Baseball Hall of Fame - Thought One

Here's a thought I had immediately after seeing that Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio had been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame - combined the four players made a little over $539 million during their careers.

The most controversial quartet of players on the Hall of Fame ballot associated with PED's - Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa combined salaries came close to almost the exact same amount ($537.5 million). The question that keeps popping up is if this group didn't do PED's would they be in the Hall of Fame today? I think the more accurate question is - if this group didn't do PED's would they have been paid like Hall of Famers? More than two-thirds of Roger Clemens money came after he left Boston in the "twilight of his career". The majority of Barry Bonds money was made after he left Pittsburgh. In Bonds last six years he made more in a single season than he made his whole time with the Pirates.

These guys cheated (allegedly) to get paid. Good.

They don't get Hall of Fame induction too. They made their choice and got their big money. They don't also get to enjoy something that Dale Murphy or Don Mattingly will never get close to. That's not right and that's something many sportswriters don't seem to understand.

Sosa and Pudge

Often when I'm on the road, I'll turn ESPN or ESPN 2 on the TV in the hotel room and just leave it on during the night while I sleep (or try to sleep). Doing that has made it hard to escape the news that Sammy Sosa tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight all leading with Sammy testing dirty with anchors taking about the news accompanied by a video montage in the background. What's been amusing to me is once they are done talking about Sammy eventually the program gets to Ivan Rodriguez and how he just tied the record for most games caught by a catcher. A video montage paying homage to Pudge Rodriguez playing in the background while the praises and hosannas are sung.

What amuses me is the question whether the same video montage played last night for Pudge will be used when the news breaks that Pudge used performance enhancers too. I can't help but remember that Ivan Rodriguez was one of the players that Jose Canseco singled out by name in his book Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big Time and again players who Jose Canseco specifically named has proven to have been dirty. Why should anyone think that Pudge Rodriguez will be any different?

Sammy Sosa and the Hall of Fame

If I had a vote for the baseball Hall of Fame - I'd vote no on Sammy Sosa. Everyone agrees that Sosa was no great shakes in the field (he's more likely to be called a liability than anything else). When you look at his offensive numbers only home runs and RBI stand out. Sosa doesn't have the batting average (.273), the hits (2,365), or even the slugging percentage you'd expect from a "slugger". His slugging percentage is behind contemporaries such as Carlos Delgado, Jason Giambi, Larry Walker and Chipper Jones. The only thing Sosa is known for is hitting home runs but at what cost did those 600 HR come at?

With all the hype over his 600th HR - one thing I noticed is that nobody seemed to mention the fact that Sosa is second on the all-time strikeout list. Only Reggie Jackson has struck out more in the history of professional baseball. However, Jackson was known as Mr. October for coming through in the the clutch. Sosa, on the other hand, is known as a guy with a huge steroids cloud hanging over his head (and as a guy who suddenly forgot how to speak English when called in front of Congress).

For his career Sammy has struck out once every 3.8 AB. That means that for every HR they saw - Cubs fans had to grit their teeth through about 4 strike outs. Another way to put it is for every base you touch in a home run - Sosa sacrificed a strikeout in order to touch 'em all.

OPS+ is a stat that is used to compare hitters from different points in time. Sosa's career OPS+ of 128 (with 100 being exactly average) puts him in a tie with such names as Jim Rice, Moises Alou and David Justice. It also puts him behind players like John Olerud and Tim Salmon

EDIT: Kevin had some similar thoughts on Sosa

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So Sammy Sosa hit his 600th home run. Big deal. Are baseball fans supposed to do cartwheels for him? Did one of Sosa's teams ever actually win anything? For a guy who found "ways" to hit a HR every 15 AB during the regular season in his career - Sosa managed only 2 HR in 53 AB in the post-season (maybe he was coming off his cycles?). Sosa made over $123 million playing baseball. Baseball fans don't owe him anything - especially a place in the Hall of Fame when players like Andre Dawson and Jim Rice aren't in because the inflated stats of steroids guys devalued their real accomplishments... Today for some reason I actually was wondering, "Whatever happened to Kevin Pittsnogle?" You would think a 6'11" guy who can hit three-pointers could make it as the 11th man for some team... This recommendation has put the book John Marshall: Definer of a Nation on my must read list...