Well, that happened

The 2017 BBWAA ballots for induction into the Baseball Hall of Famer were announced back on January 18th.  The results were interesting.  Gaining induction were Tim Raines (on his 10th and final ballot), Jeff Bagwell (on his 7th ballot) and Ivan Rodriguez (on his first ballot).  Just barely missing the cut were Trevor Hoffman (on his second try) and Vlad Guerrero (on his first ballot).  Both got above 70%, so they will get in within two years time (and probably next year).  Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mike Mussina and Edgar Martinez all took strong steps forward, while Curt Schilling went backwards and other players stalled.  There’s a lot of good and bad to look at on this year’s results, so let’s start with the good.

#1- Babe Ruth, RF

Year Inducted: 1936 (BBWAA, ballot #1, 215/226)

Score: 65705

In 1947, much as they did to honor Lou Gehrig, the Yankees held a tribute day to honor one of their greats.  Thirteen years after he had worn a Yankee uniform, the Bronx Bombers were honoring Babe Ruth one more time before his inevitable end due to throat cancer.  Thousands of people packed Yankee Stadium, with millions more listening via radio and speakers lining the streets of New York, as former opponents, managers, teammates and friends saluted a man who reinvented the game of baseball and was truly the game’s greatest player.  The sight of this once great man, this giant who always was larger than the game itself as now a frail, suffering man pulled at everyone’s heartstrings.  Ruth would give a small speech as his voice was practically gone that, while not on Gehrig’s level in terms of grandness, was still as emotional and impactful as ever as Ruth, one final time, walked off the field as the greatest player who ever lived.

#2- Hank Aaron, RF

Year Inducted: 1982 (BBWAA, ballot #1, 406/415)

Score: 60884

Bobby Thompson is forever known as the player that hit the “Shot Heard Round the World”, a home run to win the 1951 NL Pennant for the New York Giants over the Brooklyn Dodgers on the last game of the season.  Three years later, Thompson found himself on the Milwaukee Braves.  In Spring Training of 1954, Thompson broke his leg.  While he was sidelined, the Braves decided to give one of their young players a chance in the outfield.  Twenty years later, that player stood taller than anyone ever thought possible as he passed Babe Ruth for career home runs.

#3- Ted Williams, LF

Year Induction: 1966 (BBWAA, ballot #1, 282/302)

Score: 60450

In 1941, baseball saw two of the best in the sport’s history permanently etch their names among the immortals.  Beginning in May and lasting until July, Joe DiMaggio set a record for most consecutive games with a hit.  Somehow, miraculously, Joltin’ Joe had gotten a hit in 56 straight games.  However, as impressive as that was, in Boston, the Red Sox had a player trying to do something that hadn’t been seen since 1930.  On the last day of the season, prior to a double header, Ted Williams stood with a .39955.  Had he elected to sit out, it would be rounded to an even .400, giving him just the 28th season with such an average.  Instead, Williams (who probably had the largest ego of all-time) decided to play both games, went 6/8, and ended with a season average of .406.  While that moment was the highlight of Williams’ career, it certainly wasn’t the only reason that he got into the Hall of Fame.

#4- Willie Mays, CF

Year Inducted: 1979 (BBWAA, ballot #1, 409/432)

Score: 60422

Greatness often leaves in the form of a whimper, rather than with a flourish.  In the 1973 World Series, the Mets and A’s were set to duel.  In right field for the Mets was a player that was clearly on his last legs, but wanted to go out a champion.  Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be, as Willie Mays would only have an OPS of .571 in the series and, perhaps most unthinkable, saw a ball roll through his legs in the outfield.  That should not have been how the great career of the Say Hey Kid ended, but life sometimes isn’t fair.

#5- Ty Cobb, CF

Year Inducted: 1936 (BBWAA, ballot #1, 222/226)

Score: 59009

In 1992, Tom Seaver broke a record that many thought would never be broken.  Seaver had set the record for the largest voting percentage ever for Hall of Fame induction.  It was a record that was set all the way back in 1936, with the first ever induction class.  But, it wasn’t a record that was set by Babe Ruth or Honus Wagner.  It was set by the only player that could have challenged Ruth in his own time for being the greatest ever.  It was set by the one person that may possibly have more legends surrounding him that Ruth.  It was set by Tyrus Raymond Cobb.

#6- Lou Gehrig, 1B

Year Inducted: 1939 (BBWAA, special election)

Score: 57274

It was a day never before seen on a baseball field.  Between the games of a double header against the Washington Senators, the Yankees decided to honor one of their living greats while they still could.  The quiet link between the Babe Ruth years and the Joe DiMaggio years could no longer play baseball due to an incurable disease.  Lauded with fan appreciation and gifts befitting a king, the quiet leader of the club stepped forward to address the public, and issued what many believe to be baseball’s equivalent of the Gettysburg Address.  A man who knew he would face his end painfully and abruptly, took full courage and said in front of a sold out Yankee Stadium that he thought he was the luckiest man on the face of the earth because he got to play baseball.  That was Lou Gehrig in a nutshell, quiet yet dignified and whether he would admit it or not, often times larger than the game itself.

#7- Stan Musial, 1B

Year Inducted: 1969 (BBWAA, ballot #1, 317/340)

Score: 56369

Player salaries today are huge, which is what a free agent market tends to do.  No one should really begrudge a player for seeking out the highest bidder, as most people would do the same if that option was open.  Still, baseball wasn’t always like that.  In 1958, a player on the Cardinals hit .337/.423/.528, an impressive line made even moreso by the fact that he was 37 years old.  The next season, he slumped badly to a line of .255/.364/.428.  Most players would take it as a down year and try again the next season.  Only one man would go to the team’s front office and ask for a pay cut, because he didn’t earn his pay.  That was Stan Musial in a nutshell.

#8- Honus Wagner, SS

Year Inducted: 1936 (BBWAA, ballot #1, 215/226)

Score: 56343

In 1896, future Hall of Famer Ed Barrow was the owner of several Minor League teams, including one in Pattersonville, PA.  It was there that he had a young shortstop who he thought belonged in the Major Leagues.  So he called Fred Clarke (whom Barrow discovered) and Barney Dreyfuss (the owner of the Louisville Colonels) to come and scout this player.  What the two men saw was a stocky, awkward looking player that they didn’t think would stick.  However, the scout they brought with them said that he should be offered a contract, and soon Honus Wagner embarked on the greatest career of any shortstop in history.

#9- Rogers Hornsby, 2B

Year Inducted: 1942 (BBWAA, ballot #5, 182/233)

Score: 51274

In 1921, the hit movie The Sheik debuted.  It became such a hit that certain segments of the country became enthusiastic about things that sounded “Arabian”.  The enthusiasm soon permeated baseball, where the top two hitters soon gained nicknames based on what was perceived as Arabian culture.  One was, fairly obviously, Babe Ruth’s monicker the “Sultan of Swat”.  However, over in the National League, the top slugger was nicknamed the “Rajah of Swat” was about to win the Triple Crown in 1922 with what was probably the best season ever experienced by a second baseman.  That player was Rogers Hornsby.