Have you seen the list of first-year eligible players on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot? Not exactly a team of all-stars by any stretch. Let's take a look at the 13 first time eligible players:
Bernie Williams, CF, Yankees. Probably the most deserving of any of the new candidates for Hall consideration. I don't know if that is a compliment to Bernie or an insult to the rest of the field. Bernie was a very good player. He won a batting title in 1998, won 4 Gold Gloves, made 5 All-Star appearances, and won a Silver Slugger in 2002. He finished his career with a .297 batting average, 287 home runs and 1257 RBI. He eclipsed 100 RBI 5 times in his career and 90 RBI 7 times. He gets a slight boost because he did this without steroids. He only hit 30 home runs once in his career but hit more than 20 homers 7 times during his career. He also drove in a record 80 runs in the postseason which has to count for something. Is he deserving of the Hall of Fame? Probably not. However, he was a main cog on 4 World Series winning teams and did accumulate 2,336 hits and scored 1,366 runs. Not shabby but not enough to make the Hall.
Vinny Castilla, 3B, Rockies. He put up some monster years in Coors Field before they figured out the humidor. Leads all Mexican-born Major Leaguers in home runs (320), hits (1,884), runs (902), and RBI (1,105). For a power hitter those numbers just aren't enough to garner Hall consideration.
Jeromy Burnitz, OF. From 1997 to 2004 he averaged 31 homers and 94 RBI. Still, he only had 315 homers and 981 RBI in his career while hitting .253. Sorry, Jeromy, you don't make it.
Brian Jordan, OF. Jordan was a fairly good player. He also started 31 NFL games for the Falcons. Sadly, being a fairly good player doesn't make you eligible for the Hall. Neither does hitting 184 homers or hitting .282.
Ruben Sierra, OF/DH. Oh, Ruben. You came into the league with such promise. Then your ego got ahold of you. The Rangers once traded Jose Canseco for him, when both players were considered to be among the best in the game. The Yankees traded Danny Tartabull to the A's for Sierra, got sick of Sierra's attitude and flipped him in 1996 for Cecil Fielder. The Yankees won the World Series and Sierra famously quipped that he didn't like Joe Torre because all he cared about was winning. Wow. Ruben changed organizations a whopping 16 times, including 3 times with the Rangers and twice with the Yankees. His career numbers of .268, 306 homers, and 1,322 RBI are not worthy of a Hall election, especially after 20 seasons in the Bigs. He will best be remembered for changing his attitude and becoming a good bat off the bench for the Yankees in early to mid-2000's.
Brad Radke, P, Twins. Radke was a decent pitcher. However, he was also an unlucky one. He led the league three times...in losses once (16 in 2000) and home runs surrendered twice (32 in 1995 and 40 in 1996). Those kind of distinctions are not exactly Hall material. Radke did win 20 games once, in 1997 and played for the Twins when they were awful. Still, you can't sport a 4.22 career ERA into any Hall, let alone the Hall of Fame. It also doesn't help when you averaged almost a home run given up per start, 326 in 378 games.
Terry Mulholland, P. Terry helped the Phillies to the 1993 World Series. You know, the one where Joe Carter showed Mitch Williams what to do with his fastball? Terry was a mediocre starting pitcher. But, because he was lefty was able to carve out a 20 year career with 15 teams. Finished with a 124-142 win/loss record and a 4.41 ERA. Ummm, sorry Terry.
Javy Lopez, C. Lopez was an excellent hitting catcher. He was even a 3x All-Star, something not many first year eligible players can say this go-around. He even drove in 100 runs twice in his career! At least he can say he was a good player and has a World Series ring to show for it.
Bill Mueller, 3B. When your career is only 11 years long it either says you suffered a catastrophic injury or you were mediocre. I'm not even sure which category he falls in. He did win a batting title in 2003, never made an All-Star game, but did help Boston win their first World Series in 86 years. So, there's that.
Phil Nevin, 1B/3B/OF. I was amazed to find out he made an All-Star game (2001 as a Padre) and he did hit 41 homers once (also 2001). His career numbers of .270, 208 homers, and 743 RBI are nice enough to make you a few million dollars over the course of a career but that's it.
Tim Salmon, OF. Started his career off right, winning the Rookie of the Year in 1993. He then finished in the top ten for MVP twice (he finished 7th both times in 1995 and 1997) in his first five years in the league. Then the injuries started. From 1998 until his retirement in 2006, Salmon would play in over 150 games only once (158 in 2000). He missed the entire 2005 season as well. He was a very good player who never made an All-Star team, never led the league in anything and finished 1 homer shy of 300. He was a good player, one I wouldn't mind roaming the corner on my team. If he had stayed healthy he might actually garner some interest but alas...
Tony Womack, 2B (sort of). Womack might be most famous for driving in the game-tying run in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. I was shocked to learn he made an All-Star team but then I saw it was with the Pirates back when I was the second best player on the Pirates and I never played baseball professionally. Womack did lead the league in triples once (14 in 2000) and stolen bases three times (1997-1999). So umm, yeah, at least he made $4 million from the Yankees for only hitting .249 and driving in only 15 runs while hitting 0 homers but he did steal 27 bases. Sorry, Tony, but you need to buy a ticket to visit the Hall.
Eric Young, 2B. He was a very good player and had some wheels on him. Unfortunately, when you are a base stealer you don't want to lead the league in caught stealing more than stolen bases (2 to 1). Still, Young was a nice player and there isn't much else to say about him.
So, ummm, wow. A player needs at least 5% of the vote to get on the next year's ballot and I think Bernie should get that. He was an excellent player on one of the best teams in baseball. That will count for something but not enough to allow him entry into the Hall of Fame but he should get his own plaque out there in Monument Park. He also plays a mean classical guitar.
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