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Gary B.This might not be a point of view that everyone agrees with, but McGwire deserves to get in for 3 reasons:
1. The weakest reason - 583 home runs (as weak reasons go, this one ain't bad)
2. AB/HR - McGwire got a home run every 10.6 at bats - that beats Foxx, Mays, Aaron, Bonds, even Babe Ruth. Barry Bonds has been beating that number easily in the last few years, but not over his career as a whole. This is an amazing record that may well stand for decades.
3. 1998 - The whole McGwire/Sosa spectacle of 1998 did more for baseball than hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising ever could have done. It brought tons of people (including me) back to the game who had wandered away.
Naturally, if all he had was that one great season, it wouldn't be enough, but comibined with the other two reasons, he's in. Admittedly, his all around numbers aren't so hot, but these 3 reasons together are more than enough for me. He'll never achieve the all around stature of the players I mentioned above, not even close, but it's still enough to get into the hall without a doubt as far as I'm concerned.
Nolan Ryan - without even comparing Walter Johnson's strikeout total in the deadball era, still 5,714 is a ridiculous number. It's very rare that a pitcher will have a career of 20 years, and when they do, they'd have to average 285 strikeouts a year for all 20 to match Ryan.
Randy Johnson in his 17 years has averaged about 243 strikeouts a season. He'd have to play another 6 1/2 years to match Ryan keeping that same average. Possible? Maybe, but he'd have to play as consistently until he was 47.
Roger Clemens in 21 years has averaged about 205 strikeouts a season. He'd have to play at that level for 7 more years unitl he was 49 to catch Ryan.
Pedro Martinez in 13 years has only averaged 203 strikeouts, and he's not even half-way to Ryan. He'd have to keep pitching that well until he was 48 or so.
Even considering the era in which Ryan achieved this, still this is an unbelievable number that could only be achieved because of the rare combination of being a master strike-out artist and having unprecedented longevity - a combination that may never come around again, or at least for many decades to come.