm of his hand. As I recall, he worked himself down to the last possible out, and then proceeded to unleash a series 7 monster shots over the left field wall. With each swing, he hit the ball harder, and the crowd grew increasingly vocal in its amazement. The ovation that followed when he finally ended his turn was immense and truly appreciative. One reason people love sport is for the "Holy Crap!" moments; those brief flashes of brilliance or luck or talent that are so unexpected as to leave you searching for the right words. Albert Belle had just provided a very heat-tired crowd with a good reason to stand up and cheer. He didn't win, but I was delighted and surprised to discover that I wished he had.

Sadly, I doubt Belle had inkling that he'd won us over. If ever there was a man who was angry at the world, it was him. I have to believe that affected his play. Injuries did their part, too. But a man who is always trying to figure out how everyone is trying to screw him now is not going to be at his best. Albert Belle at the top of his game was awesome. But he was so rarely there. He can't be considered for the Hall.

That leaves the returning candidates, and I continue to throw my support behind Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage. Closers are tough to evaluate statistically, because there's still debate over their most important stat, the save. They were stars in an era when closers came on in the 7th inning, and had to hold off the opposition for the remainder of the game in order to get credit. Nowadays, Eric Gagne can rack up racords for consecutive saves without ever seeing the 8th. There's just no comparison. It's hard to imagine two pitchers who were considered game-enders, season after season, in the way these two were. Fingers and Eckersley, two of the three currently-inducted relievers, had that quality. Today, only Mariano Rivera carries that kind of cachet. Most relievers now are in the vein of Bobby Thigpen: one monster season and little else. I say Sutter and Gossage belong.

Given a ballot, I would also vote for Bert Blyleven. He has staggering career numbers, but few seasons that are outstanding on their own. Still, when you look at his numbers closeup, he does come through when the team needs him most. (His contributions to the 1979 champion Pirates, for example.) And it's very hard to say that a man with 287 wins, over 3700 strikeouts, and 60 shutouts isn't worthy. I'd vote for him, which should please the folks over at BertBelongs. Plus, "The Dutch Master" is an outstanding nickname to put on a plaque.

My other definite vote goes to Andre Dawson. He and Jim Rice have gained attention because of the solid career numbers they put up "before the juice". I lean toward Dawson because he was more consistent throughout his career -- Rice tails off rather quickly -- and because I'm on a mission to stack the Hall with Expos. Tim Raines, I will have your back.

Rice is a borderline candidate, a guy I'm not ruling out but am not totally behind yet. Alan Trammell is another one, and the tragedy is that is his teammate Lou Whitaker had made it to a second year of eligibility, they probably would have been elected in tandem. Lastly, there is Tommy John, whose phoenix-like comeback is the stuff of legend, and who proved astonishingly durable after his career-saving arm surgery. I don't actually know whether that should favor him or not. After all, he underwent the operation; he didn't perform it.

So it's Blyleven, Dawson, Gossage, and Sutter for me, which is a smaller group than I typically endorse. Sutter is within 10% of election, and probably has the best shot of anyone to actually get elected. (Ryne Sandberg jumped 15% to earn his plaque in 2005.) But the talk is that no one will get elected at all. It's happened before, most recently in 1996. But I think that would be a shame. These are four guys who would fit well among the membership of the Hall of Fame.

Of course, there will be inductees. There's one other election to discuss, and that could very easily result in a flood of new Hall of Famers. But that's a discussion for another time.