Andre Dawson is Voted into the Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame announcements were made today, and a big congratulations goes out to Andre Dawson!! Dawson was the sole player voted in, while Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar were just on the outside. Here is a run-down of Dawson and some of those who did not make it in.

Andre Dawson – 77.9% of the vote
This was Dawson’s 9th year on the ballot and he has been getting more and more support every year. Dawson was an 8 time all star and won the Rookie of the Year award in 1977 and the MVP on a last-place Cubs team in 1987. He was a fantastic fielder as well, winning 8 Gold Gloves from 1980-1988. Dawson is one of three players all-time with 400 HR and 300 SB, with only Willie Mays and Barry Bonds. In his career, Dawson had 438 HR, 2774 H, 1591 RBI, 314 SB, and he hit .279/.323/.482/.806. Statistics-minded baseball people (including myself) will cringe at the .323 OBP, but his rare combination of power and speed is certainly worthy of Hall of Fame induction.

Bert Blyleven – 74.2%, 5 votes short
Bert Blyleven has been on the ballot for an excruciatingly long 13 years. The last four years he has received 53.3, 47.7, 61.9, and 62.7% of the vote, and it appears he will be inducted next year as he was only 5 votes short this year. From 1960-2009, Blyleven had the 3rd most shutouts (7th most complete games), 5th most strikeouts, and 4th most 200+ IP seasons. The “Average Hall of Fame Pitcher” According to Baseball-Reference.com has a career 251-175 record with a 2.95 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. Blyleven had a 287-250 record with 3.31 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, which accounting for the eras pitchers pitched in, is not all that bad. Also according to Baseball-Reference.com, the ten most similar pitchers to Bert Blyleven are (in order) Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins, Tommy John, Robin Roberts, Tom Seaver, Jim Kaat, Early Wynn, Phil Niekro, and Steve Carlton. All of those except John and Kaat are Hall of Famers, which says that Blyleven is in the company of Hall of Famers based on his numbers. He has nothing to worry about, as it would take a miracle for him to not get inducted next season, and he will deserve his induction when it happens.

Roberto Alomar – 73.7%, 8 votes short
In his first year on the ballot, Roberto Alomar came agonizingly close to being elected into the Hall of Fame. Alomar was the consummate five-tool player, and in his career he amassed 2724 hits, 210 HR, 474 SB, 12 (consecutive) all-star appearances, 10 Gold Gloves (most ever for a 2B), and 4 Silver Sluggers while hitting .300/.371/.443. There aren’t necessarily any eye-catching numbers but he is in the top 15 all time in hits, HR, RBI, AVG, and SLG among second basemen. He was considered by some to be a sure-fire Hall of Famer and probably did not get elected this time around due to the somewhat foolish belief of players not deserving to be a “first-ballot Hall of Famer.” There was also the spitting incident, in which he spat in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck and then after the game said Hirschbeck was bitter because one of his sons had died of ALD and another was just diagnosed. Eventually Alomar apologized publicly and donated $50,000 to ALD research and all was well between the two. This incident may have led some voters to not vote for Alomar due to the “high integrity and character” criteria. Still, like Blyleven, Alomar will almost certainly be inducted into the Hall next year.

Jack Morris – 52.3%
Jack Morris was the MVP of the 1991 World Series, which his Twins won over the Braves in 7 games. Morris made three starts and went 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA, 23 IP, and a 1.17 WHIP. The most famous of those starts was game 7, where he threw 10 innings of shutout ball as the Twins won in the 10th on a Gene Larkin single. This is the moment that defines Morris’ good, but not great career. Morris was in the top 5 in the league in ERA only twice, and both times he was in 5th. Similarly, he was only in the top 5 in WHIP twice, once in 4th and once in 5th. He has career numbers of 254-186 with a 3.90 ERA and 1.30 WHIP, averaging 157 K, 88 BB, and 242 IP per season. This is Morris’ 11th year on the ballot and this is just his first time receiving above 50% of the vote. For Morris to get in he will have to get in with the weak classes of the next two years, as there are huge classes coming in 2013 and 2014.

Barry Larkin – 51.6%
Larkin had an injury-prone but accomplishment-filled career. For his career, he hit .295/.371/.444 with 198 HR, 379 SB, 2340 H, an MVP award in 1995, 12 all-star appearances, 9 Silver Sluggers (most ever for a SS), and 3 Gold Gloves. He may have won more Gold Gloves but the beginning of his career coincided with the end of Ozzie Smith’s, and Smith may have won some based on reputation more than merit late in his career. In 1996, Larkin joined the 30-30 club with 33 HR and 36 SB to go along with a .977 OPS, the only season in which he hit more than 20 HR. Larkin should make the Hall in short time.

Schilling’s Retirement and HOF Chances

As you most likely heard by now, Curt Schilling decided to retire today and the sports world instantly began judging his Hall of Fame worthiness. Let’s take a look at the résumé of Mr. Schilling and I’ll give my thoughts as to why he may or may not get the phone call from Cooperstown.

The Case for Schilling
Schilling has proved time and time again that he is a big game pitcher. You just have to look up his postseason numbers to show how big he came up. Over his career he made 19 starts in the playoffs going 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA and striking out 120 over 133.1 innings. He also has 3 World Series rings and a World Series MVP to his name. And of course he’s shown his ability to pitch through pain with infamous “bloody sock” performance in the 2004 playoffs. Away from the playoffs, Schilling has still accrued 216 wins, which puts him tied for 80th all-time. This is still a great feat because as Peter Gammons has mentioned on ESPN all day is that Schilling pitched his career in the era of a five-man rotation so he lost a lot of chances at earning more victories. He also pitched during the steroid era which will heighten his career. Schilling also has over 3,000 strikeouts which is a huge milestone to reach. So to sum it up, Schilling is a big-game pitcher, a 3,000+ strikeout pitcher, a 3-time World Series winner and a World Series MVP, and has performed well throughout his career given the atmosphere he pitched in.

The Case Against Schilling
The main problem that could hold Schilling out of the Hall of Fame is that he is a very polarizing figure. He is a very opinionated person who isn’t afraid of voicing his disagreement when someone or something rubs him the wrong way. The reason this might hold him out is that it is already hard enough to get into the Hall of Fame on just talent but if you give the voters a reason to keep you out, they’ll gladly take it, because they view the Hall of Fame as an elite club. The other problem that might keep Schilling out is while he has 216 wins during the five-man rotation era, he still only has 216 wins. There are many other pitchers who are not in Cooperstown and they have more wins then Schilling does. Bert Blyleven is a good example, he finished his career with 287 wins and still hasn't heard from the Hall of Fame. To go along with that Schilling has never won a Cy Young Award or an MVP award, he doesn’t have a stat like John Smoltz does where he has 200 wins and 200 saves. His achievements, while remarkable, just might not be Hall of Fame material.

I think Schilling will eventually get into the Hall of Fame, but I don’t think it will happen any time soon. He could even have to wait till the veterans’ committee votes for him to get his call. I just think the current voters will not look at Schilling’s body of work and instead just look at his numbers and go based off of Schilling’s personality.