Sweeping the Hall
Making room for Bert Blyleven in Cooperstown forced us to boot a few folks
In one of our favorite "New Yorker" profiles of all time, Nick Paumgarten tells the tale of Mike "The Mad Dog" Russo and his former on-air mate Mike Francesa. In one priceless anecdote, the author notes, "Chris Carlin, their producer at the time, who now has a show of his own on WFAN, walked in to find them watching 'The Horse Whisperer.' Carlin started to speak, but they shushed him; on the TV screen Robert Redford was breaking up with Kristin Scott Thomas. When the scene was over, Russo said, solemnly, 'Mikey, he had to do it, he had to do it.'"
When we handed over this latest issue of The Mag to the jocks, Joe Mauer decided to make his case for Bert Blyleven to be in the Hall of Fame. Problem is, it seems to be getting tougher to get in these days. You combine steroids with a weary group of baseball writers and a suspicious fan base, and everybody is getting the microscope. But, hey, we had to help our favorite American League Central backstop.
So, here are some nominations for the Cooperstown boot to give Mauer's boy a little more real estate to squeeze in:
Jim O'Rourke: We have a friend with the last name "O'Rourke," but it's not enough to save Jim, even if he was called "Jim the Orator." For one, the guy played during an era, pre-1900, when they hadn't even standardized the 60-feet, 6-inches distance from mound to plate. (At least we knew how far Blyleven had to throw.) Then there's the fact that he was a stat-chaser. The guy even squeezed in an at-bat in 1904 … at age 53! We are slightly impressed that he led the league in walks in 1877. Problem is he had only 20.
Bill Mazeroski: Drop the romance argument for a moment and even put aside fielding and acknowledge some reality: A career .260 hitter; never hit more than 19 home runs in a season; never topped 82 RBIs; never hit higher than .283 in a year; never slugged higher than .439. Minus the mystique and glove, the dude could be Royce Clayton. So he helped get Ozzie in, some could say. The Oz at least swiped 580 bases. Maz stole 27. Yeah, we know we'll get poisoned next time we order at Primanti's. It's cool.
Hugh Duffy: Yeah, Hugh was pretty good -- he has a career average of .324 -- but consider us slightly concerned that in 1894 he ballooned to an average of .440, then never hit higher than .352 in a season thereafter. Whether it was the Lasik surgery, the red contacts so you can spot the seams or a heaping helping of Uncle Jose's Magic Stall Sauce, we know what we think about outliers around here.
Bid McPhee: We're darn impressed that Bid led the league in taters in 1886 with 8 -- hey, it's a little tougher when they don't have walls, people -- but just 2,250 career hits and a .271 average doesn't do much for us. Thus, his … wait for it … bid is bogus. Plus, he's not even the most prolific John McPhee! Bag a Pulitzer, buddy, and we'll reconsider.
Hal Newhouser: Coolest thing about Newhouser: He's credited by some with discovering Derek Jeter while he was a scout. Too bad he couldn't get his employers, the Astros, to pull the trigger. They drafted Phil Nevin instead. Goo. A few incredible years for Hal, but he finished with just 207 career wins. Bert ain't impressed.
Arky Vaughan: This will draw the ire of Bill James (and we'd be offended if he isn't reading this) because he has Vaughan as the second-best shortstop in major league history to Honus Wagner. But that just shows the limits of James' methods, since we all know Walt Weiss is the greatest shortstop in history. Vaughan has just 2,103 career hits and 96 home runs. We're thinking James likes his eye: Vaughan had 937 walks to just 276 career strikeouts, a splendidly absurd ratio.
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