2012 Hall of Fame class - who would YOU vote for?

[fraank123]

Jeff Bagwell, 1B
Barry Larkin, SS
Edgar Martinez, 3B/DH
Don Mattingly, 1B
Jack Morris, RHP
Dale Murphy, OF
Lee Smith, RHP
Alan Trammell, SS
Larry Walker, OF
Bernie Williams, OF

[doug_tucker10]

"(I wonder with which 1B Whitaker/Trammell played most often. It might, frighteningly, be Dave Bergman.)"


Dean, i checked on Baseball Ref and from 1977-1995 (pretty much the career span of Trammell and Whitaker), it looks like Cecil Fielder played the most games at 1b with 875 for the Tigers. Fielder was only there from 1990-1995.

Thanks Tomm for the consideration :-)


My choices for HOF would be Bagwell,Larkin,Mcgriff, Edgar Martinez.

Fred Mcgriff will definitely be in the HOF some day, as will Bagwell and Larkin. E Martinez should be as well but people hold his mostly DH career against him in spite of the fact he was such a prolific hitter

Larry Walker should be considered for HOF as well tho voters might consider his offensive numbers are inflated because most of his best seasons had been played at Coors Field. Walker was a 5 tool player no matter what ballpark he played in.

[Measured Mayhem]

Tim Raines
Jeff Bagwell
Edgar Martinez
Barry Larkin
Fred Mcgriff

As members of the career .400 obp club Bagwell and Martinez are near automatics for me. Even though Martinez is a DH, that is an official and required position for AL teams and there is evidence that DHing has a similar impact as pinch hitting where it negatively impacts batting performance and martinez still excelled offensively. Walker has the career .400 obp but his inability to stay on the field consistently knocks him out for me. He only had 1 year in his career in which he played 150 games and only 4 seasons at 140+ games. That lead to less than 7000 career PAs

Tim Raines is the biggest snub for the HOF so far on this list. I know this goes against traditional thinking but in my opinion he is the most successful base thief of all time. Henderson may have a higher volume but did so at a near 4% lower rate. Nobody with any substantial amount of steals touches his near 85% success rate. This rate also carried a very high volume with it at 808 steals good for 5th all time. Now throw in an excellent .385 career obp for his era (I believe his lead off obp was only 2nd to henderson over the same time period) and a solid .425 slg for a leadoff man.

[Valen]

[quote:c67628fd92]when about a quarter of todays pitchers are minor league pitchers just filling out rosters because of the amount of teams[/quote:c67628fd92]
I disagree. I watched a lot of games over the years as well. I watched a lot of games this year. I can remember when the Rangers played KC which is not exactly one of the top teams. But they were able to parade a series of 95+ pitchers out of their bullpen. Rangers have a guy (Lowe) who occasionally reaches 100 who is still the bottom of their bullpen. That would have made you a star 40 years ago. I will go out as far as to say half the pitchers from 70s could not make a major league roster if you went back in time and zapped them forward.

[Valen]

I would go with these.

Jeff Bagwell, 1B
Barry Larkin, SS
Don Mattingly, 1B
Dale Murphy, OF
Tim Raines, OF
Lee Smith, RHP
Alan Trammell, SS
Larry Walker, OF

[motherscratcher]

I get why some would keep Bagwell and McGwire out. The PED thing clouds everything. I don't agree with keeping them out (especially Bags) but I get it.

I understand keeping Walker out. He has HOF numbers in a lot of areas but the injury thing is a legit concern.

I understand why someone would not want Martinez due him being a DH. I don't agree, but again, I get it.

I understand the grey areas of Mattingly, Smith, Morris, and Murphy cases and that some would keep them out.

But when it comes to Tim Raines, Alan Trammell, and Barry Larkin...I can't come up with any conceivable reason on the face of the earth that someone could go back and look at their body of work and be unconvinced that they are HOFers.

Unless, of course, you're one of those "they just don't FEEL like HOFers" people, in which case I have no words.

Tony Womack...I think we can all agree on.

[PotKettleBlack]

Bagwell, Larkin, Walker, McGwire, Trammell, Raines.
On the fence about Morris.
Hurts me not to vote for Bernie Williams. 4 Gold Gloves, 5 time all star, great run from 95-01 (coinciding with 4 Yankees WS wins, and the loss in 2001). 1 batting title. 80 post season rbi, 51 post season XBH. Very good guitarist.

Still doesn't get my vote. Peak not high enough, high plateau not long enough. Compare to Larry Walker.
7 GG
1 MVP
5 AS
Walker has three seasons where he was more valuable than Williams' best.
Granted, that's Coors influenced, and he missed a lot of time in his prime. But clearly, a better bat than Williams.

McGwire. Note that he took roids on his plaque, but he belongs.

[ADRIANGABRIEL]

I'm voting for anyone who did steroids...twice!

They wanted it more.

[supertyphoon]

25 voters -

Larkin 19 votes = 76% ELECTED
Bagwell 18 votes = 72%
Raines 16 votes = 64%
Trammell 14 votes = 56%
Smith 11 votes = 44%
McGwire 10 votes = 40%
Martinez , Walker 8 votes = 32%
McGriff 7 votes = 28%
Mattingly 6 votes = 24%
Williams 5 votes = 20%
Morris 4 votes = 16%
Gonzalez 1 vote = 4 %

[mikemartinfl]

bagwell would be the only one on that list getting my vote, mcgwire and palmeiro if steroids werent an issue