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Originally Posted by Akileese  I'm REALLY on the fence about Sosa. I vote no, but if he can play this year and next year and be successful, I'd say yes. Remember, getting in the Hall is all about having a great CAREER. Sosa had a great 5 or 6 years with the Cubs and was pretty much worthless the rest of the time (except this year, although he's on a struggling Rangers team).
Say what you want about Bonds, but unless someone finds actual evidence and not hearsay that he did it while it was ILLEGAL (that's a key there and you can't forget that you really can't punish a guy for doing stuff when it wasn't illegal), he's a definite first ballot Hall of Famer. There's no question about it and if anyone doesn't vote for him, they should lose their vote. For him to break the record (we're assuming he does) and to have MORE INTENTIONAL WALKS THAN RUTH AND AARON COMBINED, you have to be one of the best players in the game.
As for McGwire, honestly, I don't think he belongs in the Hall and it has nothing to do with the steroids. Most of the time he would of been using was late 80s and early 90s when they weren't even illegal. He just isn't a hall guy. His numbers weren't that great aside from the homers and he didn't play long enough. Had he played another 3 or 4 years, that'd be fine. He was hurt too much and wasn't significant enough.
To be a first ballot hall of famer, you have to be a stud in the league and put up gaudy numbers year after year after year. Someone like Manny Ramirez (being a Sox fan) comes to mind. He put up I believe 8 years of 40 homers and 100 RBIs and that is just disgusting. Someone like Pedro also comes to mind even though he doesn't have 300 wins or anything sexy like that, he has one of the best ERA's in the history of baseball. He's a rare exception where wins don't matter. |
I will roll with most of that, however honestly my big beef is with the writers who vote people in. A lot of them are old crusty men with sand in their mangina's and a lot of times do not think the right way. For instance, ripken and gwynn both got in easy -- however two voters left their ballots blank...how the fuck does that happen? I mean if that had been a close vote..who the fuck leaves it blank? It really needs to be changed.