Another Former Cub Makes the Hall
For the second time in three years, a former Cubs reliever was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Goose Gossage on receiving baseball's highest honor. After coming up with the White Sox and never really establishing himself, Goose went to the Yankees and was probably the best reliever in baseball for about ten years. Check out his stats! He was simply lights out. Then, after a few great years in San Diego, he went to the Cubs and he promptly started to stink, naturally. But those years in Yankee pinstripes earned him his plaque, and for that I say "Congratulations!"
Looking over the HOF voting results, I can't help but ask a few questions:
Who the HELL voted for Shawon Dunston? I love the Shawon-O-meter as much as the next guy, but come on. I'd love to see this writer's ballot. If he voted for Shawon and not Rock Raines, he should have his brain scanned and credentials removed. Same goes for Todd Stottlemyre. I can't wait until 2018 when Ted Lilly gets a vote.
There's a couple of other guys that got one or two votes where you could say, "OK, good player, four or five all-star teams, maybe a ROY or top 10 MVP vote...not necessarily a HOFer but a legitimately good player and I'll throw a vote his way to let him know I appreciated covering him all those years." Guys like David Justice, Robb Nen, Rob "Shooter" Beck (who did his best to keep Goose's 'stache alive), Travis Fryman, and both Chucks Knoblauch and Finley. Those were legitimately good players, among the top 10 or so in the league for at least a few years. The types of guys that should make the Hall of Very Good.
But enough about the bottom of the ballot, let's go back to the top. No room in the Hall for Andre Dawson yet, but at 65% I think he'll eventually get in. This Cubs fan would be happy with that. His former Expos teammate Tim Raines only getting 24% is a travesty, and Bert Blyleven of course deserves to be in as well. Not sure about Jim Rice, I've read enough arguments against his possible enshrinement that I can't help but think HOVG. But at 72% he's probably a lock for next year. I'm starting to think Lee Smith has a legit gripe, seeing as how Eckersley, Sutter and now Gossage have all been enshrined. (Oddly all were former Cubs) I'm not sure if Smith was ever quite as dominant as those guys at their peaks, but he a) retired as the all-time saves leader (478), and b) had an ERA above league-average for 17 years in a row. That's a long freaking time, especially considering a short reliever's ERA can be majorly screwed by a handful of bad appearances. Toss in the fact that he was a 7-time All-Star that got MVP votes in four different seasons, and he's definitely got a case. But anyways....
I'm just waiting for next year to see if Santo can finally get in on the Veteran's ballot. He's the biggest Cubs travesty by far.