Hall Monitor
While I'm thinking about baseball, please allow me two more thoughts on this year's Hall of Fame voting:
1. Two people voted for Jay Bell, and these people should have their voting rights rescinded immediately. Yes, someone also voted for Jesse Orosco, but I can give that person a pass -- Orosco was involved in a few memorable moments, and he managed to pitch until he was 237 years old. But Jay Bell?
2. Players receiving less than 5% of the vote aren’t eligible to be considered again, and that’s the fate of pitcher David Cone. This surprises me. I’m not saying Cone is a Hall of Famer, but the way this silly system works, there’s a lesser honor in just hanging around for a few ballots. Cone's 2,668 strikeouts are good for 22nd all-time. He won a Cy Young Award, and finished in the top five in voting three other times. In League Championship Series, he was 5-1; in World Series, he was 5-0 with a 2.12. ERA. He pitched a perfect game, which has only happened 17 times in Major League history. As Wikipedia helpfully points out, “more people have orbited the moon than have pitched a Major League Baseball perfect game.” Granted, one of those perfect games was pitched by Len Barker, who belongs in the HOF as much as I do. But Cone was a big-game pitcher, and I think he deserves, at least, to linger.
1. Two people voted for Jay Bell, and these people should have their voting rights rescinded immediately. Yes, someone also voted for Jesse Orosco, but I can give that person a pass -- Orosco was involved in a few memorable moments, and he managed to pitch until he was 237 years old. But Jay Bell?
2. Players receiving less than 5% of the vote aren’t eligible to be considered again, and that’s the fate of pitcher David Cone. This surprises me. I’m not saying Cone is a Hall of Famer, but the way this silly system works, there’s a lesser honor in just hanging around for a few ballots. Cone's 2,668 strikeouts are good for 22nd all-time. He won a Cy Young Award, and finished in the top five in voting three other times. In League Championship Series, he was 5-1; in World Series, he was 5-0 with a 2.12. ERA. He pitched a perfect game, which has only happened 17 times in Major League history. As Wikipedia helpfully points out, “more people have orbited the moon than have pitched a Major League Baseball perfect game.” Granted, one of those perfect games was pitched by Len Barker, who belongs in the HOF as much as I do. But Cone was a big-game pitcher, and I think he deserves, at least, to linger.
Labels: Baseball, David Cone
posted by JMW at 2:19 PM
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