Many have been asking : " Why does Cooperstown continue to reject George Steinbrenner for its special classification of rich owners?"
The Yankees have already taken the next step of preparing the " bust" for purposes of display:
The answer, then, is clear.
They are waiting for his son Hal and the puppet GM, Brian Cashman, to destroy the legacy of the Yankees.
At that point, history will wish to recall the glory days of history.
That will be the day to honor George.
I'm surprised Harold Baines and Lee Smith made it in but then again I shouldn't. That's because this is an obvious statement in regards to someone else who's going to be over-overwhelmingly inducted. Mariano Rivera. I personally felt that he was going to get around 75ish and maybe elected on the second try because so many writers believed that closers were not real positions and some of those old farts are still around. Recently I've read a lot of articles where people now think that he will get around 99 percent. Either way, these two getting in is obviously done to correct the old way of thinking and both probably would have got in ages ago with a different mindset.
ReplyDeleteI'm ticked about Baines though. He's no Paul Molitor and Paul just barely got in with some 75 point whatever it was at the time. I thought he was the greatest DL ever at the time. Baines doesn't even have a 40 WAR but is a beloved guy so that's why he got in, yet there are so many fringe position players that should be in way before Baines. Willie Randolph at 65.9 WAR deserves it way more. I'd even vote Sal Bando in before Baines, that's how much I dislike his getting in. I can rattle off at least 100 Hall of Very Good players that I would vote in before Baines.
Lee Smith never got in because he was a well known jerk to everybody (like Luis Tiant) which kept him out (like Luis Tiant) but he was the best (or second best if you somehow like Eck and thought he was actually great or something) relief pitcher prior to Mo. One could say that he was the lone guy who made relief pitching so important to today's game who wasn't in the HOF. I truly felt that he deserved to get in ages ago but there was no way he'd get in before Jack Morris and honestly Jack really doesn't belong in the HOF. I felt Smith deserved it way more than Morris, but then again I also thought Trammell was a sure fire HOF along with Lou Whitaker as both were way better than Morris, so that tells you what I know.
So whatever. To me it this all seems like a huge statement, a whopping big F-U to the writers of the past, while Mo gets to go in on a landslide. That it's finally time acknowledge the DL and Closer as real positions or something. Jeeeze, freaking Baines in the HOF...maaaaan!~
As for the Boss, it's a hard thing. He's done enough to baseball to be in but at the same time he's like the Pete Rose of owners and I just don't see a time in my lifetime where they'll elect someone with that much bad PR into their club. I wouldn't be bothered to see him go in, but then again I think the crazy Charlie Finley should be in as well as he done a ton to change baseball as well and is just as hated.
HAROLD BAINES?
ReplyDeleteRIDICULOUS.
HE WAS A DH FOR SO LONG...(AND A GOOD ONE)...BUT...
IF HE GETS IN, THEN WHY ISN'T EDGAR MARTINEZ ALREADY IN?
HOW ABOUT BERNIE INSTEAD OF BAINES?
I agree, ALL-CAPS. He was a perfectly lovely person, it seems, and a good hitter. But I would put Bernie, Paul O'Neill, and about half-a-dozen others in first. Lee Smith is also ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteSelections like this are part of the ongoing attempt to turn the Hall of Fame into the Hall of the Pretty Good Who Stuck Around for Awhile.
Incredible that Lou Piniella missed by one vote. Another real credit to the game who never did anything THAT extraordinary as ballplayer or manager.
Mo is the last player to wear number 42 and by some metrics the greatest pitcher to lace up spikes.
ReplyDeleteSweet Lou was not as good as Baines. I'm a Big Hall person. Baines and Smith are both welcome in my Hall.
ReplyDeleteAnd half the people pitching a fit over it are racist ass-wipes.
ReplyDelete
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