2015 Baseball Hall of Fame Welcomes.....

[Shumkoolie]

Randy Johnson (97.3%)
Pedro Martinez (91.1%)
John Smoltz (82.9%)
Craig Biggio (82.7%)

One of the most stacked classes ever. Just some brief observations of each guy.

Randy Johnson - Probably the most dominant left-handed pitcher ever. Almost 5000 strikeouts, 303 career wins, was a force in games 6 and 7 of the 2001 World Series, which is the stuff legend is made of.

Pedro Martinez - Yankee fans are singing "Who's Your Daddy". That was probably the funniest thing of all time when, in a press conference, he said the Yankees were his Daddies. All kidding aside, his 7 year peak was probably among the best ever. He was just simply unhittable and one of his big moments was in the 1999 All-Star Game in Boston, while a member of the hometown Red Sox, struck out when he struck out Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell in two innings.

John Smoltz - Spent the bulk of his career as a starter, though had some arm problems in the middle of his career and had to turn to closing and was dominant as a closer too. Was a pillar of the great Atlanta Braves teams of the 1990's and early 2000's. Struck out over 3000 batters in his career and was very good in post-season play too.

Craig Biggio - Over 3000 hits, a staple of the Astros lineup for 20 seasons and was a multi-time All-Star player. First guy to hit 50 doubles and steal 50 bases in the same season. Second all-time in being hit by a pitch. He was a very durable player for his career as well.

There were some close calls as well, especially Mike Piazza. A lot of Met/Dodger fans are probably disappointed that he didn't get in, but I'm sure he will get in on next year's ballot. The only notables on next year's ballot are Ken Griffey Jr. (no brainer in my opinion), Trevor Hoffman (I think Mariano Rivera gets in before he does, if he even does) and Billy Wagner (very borderline candidate, would be shocked if he got in).

 

[lcid86]

I agree with the observations, but still kind of torn on Biggio. Very good player with a long career, but not sure he was 'great'.

Johnson, Pedro and Smoltz were all great for a long period of time.

They really need to do something about the PED hofers (Clemens, Bonds) and clean up the ballots. Either create a separate HOF category, remove the character clause, or remove them from the ballot.

Also, put Rose in as a player and ban him for life as a manager.

 

[supermoto]

good well chosen those big fours and more my countryman Pedro Martinez

 

[Suited Frenzy]

All good choices IMO.

Both Johnson & Martinez were next to un-hittable. Smoltz was a great pitcher as well. Biggio reminded me of a modern day Cobb the way he played the game. He was always running, throwing or swinging hard as hell. I miss those kinds of hard-nose players.

 

[Kenzie 96]

I agree with the observations, but still kind of torn on Biggio. Very good player with a long career, but not sure he was 'great'.

Johnson, Pedro and Smoltz were all great for a long period of time.

They really need to do something about the PED hofers (Clemens, Bonds) and clean up the ballots. Either create a separate HOF category, remove the character clause, or remove them from the ballot.

Also, put Rose in as a player and ban him for life as a manager.

This is the baseball HOF we are talking about, please do not waste time making common sense suggestions here. +1

 

[pokernut92poker]

Think it is a completely well deserved class.. I agree with them all getting in!!thanks for the post and stats!!

 

[Shumkoolie]

It doesn't seem that there are as many people into baseball here as there are for UFC and the NFL. I don't watch UFC so I cannot contribute to any conversation. The NFL is more interesting for me though.

Anyhow, the point of this post is to bring to your attention Randy Johnson's second career. He is an outstanding photographer, and you can see some samples of his work, which is absolutely outstanding in my opinion at the following website:

rj51photos.com

He majored in photo-journalism while he was in college at USC and has managed to parlay that into a career after baseball. He definitely shows not just the passion he has for what he's doing, but the talent is obviously there.

Enjoy, and I can't wait for the Hall of Fame ceremony. While I'm not going this year, I will certainly follow it fairly closely. I went in 2011 when Roberto Alomar, Pat Gillick, and Bert Blyleven got elected. Being a Blue Jays fan, it was a great time and I even got to meet a childhood favorite of mine, Jesse Barfield.

 

[scorpion1367]

Great choices all for the hall IMO .Now I wish they would wake up and put Tim Raines in on the next ballot he surely deserves it.......scorp

 

[Suited Frenzy]

It doesn't seem that there are as many people into baseball here as there are for UFC and the NFL. I don't watch UFC so I cannot contribute to any conversation. The NFL is more interesting for me though.

Anyhow, the point of this post is to bring to your attention Randy Johnson's second career. He is an outstanding photographer, and you can see some samples of his work, which is absolutely outstanding in my opinion at the following website:

rj51photos.com

He majored in photo-journalism while he was in college at USC and has managed to parlay that into a career after baseball. He definitely shows not just the passion he has for what he's doing, but the talent is obviously there.

Enjoy, and I can't wait for the Hall of Fame ceremony. While I'm not going this year, I will certainly follow it fairly closely. I went in 2011 when Roberto Alomar, Pat Gillick, and Bert Blyleven got elected. Being a Blue Jays fan, it was a great time and I even got to meet a childhood favorite of mine, Jesse Barfield.

Nice. I had no idea about his 2nd career.

I love photography as well. When I was in Manhattan, NY in 2007, I took a picture while standing in the middle of Times Square. I sent it to my mother & she said "why did you just take a picture of a postcard & send it to me? Why couldn't you just send the postcard?" HaHa I said "I just took that picture!"

Anyways, I'll have to check that site out. Thanks for the info

Great choices all for the hall IMO .Now I wish they would wake up and put Tim Raines in on the next ballot he surely deserves it.......scorp

Yes, def! I always loved watching Raines play as well. He was one of those hard-nose all-around natural athletes that could do everything. I believe if Biggio can get in, Raines can get in too! He deserves it.

p.s. I miss watching the Expos play!

 

[Shumkoolie]

Great choices all for the hall IMO .Now I wish they would wake up and put Tim Raines in on the next ballot he surely deserves it.......scorp

He definitely deserves to make it, and if the writers don't vote him in, that would be a shame. The only thing that worries me is that now the window of eligibility has been reduced from 15 years to 10. This past election was Raines' 8th year on the ballot. He only has two more elections to go before he is off the ballot. At that point, he can be voted in by the Veterans Committee in the future, but there are different categories each year so he wouldn't be up for discussion every year, so it's still an uphill battle to make it in.

Here are his voting numbers. The good news is he gained support over last year, but last year's dip may cost him. However, next year's ballot has three notables - Ken Griffey Jr., who will definitely be voted in, Trevor Hoffman who's an interesting case. 2nd all-time in saves, though in my opinion, he's overrated and probably shouldn't make it into the Hall of Fame. If you compare him to Mariano Rivera, there just frankly isn't any comparison. Rivera is far superior to him statistically both on the obvious stats, but also those that are more scientific. The third is Billy Wagner, who had a nice career, but won't get in.

Then there are the notable holdovers - Mike Piazza, who SHOULD get in next year. His voting numbers are so close to the 75% threshold that with a weaker ballot, should garner enough support. Then you have Jeff Bagwell, Curt Schilling, and Bonds and Clemens, who are probably stuck in the high 30's, low 40's percent range.

So.....There is hope for Raines to make it in, and I really hope he does.

2008 BBWAA (24.3%)
2009 BBWAA (22.6%)
2010 BBWAA (30.4%)
2011 BBWAA (37.5%)
2012 BBWAA (48.7%)
2013 BBWAA (52.2%)
2014 BBWAA (46.1%)
2015 BBWAA (55.0%)

https://www.cardschat.com/www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[tke001]

In my opinion all the inductees are worthy with the exception of Biggio. For several years Pedro was the most dominant pitcher in the game. Smoltz was able to transition from elite starter to dominant closer and back to starter with ease. Randy Johnson like the others needs no justification. When you hear the name Craig Biggio, do you think "great" or "elite" player. If you answer no, then I probably don't want you in the HOF. Biggio is more of a stats accumulator because he played for a long time, led the league in plate appearances several years as he stayed healthy. A more worthy candidate would be Piazza(even though he couldn't throw out base stealers)

 

[goodhandluke]

Randy johnson imo is the greatest pitcher ever

Bc if im in the batters box i do not want to see randy on the mound

Hes mean, ugly, and throws 100mph. Hes one tough s.o.b

And im sure there is ppl with bettrr,stats but i would not want to face him

 

[zjohnzzz]

definitely a good class to go in

 

[Shumkoolie]

Randy johnson imo is the greatest pitcher ever

Bc if im in the batters box i do not want to see randy on the mound

Hes mean, ugly, and throws 100mph. Hes one tough s.o.b

And im sure there is ppl with bettrr,stats but i would not want to face him

I think an argument could be made for Greg Maddux. He just simply made hitters look foolish with his pitching. To me, he was the best pitcher of the last 30 years. Randy Johnson was devastating as well on the mound, don't get me wrong, but I think Maddux was a better pure pitcher and achieved what he did by pitch selection and location and being able to mix up speeds better than anybody.