How do you compare eras?
How do you vote on Hall of Fame merit between players that never played against each other?
How do you compare a player from the ‘Dead Ball’ era to one from the juiced-up steroid era?
It’s impossible.
If not impossible, unfair.
Jim Rice was one of the most dominant players of his time (and I’m still a Yankee fan, so you know this isn’t biased praise). But this is the 12th time his name has been on the ballot. In addition to all-around great stats, he averaged over 27 homers/year (I subtracted his first and last years of his career since he barely played) in a time when hitting 20+ homers made you a monster (seriously, only a handful of batters hit over 20 home runs/year during the mid1970s). Yet he probably won’t get voted in again this year. Bummer.
The old benchmarks for Hall of Fame qualification no longer (or should no longer) necessarily apply.
It’s an unspoken rule that 500 dingers gets you in. But is that fair to Rice (who hit just shy of 400)?
You should be compared only with players of your own era!
How do you decide between Dave Concepcion and Dante Bichette? (okay, bad example…but you get the idea). Let alone Shoeless Joe Jackson with let’s say Tony Gwynn? I mean did they even have airplanes in 1908? Let alone the internet? Night games? Game film? Redbull™? Teams west of the Mississippi? Players of color? You get the point.
Players of different eras never competed against each other, they made different amounts of money (aka different lifestyles), and heck, the rules have even changed. Try explaining the DH or inter-league play to Honus Wagner or Babe Ruth.
Okay NEW RULE!
Ballots should not simultaneously contain two players – in which when one of them last hung up his jockstrap, Russia was still our Country’s sworn enemy, while the other one probably never knew the Soviets were ever a rival.
We’re approaching 2007, so voting for a player who’d look at you in a funny-you’re-out-of-your-mind-type-of-way if you asked him who is favorite was for the Wildcard this year… against a player who would stare blankly at you when you asked him who he though was the best all-time Montreal Expo (Who????).
Should Jim Rice’s homerun stats be compared to Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire? I don’t think so. Even if we forgive Mark and Barry, should their stats be contrasted with a man from Rice’s or Ruth’s era? Absolutely not!
If everyone and their mother (and their mother’s mother) used the juice as it looks like they might have done during the 90’s and beyond…then let the stats accumulated during this era be compared only against other player’s stats of this time.
That is fair.
Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson didn’t have the juice. But they were allowed to toss the “spit ball”. David Wells, Jake Peavy and Ron Guidry were not (not to mention they use(d) a more lively ball). So, it’s not even fair to stack up Mathewson’s numbers up against Wells.
Nor is comparing seasons with unbalanced schedules, seasons where major stars fought in world wars, seasons where the DH was included vs seasons before the DH was even conceptualized, seasons with varying lengths of annual games played, seasons before people of color were allowed to play, expansion vs non-expansion years, varying intensities/pressures of media throughout the years (ie there is a lot more pressure playing in NY today, compared with Kansas City say 49 years ago) etc etc etc etc …
What is fair?
Comparing Bonds’ tainted 700+ “homeruns” with Bobby Bonilla. Roger Clemens’ strikeout numbers with Dwight Gooden’s or Randy Johnson’s. Babe Ruth’s knocks with anybody from the 1920’s (give or take a year or three). That is fair!
So with that said, lets set some new benchmarks. Ones that are more balanced, fair and adjusted to today’s game and society.
NEW BENCHMARKS: (for automatic qualification into the Hall)
Homers– (old benchmark 500 HR’s)
Steroid Era: 700
Dead ball Era: 175
Jim Rice’s Era: 400
Played more than one year at Coors Field in Colorado (prior to 2006): 10,750
Played more than one year at Petco Park: 62
Wins – (old benchmark 300 wins)
4 man rotations: 300
5 man rotations: 250
Played more than one year at Coors Field in Colorado (prior to 2006): 55
Complete games —
Prior to 1920: 50 per season
1921-1959: 400 for career
1960 -1990: 250 for career
1991- 2006: 3 for career
Okay, okay – since I’m writing a blog about the HOF, I should probably vote for my selections. But I do so with reservation and protest. In fact, I’m really having to twist my arm right now to do this. Alright, now I feel obligated (and a raspberry on my arm to boot), so I’ll select 10 players.
- Tony Gwynn (should be unanimous selection. But we all know he won’t be)
- Cal Ripkin Jr. (ditto)
- Alan Trammell
- Jim Rice
- Lee Smith (even though the modern-day-save is highly over-rated (where else can you come in with a 4 run lead…pitch 1 inning or less, give up two runs and get a save), he was the all-time leader before a couple of months ago. That has to mean something, right?)
- Don Mattingly (I feel bad for him; he would have been great if not for his back)
- Scott Brosius (all Yankees and Padres deserve to be in the Hall)
- Paul O’Neil ( ditto)
- Dale Murphy (loved watching him play on TBS. In fact, he was the only reason to watch the Braves back then)
- Rich Gossage (all Yankee and Padres deserve to be in the Hall)
Note: I also wanted to pick: Andre Dawson, Dave Concepcion, and Orel Hershiser.
Well, that about does it for today. Don’t forget to check back often (once a day) for another exciting episode of From the Bleachers 
