Palmeiro and the Hall of Fame
In today's Post, Joel Sherman says that he would not have voted for Palmeiro even before Rafy flunked the steroids test. This is because Palmeiro lacked " greatness and dominance " ....he was " very good for a long period of time " but was never " truly great " .
That's correct. Sherman gives the example of Don Sutton, a good but not great pitcher who was erroneously voted into the Hall in 1998. Like Palmeiro,Sutton was simply not great --he was good for many years, and put up big cumulative numbers. Sutton won 20 games exactly once in a 23 year career. He was one of the good pitchers during his time, but noone would ever have thought him to be one of the top four or five at any point in that career.
As a hitter, Palmeiro could never have been compared to Mike Piazza, Vlad Guerrero, fellow consumers Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa ; or with fellow-consuming first basemen Mark McGwire ; in my books I would put Don Mattingly ahead of him.
When you factor in the drugginess, and how it has completely washed away his " accomplishments ", this guy cannot honestly be considered for anyone's Hall of Fame, unless maybe we start up a Balco Hall of Fame.
That's correct. Sherman gives the example of Don Sutton, a good but not great pitcher who was erroneously voted into the Hall in 1998. Like Palmeiro,Sutton was simply not great --he was good for many years, and put up big cumulative numbers. Sutton won 20 games exactly once in a 23 year career. He was one of the good pitchers during his time, but noone would ever have thought him to be one of the top four or five at any point in that career.
As a hitter, Palmeiro could never have been compared to Mike Piazza, Vlad Guerrero, fellow consumers Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa ; or with fellow-consuming first basemen Mark McGwire ; in my books I would put Don Mattingly ahead of him.
When you factor in the drugginess, and how it has completely washed away his " accomplishments ", this guy cannot honestly be considered for anyone's Hall of Fame, unless maybe we start up a Balco Hall of Fame.
