Hall of Fame 2006: Results Really In! Sutter Really Wins!

[Outta Leftfield]

Thanks for the bump. Rob Neyer has a chat on HOF candidates going on now live at ESPN.com, in case you want to look in.

Outta

[Outta Leftfield]

Well, Sutter made it in real life, just as in our poll. Any comments? Rice is 2nd, Gossage third.

[baracus68]

I'm bummed about Jim Ed not getting in. I really thought he had a shot this year. I guess in a way it's fitting that Sutter gets in and not him since one of my most vivid memories of '70s baseball is watching Rice flail at Sutter's split-finger pitch in Sutter's first all-star game (back in those pre-ESPN days it was the first time us American League people had ever seen Sutter and he was stunningly good.)

[Moodywoody]

Interesting how our poll matched the results of the actual vote.

There is something special about the baseball Hall of Fame that you cannot find in any other major league sport.

[aceventura55369]

Gregg Jeffiries is up for HOF nomination, they have to be kidding right!!! :roll:

No disrespect intended for Sutter, but how can he possibly be elected before Blyleven. Blyleven was easily the most deserving candidate on this year's list. :roll:

[cplake]

Blyleven & John are perhaps two of the greatest pitchers NOT in the Hall. What a shame.

Glad to see Sutter finally get some recognition. Goose will be next......

I hope Jimmy Rice makes it eventually. He was one of my favorites. I saw him check his swing one time and break his bat in two. He was THAT powerful.

[H3S]

My Votes:

Don Mattingly
Jack Morris
Alan Trammell
Lee Smith
Andre Dawson

[Minoso Express]

Good for Sutter, shame about Gossage. How Blyleven remains outside the hall is just one of those baseball mysteries, I guess. Plenty of guys who played for bad teams are in.

Interesting that only Belle and Hershiser (of the first-time on the ballot group) garnered the necessary 5% to remain on the ballot for next year. Clark, Gooden, McGee and Guillen are wiped from the ballot.

[Moodywoody]

It is a shame about Gooden. I remember when he first came up to the majors. The kid had incredible talent. I thought he would be the next Bob Gibson, a truly dominant starter for the next decade or longer. And in the beginning it looked like he was going to be one of the great starters of all time going into the Hall on the first ballot. Instead, his career turned into a Roy Hobbes tragedy in that many were left wondering what could have been.

[Minoso Express]

Absolutely, Moody. And Gooden's not the only tragedy of that era. Strawberry's a devestation. Inveterate Yankee fanship notwithstanding, I'd sneak subway rides out to Shea as a kid just to watch Strawberry take batting practice. To this day, I've not seen a more breathtaking natural talent as he. Watching him lope up to the plate in '83 and '84 with equal measures of arrogance and innocence as even he was taken aback by the grace and power of his own swing, I forgot that I was supposed to be rooting for those Bronx Bums.