Not the One I Would Have Chosen, But…

This year I forgot to do a “put Rock on the Rock” post, so I’ll delegate to Neyer and Posnanski (a better idea in any case.) I would like to think that the induction of a Dick Williams-era Expo would have forestalled the need for another one, but…

Because said Expos were the team that made me love baseball, I’m certainly not upset that the Hawk got voted in. As Neyer says, by historical standards, he’s reasonably well-qualified (and was a better player than Jim Rice, inducted last year.) And I would also point out that, while his 1987 MVP was a joke, the Joe Carter-with-an-arm most people remember from Chicago wasn’t his peak form; at his best, he was a good centerfielder with OPS+s from 136 to 157, a genuinely great player, and if his knees had held up for 2-3 more years he’d be a pretty easy selection. The real issue, of course, is context — he clearly wasn’t as good as his teammate Raines, or Alan Trammel, or Barry Larkin. I’d also probably prefer Dale Murphy, who had fewer decent seasons to fill out his career but sustained his as-good-or-better peak for more years. So while I’m fine with Hawk being in, I probably wouldn’t vote for him and certainly think that there are more deserving candidates who have gotten a lot less support.

Needless to say, Alomar getting rejected is a travesty, but presumably that will be rectified next year. And while he didn’t get in Blyleven falling five votes short is probably good news on balance for his eventual (and richly deserved) enshrinement. I’d have liked to see Edgar get a better start but that’s not bad. He shouldn’t be ahead of Raines, who is moving in the right direction but too slowly. I’m not sure whether his 30% or Trammel’s 22% is the bigger outrage; both would be no-brainers in a rational world.