Hall of Fame Talk: Amusing to Me, Infuriating to Others (Nils)

MLB Hall of Fame results are out next week. Let's see how Tim Cowlishaw decided to vote.

I voted for five players, although the only one I know is going to make it for sure is first-year eligible Rickey Henderson.

[OK. Henderson is fine.]

The funny thing is that I voted for three others who will either make it or come very close – outfielders Andre Dawson and Jim Rice and pitcher Bert Blyleven....

[I'm not sure why that's funny, but I am curious to see why Cowlishaw thinks that these three are Hall of Famers....]

I think Rice, Dawson and Blyleven all are borderline Hall of Famers.

[Oh, OK. Kind of like Hall of Famers. Except not. Sold!]

Yes, Blyleven never won a Cy Young Award and pitched in only two All-Star Games. But pitching for much of his career for lousy teams, the great curveball pitcher won 287 games and threw 60 shutouts. Those are Hall of Fame numbers for any pitcher in any era.

[Then he's no longer borderline, I guess? Let's just move on. I'm sure that Nils is reading this now shouting "Borderline?!? Oh, I'll show you borderline!"

The arguments for and against (although most of them all kind of sound like "against" arguments to me) Rice and Dawson have been well-documented, but I liked how Cowlishaw contrasted them with his pro-Tim Raines arguments.]

Rice had a shortened run, but it was in impressive one. He was top 10 in American League slugging eight times, top 10 in homers seven times, top 10 in OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) six times.

[OK...]

Dawson was a much superior outfielder (eight Gold Gloves) who had some great hitting seasons that went largely unnoticed in Montreal. I loved in 1987 when he told the Cubs he would play for them at any salary. That earned him an MVP award while playing for a bad team.

[THAT earned him the MVP? Really? Him saying that earned him an MVP? Hall of Fame plaque, please!]

[Raines] had 2,605 career hits, and 3,000 hits always has been Hall worthy. Why didn't Raines get there? Oh, perhaps because he led the National League in walks seven straight years from 1982 through 1988. He also led the NL in singles, doubles and triples those seven seasons. No player in major league history has a better stolen base percentage than Raines' 84.7.

[A lot of "led the NL for seven straight seasons" in there, as well as a "No player in major league history has a better...." Sounds a lot more Hall-ish than "top 10 in the American League," or "[telling] the Cubs he would play for them at any salary," right?]