Veterans Committee 12 finalists

[sayhey24]

Good arguments on both sides.
You can't put every player who's better than Rick Ferrell or Dave Bancroft in the Hall, but you absolutely should give strong consideration to players who are as good or better than a number of other HOFers at their position, and to players who dominated their league at their position for a decade or more.
I grew up watching baseball in the 60s and 70s -- Ron Santo was THE NL third baseman of the era (no offense to the Boyers), just as Brooks was in the AL. Brooks was a little better, but Santo absolutely should be in the Hall (and hopefully will be when they consider his era in the new balloting).
I agree with the previous poster about Garvey being a dominant player during his era -- it's hard to ignore that. Al Oliver on the other hand, had some nice numbers, but was never on the same level as Garvey.
Ted Simmons has hitting stats as a catcher that compare favorably with most other HOF catchers -- if he made it, it certainly wouldn't be watering down the Hall.
Much of this come downs to what each of us believes the HOF should be -- some think it's only for Ruth, Wagner, Hornsby, Dimaggio, Mays, etc. But it's clearly not that. My very unscientific view has always been that if a player was the dominant force at his position in his league for 10-15 years, racking up batting titles, MVPs, All-Star nods and Gold Gloves, he is most likely a Hall of Famer (Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva, Santo, Dale Murphy).

One thing is absolutely certain -- this sure is fun to talk about.

Greg
http://www.baseballbasement.com

[Griffins]

Any opinions on whether Steinbrenners felony convictions should factor into his selection?

[mr2686]

I didn't realize that they've actually changed the format for the veterans committee, breaking it up in to three:
Candidates will be classified by the era in which they made their greatest contributions, as follows:
Pre-Integration (1871–1946)
Golden (1947–1972)
Expansion (1973 and later)
Candidates from each era will be considered every third year, starting with the Expansion Era in the 2011 election, followed by the Golden Era and then by the Pre-Integration Era.
So, next year I assume players like Ron Santo will be voted on.

[sayhey24]

Just for fun I put together a group photo of the game bats of the players being voted on this year. I don't have a Vida or Ron Guidry, but I do have a Billy Martin from the '76 Yankees.

Greg

More bats and memorabilia at:
http://www.baseballbasement.com

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by sayhey24

Just for fun I put together a group photo of the game bats of the players being voted on this year. I don't have a Vida or Ron Guidry, but I do have a Billy Martin from the '76 Yankees.

Greg

More bats and memorabilia at:
http://www.baseballbasement.com

QUOTE=bcbgcbrcb;848327]Matt:

I saw the Paterson, NJ (Wagner) photo in person at the National in Baltimore and it is definitely not a Type I. Not sure about the other two that you mentioned but my guess is that many are and many are not in this auction. It would be nice if Legendary could identify them in their description (unless they don't want to take the responsibility and then end up with return requests after the auction if they are wrong).[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Matt

So, at the moment, someone is paying $125 + BP for a photo that might have been printed 10 years ago...

Terrific run of bats Greg!

[packs]

I was taking a look at Garvey's statistics. I'm having trouble understanding why he fared so well in HOF voting when he first retired while Mattingly has received considerably less votes since his retirement. In five extra seasons, Garvey's numbers (hits, home runs, and rbis) aren't all that much higher than Mattingly's.

[mr2686]

Packs, If you're confused by that, take a look at Mattingly's stats next to Kirby Puckett's.

[mr2686]

Griffins, I think it was only one Felony conviction for Steinbrenner (The Winfield stuff was turned in to an "agreement" that he would not participate in day to day operations of the team while still being owner. That, of course, was lifted a couple of years later). The felony conviction for illegal campaign contributions to Nixon was later pardoned by President Regan.
Let's face it, if the reason for keeping him out of the HOF is because of the moral character clause, then you better take out Ruth, Cobb, Speaker and several others. Like the guy or hate the guy (there doesn't seem to be much middle ground) it's still fun to talk about and probably hasn't stirred this much debate since "who's better, Willie, Mickey or the Duke".