The Tide is Turning

Jerry Crasnick votes for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens on his Hall of Fame ballot.

Even without their turbo-charged ascents into statistical fantasyland, you can make the case Bonds and Clemens were Hall of Famers if they had only quit while they were ahead. In 1998, at age 33, Bonds was a three-time MVP who ranked 34th on The Sporting News’ list of 100 greatest players. He had already accumulated a Wins Above Replacement of 94.6 — more than Al Kaline, Joe DiMaggio, Reggie Jackson and several other outfield greats amassed in their entire careers.

Although I read the whole piece, this is the best reason Crasnick gives for changing his vote, but it’s not clear to me why he did so. I suspect he has just two many doubts about the writers infallibility to keep this two out of the Hall. Public ballots so far have Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, and Jeff Bagwell making the Hall this year. So maybe the slightly tainted get in this year, and the more tainted get in next year?

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1VjzE7r