Hall of Fame Day

Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jeff Bagwell enter the Hall of Fame Sunday afternoon.

I always think of Raines and Rickey Henderson as a pair. Both were great lead-off men, generating high OBPs and stealing extremely well. Here they are during the decade of the 1980s, encompassing their prime years. Henderson was better, but Raines was still amazing. Raines was a good enough hitter that he would be moved lower in the order at times to drive in runs. Once again, voters indicate that drug abuse is okay, as long as it’s not PEDs.

Raines was a victim or collusion. A mid-1980s CBA did not allow free agents to sign with their former teams after a certain date. When free agents, after the 1986 season, did not re-sign, other teams ignored them and they were left out of the first month of the season. Raines missed the first month of 1987 due to that rule, but came back with a vengeance to show teams what they had missed.

Rodriguez came to the majors ten years later, showing off an arm that rivaled the best of the day, Benito Santiago. Rodriguez was only 19 at the time, and it would take a few years for his offense to develop. His prime lasted 11 seasons, from 1994 (seasonal age 22) to 2004 (seasonal age 32). During those years he posted a .315/.357/.513 slash line. I do remember some people complaining about his pitch calling, asking for fastballs so he could better throw out runners when another pitch might have been more appropriate for getting a batter out. It strikes me that his offense and arm more than balanced pitch selection. Note that his offensive maturity coincided with the lively ball/small park/PED era, and there is certainly some controversy surrounding Rodriguez’s induction when it comes to PEDs.

The same is true of Jeff Bagwell. My favorite Bagwell fact is that he and Frank Thomas were born on the exact same day, and hold the record for most home runs by players born on the exact same day. Both were first basemen, both were MVPs, both are now in the Hall of Fame.

Maybe the most salient fact about Bagwell’s ability as a hitter is that he hit as well at the Astrosdome as he did on the road. It did play as a fair park during that time period, however.

As with Rodriguez, there is a hint of steroid use with Bagwell. I’m glad voters are finally needing more than hints.

Congratulations to all three players on their induction!

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2eYUrD7