Skip Bayless and the Hall...
Skip Bayless's contributions on to why the Hall of Fame shouldn't admit Rafael Palmeiro were among the most bogus ideas I've ever heard...
Let's break ol' Skip's argument down to why he feels Raffy ain't a HOFer...
1) "He wasn't one of the dominant players of his era."
2) "Palmeiro is nothing more than a very good player who has benefited from being a left-handed hitter in bandbox ballparks, Camden Yards and Ameriquest Field in Arlington, featuring right-field jet streams."
3) It's possible he used steroids.
4) He was never a league leader, and he only made four All-Star teams.
5) He doesn't have transcendent greatness, immortality, and all that other stuff.
Skip claims Palmeiro wasn't one of the dominant players of his era quite erroneously; for one thing, he completely ignores the depth of AL First Base during Palmeiro's prime. During Palmeiro's prime (the 1990s), there were a number of first basemen who had dominant stretches, hindering Palmeiro's chances at All-Star balloting. Among these included 2-time MVP Frank Thomas, 50-HR fan favorite Cecil Fielder, 1993 batting champ (and 2-time WS champ) John Olerud, 1995 MVP Mo Vaughn, Carlos Delgado, MVPs Giambi and runner-up Tino Martinez, and others. Put it this way, we're not dealing with Ozzie Smith syndrome here, where you could just arbitrarily make All-Star teams by showing up. Palmeiro had the possibility of getting snubbed pretty much every year, and he was, frequently.
Palmeiro also played almost every game every year, which made him quite unique among the players in this list. He also had nine consecutive seasons of 100 RBI or more. That's pretty dominant. Or, if you like, you can look at his .889 career OPS as a measure of his "greatness."
While Palmeiro did benefit from Texas and Baltimore's ballparks, he also spent a portion of his career in old Arlington Stadium, where he hit home runs, and is still hitting home runs today. He could probably play next year, and he'll probably hit home runs next year. And he might play every game.
Bayless also used an argument that Palmeiro's home runs shot up from 22 to 37 from 1992 to 1993, which is when Canseco claimed that he introduced Raffy to steroids. But Palmeiro hit 26 home runs in 1991... where was the juice? Also, expansion occurred in 1993, reducing pitching quantity... so there's not a whole lot that you can say to suggest that Palmeiro was juiced. There were no jumps to 50-70 HRs, for example. Bayless considers Canseco to be credible? That's a joke itself.
Saying that Palmeiro never led the league in anything is sort of meaningless too. If you're going to argue that stats don't matter for greatness, then you can't complain that Palmeiro didn't lead the league in any of the Triple Crown categories... after all, he was in the Top 10 for HRs 11 straight years, RBIs 7 straight years. He also led the league in runs one year, hits in another, and has constantly been one of the consistent hitters.
But I'm still not addressing the major underlying problem with Bayless's reasoning, the idea of true greatness. Skip doesn't see production and durability as a prerequisite for greatness, and would prefer a few years of brilliance over a career of excellence. Hall of Fame players, for Bayless, must truly do everything right. But Palmeiro has. He is one of the last of his kind; you will not see players last into their 40s with the ability he has had. Gone are the near-twenty year players you've seen in the past... here to stay are the few years of brilliance, followed by exorbitant salaries and early retirements.
Palmeiro's career, to me, is very similar to Robin Yount's. Yount never led the league in anything "great." He won two MVPs, but made only 3 All-Star teams. In fact, one could make the case that in 1989, his MVP award was shady at best; his team finished fourth, he wasn't an All-Star, and he still didn't lead the league in anything. Yount only made it to the playoffs twice; he racked up 3000 hits, but only hit .285 in his career. Yount was the face of a franchise; however, that franchise languished for most of his career. But no one dares question his greatness. In the same way, no one should look at Palmeiro's lack of accolades and deduce that he's not great. No one can think that Palmeiro's not a Hall-of-Famer.
Oh, and by the way, Skip left out George Brett on his "no-doubters" list, but Yount made it easily... oh well.
Let's break ol' Skip's argument down to why he feels Raffy ain't a HOFer...
1) "He wasn't one of the dominant players of his era."
2) "Palmeiro is nothing more than a very good player who has benefited from being a left-handed hitter in bandbox ballparks, Camden Yards and Ameriquest Field in Arlington, featuring right-field jet streams."
3) It's possible he used steroids.
4) He was never a league leader, and he only made four All-Star teams.
5) He doesn't have transcendent greatness, immortality, and all that other stuff.
Skip claims Palmeiro wasn't one of the dominant players of his era quite erroneously; for one thing, he completely ignores the depth of AL First Base during Palmeiro's prime. During Palmeiro's prime (the 1990s), there were a number of first basemen who had dominant stretches, hindering Palmeiro's chances at All-Star balloting. Among these included 2-time MVP Frank Thomas, 50-HR fan favorite Cecil Fielder, 1993 batting champ (and 2-time WS champ) John Olerud, 1995 MVP Mo Vaughn, Carlos Delgado, MVPs Giambi and runner-up Tino Martinez, and others. Put it this way, we're not dealing with Ozzie Smith syndrome here, where you could just arbitrarily make All-Star teams by showing up. Palmeiro had the possibility of getting snubbed pretty much every year, and he was, frequently.
Palmeiro also played almost every game every year, which made him quite unique among the players in this list. He also had nine consecutive seasons of 100 RBI or more. That's pretty dominant. Or, if you like, you can look at his .889 career OPS as a measure of his "greatness."
While Palmeiro did benefit from Texas and Baltimore's ballparks, he also spent a portion of his career in old Arlington Stadium, where he hit home runs, and is still hitting home runs today. He could probably play next year, and he'll probably hit home runs next year. And he might play every game.
Bayless also used an argument that Palmeiro's home runs shot up from 22 to 37 from 1992 to 1993, which is when Canseco claimed that he introduced Raffy to steroids. But Palmeiro hit 26 home runs in 1991... where was the juice? Also, expansion occurred in 1993, reducing pitching quantity... so there's not a whole lot that you can say to suggest that Palmeiro was juiced. There were no jumps to 50-70 HRs, for example. Bayless considers Canseco to be credible? That's a joke itself.
Saying that Palmeiro never led the league in anything is sort of meaningless too. If you're going to argue that stats don't matter for greatness, then you can't complain that Palmeiro didn't lead the league in any of the Triple Crown categories... after all, he was in the Top 10 for HRs 11 straight years, RBIs 7 straight years. He also led the league in runs one year, hits in another, and has constantly been one of the consistent hitters.
But I'm still not addressing the major underlying problem with Bayless's reasoning, the idea of true greatness. Skip doesn't see production and durability as a prerequisite for greatness, and would prefer a few years of brilliance over a career of excellence. Hall of Fame players, for Bayless, must truly do everything right. But Palmeiro has. He is one of the last of his kind; you will not see players last into their 40s with the ability he has had. Gone are the near-twenty year players you've seen in the past... here to stay are the few years of brilliance, followed by exorbitant salaries and early retirements.
Palmeiro's career, to me, is very similar to Robin Yount's. Yount never led the league in anything "great." He won two MVPs, but made only 3 All-Star teams. In fact, one could make the case that in 1989, his MVP award was shady at best; his team finished fourth, he wasn't an All-Star, and he still didn't lead the league in anything. Yount only made it to the playoffs twice; he racked up 3000 hits, but only hit .285 in his career. Yount was the face of a franchise; however, that franchise languished for most of his career. But no one dares question his greatness. In the same way, no one should look at Palmeiro's lack of accolades and deduce that he's not great. No one can think that Palmeiro's not a Hall-of-Famer.
Oh, and by the way, Skip left out George Brett on his "no-doubters" list, but Yount made it easily... oh well.
posted by mike at 6:29 PM
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