Comments on: Ken Davidoff's perfect Hall of Fame ballot

By: Arden Huckabaa

Arden Huckabaa — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:28:10 +0000

This was an interesting read, I tend to agree with you.

By: Tommy in CT

Tommy in CT — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:35:51 +0000

Bert pitched well for poor and mediocre teams but pitched poorly for good teams, averaging only 12.5 wins per season for good teams in ’70, ’77 – ’80 and ’87 – ’89. Incredibly, his winning percentage over these eight seasons was lower than his teams!
He was consistently mediocre (or even bad) in tight division races in September, almost single-handedly tanking the Pirates attempt to repeat in ’80 (Bert went 1-5 over his last 8 starts with a 4.38 ERA. The Pirates lost seven of his eight starts and lost the division by eight games despite leading going into September.
Bert was also a complete non-factor in the Bucs great stretch drive of ’79. While the teams was going 41-19 in August and September, Bert won only 3 of his 12 starts and compiled a 3.77 ERA. Candelaria and Kison stepped it up in Aug./Sept., while Bert faded away. In seven tight division races in Bert’s career (i.e., Bert’s teams led or trailed by five or fewer games in September at some point prior to elimination) Bert was 13-14 in 40 starts with a 3.04 ERA. Typical Bert – decent ERA in those situations but a poor record for good teams.
These are not isolated instances for Bert. He consistently disappeared during tight pennant races. He consistently failed to perform as well for good teams as he did for poor teams (with the sole exception of his ’89 performance for the Angels).
Bert’s not a Hall of Famer.

By: James

James — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:43:10 +0000

I don’t really buy that argument. If Dawson was really so feared he would have been intentionally walked more, and the only time he led the league in that category was in 1991 when he had 21. As a counter example, Barry Bonds who you could easily say was the most feared hitter of his generation was the league leader in IBBs TWELVE times during his career.

By: DiamondDuq

DiamondDuq — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:40:47 +0000

Well if Blyleven gets in then Mike Mussina is a lock when his time comes. The perfect ballot is Alomar and Larkin. Sorry to the rest of the guys but very good is not great and the HOF is about greatness! Alomar and Larkin were the top 1 or 2 players at their respective positions for, if not their entire careers, their entire prime, the other guys would get lost in the shuffle with their contemporaries. If you didn’t clearly separate yourself above the pack for a sustained amount of time, you’re not a HOFer. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have very good careers and weren’t very good players, it just means the HOF is a special place, which is why all these guys want so badly to be included, and to keep it a special the bar that says great not very good needs to not be lowered. It’s like the high jump, you have to clear the bar for it to count, almost getting over but knocking the bar off doesn’t count.

By: smsetnor

smsetnor — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:00:31 +0000

Thig: It’s because people don’t like his OBP. Despite the fact that his managers never asked him to take walks and wanted Dawson to mash the ball and scare the beejeezus out ofopposing pitchers, too many people want to pick on Dawson because he didn’t get on enough. Lame. Dawson is the man.

By: ditmars1929

ditmars1929 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:43:54 +0000

McGwire??? No, no, and hell no!!!!

By: Thig

Thig — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:13:35 +0000

How can you leave Andre Dawson out? He was the proto-typical 5 tool player until his knees gave out. His all around stats are incredible. If pllayers like Kirby Puckett are in, Dawson deserves his rightful place among the baseball elite!

By: RobRob

RobRob — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:12:30 +0000

Matinez might not make it this year, but I think Martinez has a much better shot.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:40:04 +0000

Hey Craig,
Thanks for all the excellent blogging this year.
I miss Shysterball, but this Circling the Bases blog is shaping up something wonderful.