Royals Hall of Fame Thoughts

Winter can be a hard time for baseball junkies.  Like the harsh weather, the hard time is just now hitting.  We had the baseball winter meetings, and Hall of Fame votes to keep us warm.  Now what? Yeah, this is typically the time of year I start counting down the days before pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.  I can’t do that yet.  Not when I know you would kill to hear me pontificate on this year’ s Hall of Fame inductees, and notable exclusions.  This being a Royals site, we certainly will spend time thinking and talking about The Royals Hall of Fame.

I’ll try to make my points brief on Cooperstown, because there has been no shortage of media coverage.

The Good

4 Players were elected.  I thought it may just be Pedro and Unit, so 4 is a good thing.

All 4 players inducted are sure-fire hall of famers.  The Hall of Fame is a better place with John Smoltz and Craig Biggio in it.  Unit is one of the best left handed pitchers of all time and Pedro’s peak is the best of all time. Both guys accomplished these feats in the least pitcher friendly era in baseball history.  Incredible players.

The Bad

Even thought the DH has been a position in baseball since 1973, the hall voters are punishing career DH’s.

Edgar Martinez is one of the top hitters of his generation.  If there was no DH rule, he would have been in the field as a below average first or their baseman, and been a first ballot guy. I love and value defense, but this is total BS.  David Ortiz will be the first DH elected, and will deserve it.  That said, Edgar would have been voted in by now had he played for the Red Sox.  That is also total BS.

Tim Raines is not going to be voted in by the writers.

It’s not Tim’s fault he wasn’t Rickey Henderson.  It’s not Tim’s fault he played in Montreal, and didn’t get traded earlier in his career to a better market .  Gary Carter and Andre Dawson were moved, and it greatly helped their legacies.  It certainly isn’t Rock’s fault he was the victim of collusion by MLB owners.

Had Raines not been victimized by this collusion, he probably would have been dealt to a higher profile market.  Let me put it this way.  If Raines had played for the Yankees or Dodgers, he would have been a second timer nominee at worst.  He stole bases, hit for a high average, and scored runs.  That should satisfy old school voters.  He walked like a mad man and had WAR and OPS numbers equal to or better than Tony Gwynn.  That should satisfy the sabermetric voters. Is he really being punished for doing blow, owning up to it, getting treatment, and moving on with his life?  Any writer blocking Raines from the hall for doing coke in the 80’s should be prescribed some weed.

The Ugly

The “Character Clause” lives, and it’s partying with the PED crusade.

Mike Piazza is the greatest hitting catcher of all time and should be in the Hall of Fame.  That means I am happy his percentage jumped up.  It is good that he looks to be an inductee next year.  That said, how does Pizza’s percentage go up and Jeff Bagwell‘s go down?  Both are not in the hall due to PED suspicion, and nothing else.  How is “Piazza suspicion” less deadly than “Bagwell suspicion”?  How ridiculous is that question I just typed?

I heard Buster Only say that the character clause certainly didn’t help guys like Dale Murphy get in, and it hasn’t moved the hall to remove pieces of crap like Cap Anson and Ty Cobb out.  ( No, Buster didn’t say it like that.  Buster is kind of a perfect man.  No sarcasm there.  Dude is saint like)

I guess it’s not  dumb enough that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are not in the hall.  They need to spread this dumbness around wider, and unequally, in the name of suspicion.  Suspicion based on hunches, personal preferences, and ego.  Our kids are going to laugh at all of this when all of these guys are voted into the hall by the players in 15 years.

Sorry, that was longer than I expected.  I’m just now getting to the Royals Hall of Fame.  Fortunately, or depending on how you see it, unfortunately, the Royals don’t have any busted or highly suspected PED users  in their hall.  I have heard whispers about Mike Sweeney, but nothing substantial, nothing even warranting discussion on his candidacy.

Here is how the Royals Hall of Fame works.  ( I hope…I really think I got this right)

Just like Cooperstown, you need 75% of all votes and need 10% to remain on the ballot.  Votes come from a panel of hall members, some on-line votes, and some front office and media folks.  It happens in odd numbered years, players need only have played 3 seasons with the Royals, and need to have been retired for at least 3.

This exercise, and columns like it, have been done before. That said, this should be re-done every two years, exercising new perspective and context.  For fun, I am picking the same number of Royals, four, that just got their tickets punched to Cooperstown.  Yes, I am punching these four tickets to Raytown.  Who are yours?

1.  Mike Sweeney

I really don’t like that I don’t really like Mike Sweeney.  I think he just reminds me of really bad times in Royals history.  He was my least favorite of the “awesome hitting Y2K Royals”, but he was great.  Real great.  I should have appreciated him more.  He was a five-time All-Star for the Royals, and the face of the team from 1995-2007.  Someone had to be.  He was a career .297 hitter, swatted 215 homers and had 909 RBIs.  Sweeney holds the Royals single season record with 144 RBIs, and ranks in the top six in franchise history in 17 offensive categories.  He is a slam dunk.

2.  Charlie Leibrandt

Ha!  Fooled you on that one.  I don’t care if he doesn’t have the 10% needed to stay on the ballot.  Leibrandt is one of the most important pitchers in Royals history.  He has the highest WAR of any Royal not in their hall ( besides Sweeney), and a better WAR than several players in their hall.  Guys like Split, Mayberry, Gura, Patek and Busby.  Charlie and his circle c change up stabilized the great pitching rotations of 1984 and 1985.  No way those young guns realize themselves those seasons without Charlie Leibrandt and Bud Black.  Charlie was the #2 starter for a franchise changing rotation.  He should be in the Royals Hall of Fame.

3.  Bo Jackson

Bo didn’t play that long or that consistently well for the Royals.  I don’t care.  Bo hit the longest homers ever at the K.  Bo led off an all star game with a monster home run.  Bo threw out Harold Reynolds flat-footed from a warning track.  Bo is the most famous Royal, not named George Brett, ever.  Bo’s star power and lasting legacy are as big a part of his contribution to the franchise as his numbers.  His overall contribution to the franchise makes him an easy selection.  Speaking of overall contribution to the franchise, here is my final vote.

4.  John Wathan

He’s just an awesome Royal.  He played only as a Royal.  9 great years, 1976-1985.  He has the all time major-league record for steals by a backstop.  He stole 36 bags in 1982.  He was a winner.  The Royals were in the playoffs 7 of those 9 seasons, and he was a part of two American League Champions, one World Series Champion. He was a solid manager.  His best season as a skipper was 1989, when the team won 92 games.  Too bad there was no wild card yet, and they played in the same division as one of the decade’s best teams, the Oakland A’s.

Future Players to Ponder

Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye.  Are they “Royal enough” for consideration?

Are Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, and Ned Yost automatics after last season’s post season?

Is Greg Holland just one more dominant season away from certain induction?

How about Dayton Moore and Mr. Glass?

This is going long, but look forward to some follow-up.  The Royals, right now, can make their Hall of Fame and legacy better.  There are some other guys, not mentioned here, that need to be in their hall.  There’s another guy needing even more appreciation.  Let’s delve deeper, and not start counting the days until pitchers and catchers report just yet.