Hall of Fame Thoughts For 2015

Oct 24, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox designated hitter

(left) hands a ball to former pitcher

for the ceremonial first pitch prior to game two of the MLB baseball World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Pedro Martinez

Normally, Red Sox Memories is written every Saturday morning on BoSoxInjection.com, but I decided to make those memories the starter for this Hall of Fame list. With Pedro being whom I think of for the 2004 World Series Championship year, let’s start with the hailed, righty starting pitcher from the Dominican Republic.

Martinez started his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but my first impression of his greatness came when I saw him play for the National League’s Montreal Expos. Like his predecessor, ‘El Presidente’ Dennis Martinez, chants of ‘Pedro’ filled Olympic Stadium, every time he pitched. In 1997, Pedro pitched a 17-8 record, with an astounding 1.90 ERA and 13 complete games, to win the Cy Young Award. His stuff was filthy and he had the air of greatness around him, as if he would go down in history as one of the best pitchers ever.

He got the chance to prove that in Boston, under the lights of the postseason. In 1999, Martinez pitched an even more incredible 23-4 record, with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts. He followed it up with a 1.73 ERA in 2000, to win his two remaining Cy Young Awards, this time in the American League.

Pedro’s postseason efforts were marred by two games against his “Daddy”, the New York Yankees, giving up nine runs in both outings. However, in his prime, Pedro won six games, especially against a tough-hitting St. Louis Cardinals team that included Albert Puljos. Martinez blanked them in seven innings, on Boston’s way to winning the World Series. Ironically, Pedro’s ‘daddy’ curse from the Yankees did not stop him from helping to break the Curse of the Bambino.

His sheer domination in the regular season alone should make for him entering the Hall of Fame first, if you had to rank this year’s ballot of players.

May 18, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks former pitcher

is hugged by former teammate

during a ceremony at Chase field to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Johnson

Randy Johnson

If a man can’t get into the Hall of Fame after killing a bird with a pitch (check out YouTube), then what can he do to be memorable? Calm down, animal rights activists, I don’t mean to promote unnecessary cruelty. However, can you think of the amount of power a fastball, coming from Johnson, must have in order to leave an impact like that on baseball fans? Not to mention the bird?

Seriously, though, Randy Johnson was ‘The Big Unit’ for a reason. With 303 wins and 4 875 strikeouts for a career, is this even an argument that the man deserves to be in the Hall of Fame? If it is, how about he shines his five Cy Young Awards in your eyes to distract you? He wouldn’t be able to hear you anyways, with his 2001 World Series ring and MVP award clogging his ears. That year, in six postseason games, he won all of them with a combined 47 strikeouts.

Talk about domination. His 6’10” frame staring down from the mound alone would scare any batter. Scared me, watching at home. Hall of Fame, here comes Randy!

Sep 18, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros former player

walks onto the field before a game against the Cincinnati Reds at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Craig Biggio

Give it up for the little guys, too!

Biggio may only be 5’11” tall, but he worked hard his entire 20 years in Major League Baseball, all of it with the Houston Astros. Instead of concentrating on his hitting (.281 batting average and .363 on-base percentage), look at the 201 errors that he made in his career, mainly as a second baseman. That’s a 0.07 average for the 2 850 games he played in an Astros uniform. Joe Morgan, a Hall-of-Fame second baseman and worshiped all over professional baseball, made 245 errors in only 2 546 games. By the way, Morgan’s career batting average was .271.

If I have to listen to Joe Morgan preaching to everyone about how the game is to be played, every year, I think that we can give some room. For the love of Rawlings, this man got 74.8% of the vote to get into Cooperstown, last year. Help a man out!

Oct 31, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants former player

waves to the crowd during the World Series victory parade on Market Street. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, & Jeff Bagwell

Linked to performance-enhancing drugs, not proven to be linked to PEDs, the debate goes on. I’m not interested in ‘proof’ or if any of these men get into the Hall of Fame or not. What I will say is this: all four of these men were my baseball idols as a kid.

I bought Pittsburgh Pirates pencils, and would only use them at school for special projects, because Barry Bonds was the most valuable player in my young heart. I decorated my books and bedroom walls with pictures of Roger Clemens, because I had a strong arm as a kid and thought he was whom I wanted to be when I grew up. I started watching the New York Mets more often, partly to annoy my friends whom liked the Yankees and partly because Mike Piazza always showed how nice he was to people in commercials he aired in, once he was famous. I admired how Jeff Bagwell looked tough, as he stepped into the batter’s box, intimidating opposing pitchers with his powerful swing and incredible muscles, for being only a generous 6’0″ (according to Baseball-Reference.com).

Then, I saw them turn into Incredible Hulks.

I liked Bonds because he wasn’t huge and yet could take on the world to with multiple MVP awards. I liked watching Clemens look like the average guy whom was lighting up the radar gun. I liked watching Piazza use cat-like speed to block wild pitches. I liked watching Bagwell smoke home runs over walls, where behemoths could not follow suit. I did not like seeing Bonds’ head growing three sizes, or Clemens in a fit of rage multiple times on the mound, or Piazza lumbering around later in his career, or ‘Buff’ Bagwell looking more like a ripped strikeout king than a power hitter. Maybe the drugs explain the Clemens-Piazza incident with the broken bat. That’s just speculation, though. No proof. Just what I saw, just like every other young baseball fan.

Don’t even get me started on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Let’s leave statistics out of this. We know their numbers. We know their historical moments in the game. That will never be debatable. All I know is that I will not think of these men ever again in the same way. Not that they likely cared in the first place.

Mar 29, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Larry Walker (33) is introduced during the ceremony for the 1994 Expos before the game between the New York Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays at Olympic Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Larry Walker, Edgar Martinez, Alan Trammell, and Carlos Delgado

People like Mike Mussina, Lee Smith, Nomar Garciaparra, and John Smoltz will get into the Hall of Fame. Their numbers will not keep them out, whether in 2015 or the near future. However, some of the hard-working gentlemen of the sport need some recognition too. Especially since their numbers are on par with the others.

How many kids did you see imitating how Edgar Martinez put his gloves on in the batter’s box? How many Little Leaguers did you see bragging about grinding out hits at the plate like Alan Trammell? How many young boys played baseball, while making sure their clothes didn’t get dirty like Larry Walker, or have childhood dreams of trashtalking the competition, without being provoked like Carlos Delgado. Wait, you never did, because they didn’t either.

They were tough men, each seemingly bred to do their talking with their bats and their feet. They each wore their love of the game and their family pride in their hearts, as they entered the batter’s box. Each of them demanded the spotlight with their play, not a microphone. It was rare to see them rant and rave, unless provoked by an unjust gesture from another team.

Walker, in particular, impacted my life, because I knew first-hand how hard it would be for a fellow Canadian to not only make it to the big leagues, but to shine. He was a five-time all star, National League MVP, seven-time Gold Glove Award winner, three-time Silver Slugger Award winner, while being the three-time National League batting champion and worshiped by Americans as well as Canadians. Not bad for a man who would have had to deal with American teammates, opponents, scouts, and other baseball ‘experts’ claiming that he should go back to playing hockey, eh? If you don’t believe me, explain Bob Costas, CBS, and the entire media campaign during the 1992 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves, explaining to everyone how Canadians just don’t get the game very well.

We got it just fine, thank you. Just like we get what it means to have respect and honor for the game. Just like these men, who should be in Cooperstown forever.

** All statistics were found on Baseball-Reference.com