Will anybody ever be a 100% first time ballot inductee? Clemens? Maddox? Ripken received 537 of 545 votes (the highest percentage ever). Gwynn received 532 of 545 votes. First off I’m always curious as to who did not vote them in. Secondly, in this particular vote I’m curious how Gwynn received less votes.
B/c Ripken owns a record that will likely never be touched. I also wouldn’t view it in that way b/c it diminishes the feat they accomplished irregardless of how many votes… mostly I’m just not wanting to hear a certain card played.
Trust me, I’m the last person who wants play a certain card. But in this case it does make me wonder. Gwynn is the better player in my opinion. Even though Ripkens record is impressive, I believe it is a fairly insignificant record in baseball, as far as athletic ability. Gwynn, meanwhile won 8 batting titles. He was clearly the best hitter for average in his generation.
I’m not discounting Gwynn offensively, but Ripken was a better defensive player and the model infielder, whether at SS or 3B. Granted, I grew up going to O’s games every now and again so I’m going to side with Ripken. He also has a championship. Ripken was no slouch at the plate either… Gwynn was the better hitter of the two though, but he was extraordinary.
“”"“I believe it is a fairly insignificant record in baseball, as far as athletic ability.”"""
Are you serious? Or are you joking? I can only assume you are being sarcastic.
[QUOTE=Realtime;251161]"""“I believe it is a fairly insignificant record in baseball, as far as athletic ability.”"""
Are you serious? Or are you joking? I can only assume you are being sarcastic.[/QUOTE]
I’m not. Having said that, I like Cal Ripken. In fact, from what I can tell, he’s a model athlete as for how one should carry themselves. But that really has nothing to do with accomplishments.
As far as the streak, it is unbelievable. In my opinion, it does have a slightly different significance though when your manager was your dad for a large portion of the time. And, I’m really not sure how many favors your doing your team by playing hurt instead of taking a day of rest.
The streak is way down on my list of athletic accomplishments. What would you rate it ahead of? Personally I think HR titles, RBI leaders, batting avg leaders, stolen bases, strike outs all rate ahead of consecutive games as far athletic accomplishments.
Cal Sr. was the Orioles manager for 1 year and 6 games. I do not think that is a large portion of a 20 year career, do you?
This is posted in response to someone in another thread saying that Ripken wasn’t a first ballot guy.
This first ballot crap drives me nuts. If a player deserves to be in the HOF, they deserve to be in, and the ballot shouldn’t matter. Ripken helped redefine the SS position. He was a solid, but not spectacular defender with a great bat who could hit for power. Before Ripken, SS was thought of as a defense only position, with a few rare exceptions here and there.
Sandberg shouldn’t have had to wait for the third ballot to get in. Andre Dawson should have been a first ballot guy. He was one of the best 5-tool players to ever play the game. Goose Gossage deserves to be in, as does Ron Santo, though that’s up to the Veteran’s Committee.
There will never be a 100% guy. If Hank Aaron wasn’t, if Willie Mays wasn’t, there just won’t ever be one. There are too many of these sportswriters who withhold a vote because a guy slighted him on an interview, or because he wanted another player to have a higher vote total, or because they choose to not vote for anyone for some stupid reason.
Will anybody ever be a 100% first time ballot inductee? Clemens? Maddox? Ripken received 537 of 545 votes (the highest percentage ever). Gwynn received 532 of 545 votes. First off I'm always curious as to who did not vote them in. Secondly, in this particular vote I'm curious how Gwynn received less votes.
there have been many writers with votes that have stated that they will NOT vote for anybody that played during the steroid era with no exceptions.
[QUOTE=Realtime;251236]Cal Sr. was the Orioles manager for 1 year and 6 games. I do not think that is a large portion of a 20 year career, do you?[/QUOTE]
Good point. I thought the trio (Cal Sr, Cal, and Billy) was there for more than a year.
i was in cooperstown this past weekend and let me tell all of you…if you have any bit of interest or respect for baseball, sports and history…then you MUST make it a point to visit Baseball USA at least once in your lifetime. i went with my father and little brother and it will be something i remember forever. the place has an ora of excellence and a ture love and understand of the greatest game ever. its a place where yankee , sox, oriole, met, braves, dodger and/or cardinal fans put there differences aside for something much bigger than there rivalrys and hatred for each other.
i made it a point to go this past weekend because as a baseball player myself, i always modeled myself after cal for his strength and class and tonys ability to see hitting as an art and a science.
the amount of history that i saw is beyond words. i shook hands with yogi, whitey, frank robinson, and fellar. while walking down the street to my car i ran into tim kurkjian and he was the one of the most genuine and kind people i have ever met qand he actually took time to talk baseball with me and my bro for a couple minutes.
i know im rambling but it was such an amazing experience that will always be special. please make it a point to visit.
[QUOTE=The Ambassador of Qwan;251238]This is posted in response to someone in another thread saying that Ripken wasn’t a first ballot guy.
This first ballot crap drives me nuts. If a player deserves to be in the HOF, they deserve to be in, and the ballot shouldn’t matter. Ripken helped redefine the SS position. He was a solid, but not spectacular defender with a great bat who could hit for power. Before Ripken, SS was thought of as a defense only position, with a few rare exceptions here and there.
Sandberg shouldn’t have had to wait for the third ballot to get in. Andre Dawson should have been a first ballot guy. He was one of the best 5-tool players to ever play the game. Goose Gossage deserves to be in, as does Ron Santo, though that’s up to the Veteran’s Committee.[/QUOTE]
I think there’s no doubt Ripken should be a first ballot inductee. I was just surprised to see he got more votes to get in than Gwynn. I also agree about Sandberg and Dawson. To me the players should be viewed against their era, not previous ones. With that logic I think Dale Murphy and Don Mattingly should be in.
Good point. I thought the trio (Cal Sr, Cal, and Billy) was there for more than a year.
7 years
I would choose Don Mattingly over Dale Murphy, but yes, both should be in.
All good points, the fact is Gwynn and Ripken are 2 of the classiest guys there are in sports. They both are great role models for our kids and future generations.
I would choose Don Mattingly over Dale Murphy, but yes, both should be in.
first ever yankees game when i was 8 years old…
walked over to the area around the field tarp where players sign autographs and take pics for fans. because i was just a little kid i was pushed out of the way and was not able to get up close with my hero. while crying walking back to my seat my dad told me to run up to the dugout and see if i see any of my favorite players. all the sudden donnie baseball comes out of the dugout to do his ritual pregame long toss with the backup catcher. still very upset with my elbows on the dugout…the captain himself walks over to me and throws me the ball he was using and smiled. amazing memory that will last with me forever and forever made me a die hard mattingly fan.
winning an MVP, 9 gold gloves, a batting title, many all-star appearances, and 2 seperate records (one he shares with griffey jr). in his one playoff appearance he batted over .400. ended his career with a .307 avg and an all time leader and one of the 10 captains in yankees history.
no doubt deserving of the hall because during his time in the 80s…he was arguably the best in the game. but he did only have one playoff appereance unfortunately. it took donnie hours and hours to prepare himself not only to play but just to dress himself and walk out of the clubhouse because of the significance and maginitude of his cronic back problems.
donnie baseball with forever be a leader and a truely great human being that i hope everyone could have seen. not only a great player, but a great man to look up to.
[QUOTE=The Ambassador of Qwan;251256]I would choose Don Mattingly over Dale Murphy, but yes, both should be in.[/QUOTE]
It’s a tough call and I am a bit biased being a Braves fan. But for a 6 year period (82-87), Murphy was the best outfielder in the game. Like Mattingly, his lack of post season success has probably hurt him. And he played in a short ball era.
7 time all-star
2 time MVP
4 time Silver Slugger
5 time Gold Glove winner