By Mikael DeSanto
Sports Editor
In one of the closest elections in the modern era of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, we had three deserving players join the pantheon of the greats of America’s pastime. Some said, in two of the three cases, these players should have gotten in sooner. Others have said they should have had to wait longer. Either way, there is no more denying that they are Hall of Famers.
JEFF BAGWELL
Finally. I have been calling for Mr. Bagwell’s election for years, and it finally happened in his seventh year on the ballot. He quietly had a stellar 14-year MLB career, during which he appeared in four all-star games, won the 1991 National League Rookie of the Year and followed that up by winning the league Most Valuable Player just three years later. He earned a gold glove at first base in 1994 and won silver sluggers in 1994, 1997 and 1999. These may not seem like much compared to other Hall of Famers, but his stat line speaks for itself. He owns a .297 career batting average, a .408 on-base percentage and a .540 slugging percentage. He has 2,314 career hits, 449 career home runs, drove in 1,529 runs and drew 1,401 walks. Plus, he stole 202 bases over the course of his career, a solid total for a first baseman. His career accomplishments may have been overshadowed by the fact that, aside from that 1994 season, he wasn’t even the best player on his team, having played with fellow Hall of Famer Craig Biggio for his entire career. But he deserves the election.
TIM RAINES
Raines played for a very long time, 23 years combined, to be exact. In that time, he compiled a strong resumé that made fans foam at the mouth when he was not elected in any of his first nine times on the ballot. That’s right; this would have been his final season on the normal ballot under the new rule. Let that sink in while you read his impressive stat line. Right off the bat, pun intended, he stole 808 bases, the fifth most in major league history. He also sports a .294 batting average for his career, as well as 2,605 hits, 980 runs batted in and 1,571 runs scored. He went to seven all-star games, winning the game MVP in 1987, and is a career .988 fielder as an outfielder. How Raines slipped to his final year on the ballot I will never understand. The thought of him having to wait until he hit the ballot for the veterans committee makes me sad, since he is easily one of the best players to play in the last 20 or 30 years. If I had to pick someone to put on base to score a winning run, Raines would be high on my list.
IVAN “PUDGE” RODRIGUEZ
Here is the guy I didn’t think would get in this year, which was his first year, not because he isn’t extremely talented and doesn’t deserve it, I just thought with all the talent on the ballot he’d wait a year. He played for about 20 years, which is very respectable for any ball player. His career slash line is .296/.334/.464 and went, and hold on for this one, 14 all-star games. Add to that his 13 gold gloves and seven silver sluggers, and one can see how he was elected. He also posted 2,844 hits, 311 home runs, 1,332 runs batted in and scored 1,354 runs over his career. After taking a closer look at all of his stats and career accomplishments, I can confidently say Rodriguez is indeed a first ballot Hall of Famer.
I will leave everyone with one question: why didn’t Trevor Hoffman get in?
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
