The Disgrace of the Kirby Puckett HOF Selection

[He Hate Me]

My opinion exactly. IF you use Puckett as a barometer, the Hall of Fame itself becomes less significant because anyone can get in.

 

Mattingly and Rice were good players but not HOF worthy. Same with Puckett.

 

That's exactly my point. I loved Donnie Baseball, but he justw asn't healthy enough to warant a HOF induction IMO. To add insult on top of Kirby's pedestrian stats, he was a first balloter. Total disgrace to the HOF.

[ARod2212]

Puckett getting in drives me nuts with Mattingly sitting on the outside. He was surefire before his back went out on him. Still a Gold Glove and MVP player in his career, and hopefully will land his World Series title this year.

[Sox Fan on Cape]

well lets see. never did tony ever hit .300 in a season. only once did he knock in 100 runs. he never won a gold glove. granted he never played as long as puckett but his injury was unfortunate. puckett already had much better stats by the time his eyesight went. they were near hall stats and had his eyesight not gone he was rewarded as a hall of famer since he would have attained the 3000 hits. puckett was a consistent player during his 12 seasons while guys like tony c and mattingly were not. they had bad years due to injury and hung around. had puckett hung around for say 3-4 seasons more and his stats took a significant dip the writers would have looked at him much differently.

Take a look at his stats before he got beamed. Also factor in that it was a different era , higher mound, juiced ball, etc. But that's not my point. My point is he was a rising star till he got hurt with all the potential in the world. But its performance that should be the criteria for Hall induction not potential. This is why Tony C. didn't get in, and Kirby should either.

[26 to 6]

I dont think the writers vote either Mattingly or Rice in, but hopefully the veterans committee does when their eligible.

[jsinger121]

rice has the best chance in 2 years to get along with goose gossage. even if rice doesn't get in then i believe the veteran's committee will vote him in because they voted in similar players like cepeda and tony perez. as for mattingly i dont even think the veterans committee will vote him in

[Bruce]

Puckett is constantly used as justification for other undeserving HOFers. None of Mattingly, Rice, or Puckett should be in the hall of fame, but the idea that Puckett should get more credit for an eye problem than Mattingly should for a back problem is hard to justify.

[HeadOfSoxNation]

I'm a huge JR fan...couldn't stand Mattingly, but it's actually good to see neither of them in, at least in my opinion. I can't stand players that are borderline HOFers getting in. My dad and I have this discussion and everytime we end up with the same conclusion...'If ther'es any discussion as to weather or not a guy is a HOFer, then he's not.' It's about time that the bar get raised, cause I was scared to death that the bar wasn't going to be raised and we'd see guys like Jeff Kent, Jose Canseco, Albert Belle, and etc getting in.

 

While we're on the topic of ******** HOFers...how about Bill Maz??

[jsinger121]

he was a veteran's commitee selection so the writers never put him in.

[thesplinter]

What about the press that votes players into the hall, and the relationship that Jim Rice has with them. The press has no love for Jim Rice and the members of the press that covered The Red Sox during Rice's playing days should recuse themselves from the vote. Then maybe Jim Rice will get a FAIR vote.