'Hall of Pretty Darn Good' Balloting

This is some bullshit. Although not as bad as the elections of Phil Rizuto or Bill Mazoroski, Baines is in no way a HOF'er. A solid player yes, maybe elite in his prime but no way a HOF. There are plenty of guys who are far more deserving. The Crime Dog, Dale Murphy, Gil Hodges and Steve Garvey come to mind.

Tony La Russa rips people who think Harold Baines didn't belong in Hall

David Schoenfield
ESPN Senior Writer

LAS VEGAS -- Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa calls the arguments against the selection of Harold Baines to the Hall of Fame "weak-a-- superficial bulls---."

La Russa was one of the 16 members of the Today's Game committee that elected Baines and Lee Smith on Sunday. Baines topped out at 6.1 percent during his five years on the BBWAA ballot, and his highest finish in MVP voting was ninth place in 1985, making him one of the most stunning -- and controversial -- Hall of Fame selections in years.

La Russa was Baines' manager with the White Sox from 1980 to 1986, and then again in Oakland in 1991 and 1992. Longtime White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf was also a committee member, as were former teammate Roberto Alomar and Pat Gillick, Baines' general manager in Baltimore. Even Baines acknowledged that having La Russa and Reinsdorf on the committee "probably helped me."

During a contentious back-and-forth with sports-talk host Christopher Russo on MLB Network, La Russa defended Baines.

"Harold Baines is a Hall of Famer and it's a shame that he's being looked at as not right," La Russa said. "In the '80s and '90s, almost all of the stats that people trust, he was in the top five -- for 20 years. He drove in 100 runs late in his career and he drove them in early. Game-winning RBIs, he's up there with the best of them. He had a very distinguished career."

At one point Russo brought up Al Oliver, who had similar career statistics to Baines (and a higher career WAR, 43.7 to 38.7).

"Al Oliver is not better than he is, no disrespect to Al Oliver," La Russa responded. "I used to watch you because I thought you knew the game. I'm going to start calling you clueless."

La Russa also defended the potential conflict of interest of the makeup of the committee, saying, "Do you think the people who know him better than the average expert, fan or even other baseball executives, have actually been teammates with him ... when they speak with more knowledge about the type of player he was, I think that speaks more to his credit, not less."

La Russa, 74, last managed in the majors in 2011, retiring after the Cardinals won the World Series. He has been critical about some of the advancements in sabermetrics in the past and how players are evaluated, even though he was managing the A's in the late '80s and early '90s, when the team was at the forefront of statistical analysis.

When hired as the chief baseball officer of the Diamondbacks in 2014, he said, "You help prepare using the analytics, but you don't let them exaggerate. In fact, the teams that do are making a big mistake."

Last season, La Russa was a special assistant to Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowski.

MLB

5 hours ago

Chicago White Sox hire Hall of Famer Tony La Russa as their new manager

The 76-year-old, who managed the White Sox from 1979 to 1986, will replace Rick Renteria as the team's manager, GM Rick Hahn announced on Thursday. Some observers are concerned about La Russa's ability to connect with some of the younger players on the White Sox.

Hall reconsidering Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Palmeiro, Belle, Murphy, Mattingly & McGriff. The steroid group, plus some.

Obviously Bonds was well on his way before he decided to cheat. The question is whether baseball decides to hold that against him forever.

Same for Clemens.

Schilling is a bit of a bubble case. My only fear with him is what cockeyed shit he might say at his induction ceremony.

Palmeiro will never be forgiven, nor should he be. I think we saw what kind of player he was early in his career. It sure wasn't a 30-40 homer guy.

Belle doesn't have the totality of numbers. Albert was a roider too.

I would consider him over Murphy though.

Mattingly hurt his back before he could compile the career stats.

Who does McGriff have to blow to get in? This is the most serious miscarriage of justice.

Here's how former Dodgers fared on HOF ballot

By Juan Toribio @juanctoribio

January 24, 2023
LOS ANGELES -- Results were announced on Tuesday and no former Dodgers players were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, with only Scott Rolen getting the necessary 75 percent for induction.

Andruw Jones and Gary Sheffield came the closest, with Jones receiving 58.1 percent from the Baseball Writers' Association of America voters and Sheffield coming in at 55 percent. Jeff Kent followed with 46.5 percent in his 10th and final year of eligibility.

Jones, Sheffield and Kent, of course, are better remembered from their tenures with other teams. Jones’ time with the Dodgers was a forgettable one as he posted a .505 OPS in just 75 games during the 2008 season. Sheffield had a very successful, albeit short, run with the Dodgers, making two All-Star appearances (1999, 2000) over three full seasons. Kent finished his career in Los Angeles, making one All-Star appearance in four seasons with the Dodgers.

Manny Ramirez, who ignited Mannywood late in his career after a very successful tenure with the Red Sox, received 33.2 percent of the votes. Bobby Abreu (15.4) and Jimmy Rollins (12.9) also came up short, but they all return to the ballot next year after surpassing the 5 percent threshold.

Andre Ethier and Jayson Werth didn’t receive a vote, taking them off the Hall of Fame ballot after one year. Former Dodgers will be well-represented in 2024, with Adrián Beltré expected to surpass the 75 percent threshold in his first year of eligibility. Adrián González will also be on next year’s ballot, as well as Chase Utley, who did most of his damage with the Phillies but left quite the mark on the Dodgers’ organization.

Candidates needed 292 votes to be elected. Full BBWAA ballot results are below:

Scott Rolen: 297 votes, 76.3%
Todd Helton: 281 votes, 72.2%
Billy Wagner: 265 votes, 68.1%
Andruw Jones: 226 votes, 58.1%
Gary Sheffield: 214 votes, 55%
Carlos Beltrán: 181 votes, 46.5%
Jeff Kent: 181 votes, 46.5% (final year on ballot)
Alex Rodriguez: 139 votes, 35.7%
Manny Ramirez: 129 votes, 33.2%
Omar Vizquel: 76 votes, 19.5%
Andy Pettitte: 66 votes, 17%
Bobby Abreu: 60 votes, 15.4%
Jimmy Rollins: 50 votes, 12.9%
Mark Buehrle: 42 votes, 10.8%
Francisco Rodriguez: 42 votes, 10.8%
Torii Hunter: 27 votes, 6.9 percent

I still think Garvey’s numbers are as good, if not better than some of those candidates, including Rolen.

But his rep, business dealings and unpopularity with the media have kept him out thus far.

His only hope is the veterans committee and look how long it took them to finally get Hodges in.

GO DODGERS!!!