Jim Rice
Anyone have an opinion on the election of Jim Rice to the Hall Of Fame yesterday?
I was, and am, a 'no' vote on Rice. He belongs, with Don Mattingly and Alan Trammell, in the Hall of Very Good. He was not the "most feared" hitter for me when the Red Sox and Yankees used to go at it in the mid 70's to mid 80's. I feared Lynn, Burleson, Fisk, and Dwight Evans much more than Rice.
Dude, you are really, really smart. It must be genetic!
He's no Mike Schmidt or anything, but in the pre-steroid era, 24+ HR (9 times) and 100+ RBI (8 times) was actually considered a great year. He was also an 8 time all-star when they didn't have to be so politically correct and "find" a representative from each team, and was in the top 5 in the MVP race 6 times, not to mention a career .298 hitter. It should at least quiet down the Andre Dawson (played longer and doesn't match/exceed any of the numbers above) fans - the Hawk is a tweener, but Rice breaks the hall barrier (barely - but he does it).
"Philly" Jim (Andy) Welsh - 84
he was a very good player and his RBI totals were great, but that isn't enough to get into the hall IMHO.
I was shocked and surprised that Mike Schmidt didn't get voted in unanimously
I agree, I think he is just shy of being worthy.
What really boggled my mind was that 28 voters did NOT vote for Rickey. How is that even possible? I know there are always 4 or 5 idiots, but 28? He obviously still made it in easily, but I was really surprised at how low his percentage was -- less than 95%. He should have been at 98+%, at least.
His stats are a "coin flip" but believe he would have been in already if he wasn't so surly towards the media during his playing days. I agree with Mike that Rice wasn't even the best or 2nd best on his own team which may have helped his stats.
The Baseball Writers giveth or taketh away