Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Hall of Fame Votes Are In

Former Rangers pitcher Bert Blyleven, after 14 years spent on the ballot, has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Blyleven, who played parts of 2 seasons in Texas is a two-time World Champion and winner of 287 games, received 79.7% of the vote. Over the years, much has been made of Blyleven's 250 losses but one has to take into account the fact that nearly 30% of those were by one run. During the pitcher's 22 seasons, Blyleven played for the Twins, Pirates, Rangers, Indians & Angels.

Rafael Palmeiro made his first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot and was greatly affected by his failing of a steroid test during his final season in 2005. Palmeiro famously pointed his finger at members of Congress during that same season and denied using steroids. The 20-year veteran retired with 569 homers and 3,020 hits, only the fourth player in history to amass more than 500 homers and 3,000 hits. The others are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame. Palmeiro received just 11% of the vote.

Juan Gonzalez is perhaps the hardest pill to swallow for Rangers fans with regards to the steroid era. Gonzo never failed a drug test but has long been suspected of such dealings. This is truly sad as he put up some unbelievable numbers over the course of his injury-plagued career. Gonzalez retired with 434 home runs and 1404 runs batted in, hitting a lifetime .295. His numbers are truncated by the fact he missed almost 4 full seasons during his 17 year career. Gonzalez, a 2-time MVP and 6-time Silver Slugger received just 5.2% of the vote.

Other former Rangers on the HoF ballot were DH Harold Baines and pitcher Kevin Brown. Baines, a 6-time All-star played parts of 2 seasons in Texas and retired with 2,866 hits. He received 4.8% of the vote. Kevin Brown, also a 6-time All-star, won 211 career games (78 wins in Texas) and won a World Title with Florida in 1997. Brown received 2.1% of the vote. With less than 5% of the vote, neither player will be included on future HoF ballots.

No comments:

Post a Comment