At one time, one of the most feared players in the game, both offensively and defensively. Even won MVP.

 

I'm like 'papa, perhaps his past transgressions are the reason.

 

Maybe, maybe not. Those transgressions occurred during the middle of his career and he seemed to rise above them, even getting enough votes to almost win the MVP in '85. For me, when I think back to his career, I think of a very good player who, during a stretch of a few years, dominated the game. But I don't consider him a HOF player. Close, but not quite there. And I feel the same way about Rice. But, bottomline is that he's in, congrats to him.

 

BTW, the "mystery player" is Dave Parker.

Edited January 13, 200917 yr by cooperstown
Added last sentence.

If you voted for Jay Bell you should be banned.

Rickey, great teammate: His locker was next to Billy Beane's, but Beane got sent down to the minors. After a few months, Beane got called back up to the bigs. Six weeks after his call up Rickey said “Hey, man, where have you been? Haven’t seen you in awhile.”

I don't remember all the details, but the story I remember is that Rickey approached John Olerud in spring training with the Mets and mentioned that he noticed him wearing a batting helmet in the field, which Olerud did since he had a life-threatening brain aneurysm in college. Rickey told Olerud said he had a teammate in Toronto that did the same thing.

 

The kicker is that Olerud and Rickey were teammates in Toronto a few years before that.

^ That is my favorite one but unfortunately its not true.

^ That is my favorite one but unfortunately its not true.

 

Like Yogi quotes that he never actually said there are many Ricky stories that never actually happened.

Has anybody noticed the lists for the next few years of players to be eligible, not much there for the next couple of years. If they don't vote anybody in that they think took steriods, Maddux might be next player in, 5 years from now. But I think with the lack of quality they will vote in Andre Dawson soon.

BERT BLYLEVEN absolutely deserves to be in! Career 287 wins with 3,701 strikeouts (only 16 other pitchers have at least 3,000 career strikeouts) and a 3.31 ERA. He currently ranks 5th all-time in Strikeouts, 9th all-time in Shutouts, and 27th all-time in Wins. He is the only retired member of the 3000 strikeout club not in the Hall of Fame.

Can't wait to see Rickey at the podium. Should be the best induction speech ever...

 

If he were an NFL'er, he could give his own prelude speech, prior to his introduction speech.

"Rickey wants to thank all of those who supported Rickey and made it possible for Rickey to be standing up here alongside all of Rickey's heros, namely Rickey."

 

I wanted to tag onto that great intro.

The HOF voting needs to be retooled.

BERT BLYLEVEN absolutely deserves to be in! Career 287 wins with 3,701 strikeouts (only 16 other pitchers have at least 3,000 career strikeouts) and a 3.31 ERA. He currently ranks 5th all-time in Strikeouts, 9th all-time in Shutouts, and 27th all-time in Wins. He is the only retired member of the 3000 strikeout club not in the Hall of Fame.

 

 

If he hadn't been saddled with so many bad teams, more like 320 wins and a sure thing.

If you voted for Jay Bell you should be banned.

 

As should be the case if you didn't vote for Rickey.

As should be the case if you didn't vote for Rickey.

 

I'm guessing the 28 or so that didn't vote for Ricky don't believe anyone gets in on the first ballot. That's crap. IF it was for any other reason, revoke their ability to vote.

I'm guessing the 28 or so that didn't vote for Ricky don't believe anyone gets in on the first ballot. That's crap. IF it was for any other reason, revoke their ability to vote.

 

 

Supposedly at least a couple of voters turned in completely blank ballots to protest anyone that played during The Steroid Era--whether or not they had been linked to any steroid use.