During my one and only visit to Cooperstown, New York and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the first thing that struck me was how few plaques there were.
I did get to see them all. It’s just, well, there aren’t that many. There are only 329 people – players, coaches, executives, etc. – who’ve been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
That’s less than two percent of those who wore a Major League uniform.
For whatever reason, baseball has always been the most stringent when it comes to electing and enshrining worthy candidates. Many players who had outstanding big league careers didn’t get voted in.
Consider the case of seven-time All-Star and two-time MVP Dale Murphy. He hit 398 career homers and had over 1,200 runs batted in. ‘Murph’ twice led the National League in home runs and RBI, won four Silver Slugger and five Gold Glove awards. He’s one of only four men to win multiple MVPs’ – and the youngest ever to do it in consecutive seasons – and not gain election. The highest percentage of votes he got during his years on the ballot is 23%.
Amazing.
Contrast that with basketball, where every eligible former MVP is already enshrined, and those who aren’t eligible yet or still playing, like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden and Steph Curry, are slam dunks.
As a point of reference when judging ‘degree of difficulty’ in getting into Cooperstown, look at the careers of Murphy and Dikembe Mutombo, voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. For his 18-year career, Mutombo averaged 9.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots per game.
Hall worthy?
If Mutombo had been a baseball player with similar kinds of numbers, he’d have to buy a ticket to get into Cooperstown.
Has baseball set the bar too high? We’ll get a better idea about that when this year’s ballots are all counted.
For example, this is the final shot for former Colorado Rockies superstar Larry Walker. An MVP winner, five-time All-Star, seven-time Gold Glover, three-time batting champion, NL home run leader and darling of the sabermetrics crowd, Walker should be in Cooperstown. Yet, last year was the first time he garnered more than 50% of the vote (75% is needed) and the chances this go around are dicey at best. Then again, the other names on this year’s ballot – with the exception of obvious candidate Derek Jeter – aren’t overwhelming.
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens (and regardless of your stance on PED use, you must acknowledge that both these men were Hall of Famers well before they touched anything they shouldn’t have) are still unlikely to make it even though they should be in.
How do you tell the story of MLB without two of the greatest ever? It will be interesting to see the vote totals for guys like Jason Giambi, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa and anyone else tied to PED use.
None are likely to be voted in.
This year’s ballot also includes – astonishingly – guys like JJ Putz, Chone Figgins, Heath Bell, Rafael Furcal, Brian Roberts and Jose Valverde. Okay then. Thanks for coming.
Walker figures to vie for votes with former sluggers like Bobby Abreu, Adam Dunn, Raul Ibanez and Andruw Jones, as well as defensive wizard Omar Vizquel. Jones was sensational, and he should be in, too. But Walker is clearly the best of this bunch. Will he get 75% of the vote?
Longer term, the real question is, will the voters begin to open the doors a little wider than they have been to this point? When will the majority of them ever start to look beyond the “milestone” statistics like 3,000 hits and 500 homers? Will they ever vote in baseball’s version of Dikembe Mutombo?
Hard to say. What we do know is that the Veterans Committee, now called the “Today’s Game” committee, has lowered their bar. Last year they voted Harold Baines – with his 384 career homers and 2,866 hits – into Cooperstown. During his years on the regular ballot, Baines never received more than 6.1% of the vote. That’s almost 70% short.
Harold was an outstanding hitter. I faced him many many times, yet never considered him a future Hall of Famer, but that’s just me.
By those slightly lower standards, Murphy – along with Walker, Jones, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling and a few others on this ballot – should have no issues becoming Hall of Famers in the future through that back channel when/if that time comes.
And what about guys like Roger Maris and Mark McGwire? Sure, their career numbers don’t measure up. But again, you can’t tell the tale of MLB without them. And we are talking about a museum, aren’t we?
By whatever means necessary, it would be nice to see the baseball voters loosen up just a bit and put a few more Hall worthy players on display.
There’s plenty of space for more plaques.
Listen to Mark Knudson on Monday’s at 12:30 with Brady Hull on AM 1310 KFKA and on Saturday mornings on “Klahr and Kompany” on AM 1600 ESPN Denver.
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