Magic Numbers - the Hall of Fame Edition

Last night, Slammin' Sammy Sosa hit his 600th homerun. Although Sammy (at the height of his steriod binge, i mean vitamin B binge) was one of the most visually awe inspiring athletes, will he make the Hall of Fame? Well I say no. A lot of people are going to say that he hit a magic number, a hundred home runs ago, and it's automatic (the magic numbers were 500 homers, 300 wins, 3000 K's, 3000 hits). Now there is no magic number for home runs, 300 game winners will be a thing of the past (pitchers will throw less and less innings in a career), and the other two magic numbers, K's and hits, are still in tact.



The one thing that is becoming a trend of the steroid era is the fact that we have compilers who have passed the magic numbers, and aren't better baseball players than guys who are just short of the Hall. The baseball writers know this, and thats why Mark McGwire did not get voted in last year (baseball may have known of this trend happening before with Jose Canseco getting close to 500 HRs, I'm not saying that he was black listed, but that's a good argument for it). I'm going to take four players that have, or will shatter baseball's magical 500 home run plateau: McGwire, Sosa, Sheffield, and Palmeiro (i'm leaving Bonds off this side, because he would be a Hall of Famer, steroids or not), and putting them against four guys who may never make the Hall, but were close, and still have a shot: Keith Hernandez, Don Mattingly, Albert Belle, and Andre Dawson. The only reason I pick these guys, are because they were either the best at their positions (which they all were at one point, or another), and their numbers were more impressive given the time period. The first group probably would get more votes, among a panel of fans/fantasy baseballers in 2007, but the second group are the better players. Here's why:

The first group has a total of one MVP's - Sosa in '98...the one gauge in baseball that tells of dominance are MVP's-one man has more than three... so i take 4 guys who have slugged 500 hr's and theres only one steroid induced MVP

The latter group has three MVP's (one each, except for Belle, who finished in the top 3 of voting in three consecutive years...Palmiero never finished top 4 in voting)

The first group has four gold gloves, three from Palmeiro, one from McGwire. Palmeiro won one in a year where he played 28 games in the field! But we'll count it.

The second group has 28 gold gloves (Dawson 8, Mattingly 9, Hernandez 11, Belle 0), we'll count all of those, because they're legit...

The fact that Gary Sheffield is still playing at a high level, also has to be considered. Where is he going to end up? He hasn't had a string of Hall of Fame years. He hasn't been the dominating figure that an Albert Belle was, or an Andre Dawson, during a whole decade. Individual HR and RBI numbers can't be the reason anybody gets into the Hall of Fame...most the HR chart toppers have 3,000 hits...or score a ton of runs, and that's where everybody on both sides falls short (except Palmeiro at 3020 hits). So if anybody gets in out of all eight of the guys, it maybe Palmeiro. But as a voter, I must look at the fact that he never finished in the top four of MVP voting, and is only a four time all star. His numbers are a sign of the times. The steroid era has caused the numbers to get thrown out of wack. I don't think that any of these guys are going to the Hall, because the writers don't want to see them go, but if any of these players are deserving, it has to be the second group of players. The great thing about the Hall are the high moral, and baseball standards. The first group isn't going to get elected based on moral standards of the game...the second group maybe didn't cheat enough...