1993

Quite a few drop out this election, Mazeroski and Wills have used up their time, and Campaneris, Luzinski, Murcer, Pinella, Rogers, Rudi and White were not mentioned in ’92.

This election ends Tuesday.

2 Dusty Baker
7 Sal Bando
2 Vida Blue
7 Bobby Bonds 6th
1 Rick Burleson
14 Norm Cash
2 Cesar Cedno
1 Ron Cey
1 Cecil Cooper
11 Mike Cuellar
9 Willie Davis
1 Doug DeCinces
9 Dock Ellis
3 Rollie Fingers
2 George Foster
12 Bill Freehan 5th
10 Jim Fregosi
1 Steve Garvey
2 Bobby Grich 3rd
2 Toby Harrah
9 Jim Hunter 8th
1 Reggie Jackson
2 Cliff Johnson
5 Jim Kaat
2 Dave Kingman
3 Jerry Koosman
6 Bill Lee
9 Mickey Lolich
1 Dave Lopes
6 Sparky Lyle
1 Bill Madlock
7 Mike Marshall
1 Gary Matthews
12 Sam McDowell
12 Dave McNally
1 Hal McRae
9 Thurman Munson
1 Phil Niekro
12 Tony Oliva 7th
3 Al Oliver
4 Amos Otis
2 Tony Perez
13 Vada Pinson
1 Darrell Porter
2 Pete Rose 4th
4 Ken Singleton
6 Reggie Smith 9th
3 Rusty Staub
5 Gene Tenace
1 Andre Thornton
10 Wilbur Wood
11 Jim Wynn 10th

Bob’s ballot:

1. REGGIE
2. Niekro
3. Hunter
4. Freehan
5. Munson
6. Grich
7. Oliva
8. Bonds
9. Fingers
10. Perez

Terry’s ballot:

1: Reggie Jackson– See below
2: Phil Niekro– I did a study years ago, not very scientific (I’m not very scientific), on Niekro. I think I came up with a record of 380- 230, era around 2.80, something like that, for Niekro had he played for .500 teams in a neutral park his entire career. I made no formulaic adjustments, no allowance for defense, but I don’t remember those teams being known for their defensive prowess, either. Chuck, have you done him yet?
3: Catfish Hunter
4: Steve Garvey– I just can’t put him below Perez, Staub and Munson. If I’m choosing sides, he wouldn’t even make the list, but for a plaque? He was a bigger story than any of them. I moved Catfish up, based on the same principle, understanding that it really doesn’t matter at the moment. Nobody below Niekro is getting in anyway. Hell, even Pete Rose is betting on Niekro to get in….
5: Tony Perez
6: Thurman Munson
7: Rusty Staub
8: Tony Oliva
9: Bobby Bonds
10: Rollie Fingers

Honorable Mention
Bobby Grich
Hal McRae

I suppose Reggie’s case is a reasonable place for me to organize and publish where my moral lines are in regards to the GOR, the Hall, etc.

– Cheat on baseball: dead to me
– Cheat with a baseball: Until baseball takes it seriously, I won’t either. Perry, Ford, Sutton are in the Hall; I’m fine with that. If someone makes a gun out of a baseball and robs a bank, I’ll revisit this.
– Cheat at baseball to win: If baseball doesn’t care, I don’t. If baseball cares, I do. If it’s PEDs, just shoot me. I’m sick of talking about it.
– Cheat at baseball to lose: dead to me

Guys like Reggie and Dick Allen, Rogers Hornsby, etc. who are jackasses but didn’t actually cheat (get caught cheating, anyway), unless what they did clearly damaged the game I don’t care. Reggie was a jackhole and probably a sociopath, but he played to win. His involvement in PEDs was so long ago that I personally couldn’t care less by now, even if I had cared in the first place. Hornsby, while some of his ideas probably weren’t the best way to win, at least thought what he was doing was right. Dick Allen, on the other hand, damaged every team he played for; he poisoned minds, got drunk before games, missed days, weeks, months of games, and had just a couple of years where he played the entire season as if he cared. He ain’t dead to me, I actually enjoyed watching him play when he showed up, but I never thought of him as a Hall of Famer. If Frank Howard isn’t in the Hall, why would I vote for Dick Allen? Howard’s shortened career was caused by circumstances out of his control. Allen’s shortened career was caused by the actions of Dick Allen.

Ron Cey– While I was growing up in the Spokane Valley, my household was obsessed with Ron Cey. Older brother Brian and younger brother Dennis both worshipped him; he was their favorite player. My father had a Pavlovian response every time they mentioned him on Game of the Week; “Guys with short arms and legs are going to take over baseball, they don’t have any wasted motion and everything they do is backed up by compact, concentrated mass.” I’m paraphrasing, what he actually said was “when the Bums get eight more guys like that jockey legged bastard, they’ll stop losing to the F***ing Reds every year”.

Results:

14 ballots; the results:

175 Reggie Jackson
163 Phil Niekro
***********
83 Bobby Grich
67 Bill Freehan
47 Pete Rose
46 Jim Hunter
38 Tony Oliva
36 Bobby Bonds
28 Reggie Smith
22 Tony Perez
20 Thurman Munson
19 Rollie Fingers
19 Steve Garvey
14 Ron Cey
11 Norm Cash
11 Rusty Staub
9 Jim Kaat
9 Jim Wynn
8 Sal Bando
6 Vida Blue
5 Willie Davis
4 Jerry Koosman
3 Dave Lopes
3 Al Oliver
3 Ken Singleton
2 Amos Otis
2 Vada Pinson
1 Cesar Cedeno