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Posted By: runscott

Sometimes the marketing is not good for the game from the viewpoint of a baseball purist, but in terms of ticket sales it might be a winner - Nolan Ryan brought people to the ball-park, and that was one of the big reasons the Rangers paid him so much. As a purist, I could do without "dot races", internet All-Star voting and the DH. But I liked watching Ryan pitch, even when he was wasting his talent with the Rangers (he was actually more fun to watch than Mike Stanton).

Jay - everyone has their own opinions - it just happens that a lot of us don't agree. For instance, I don't consider Koufax a "supernova", because he did have an exceptional career, just a bit short by "Phil Niekro" standards. Fernando Valenzuela and Ron Guidry would be supernovas. My HOF would include both Ryan and Koufax, but not Niekro or Sutton. In fact, I though I would not put Guidry in, given the choice of Niekro or Guidry, I would enshrine Guidry. And Blyleven doesn't make it in a zillion years.

What if Koufax had hung around for 10 more years and been average or mediocre for that span - would he have made the HOF? Argue it from that point and I think you could have a case.