Any thoughts on who belongs from this years ballot and who does not? We got 3 on the top of the list in Bruce Sutter, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg.:confused: Boggs......3000+ career hits is a first ballot inductee if history is any indicator. I think he belongs in there. Sutter...I am pretty sure that he retired leading in saves all time and was the first reliever with over 300 saves for a career.....played with some good teams, dominated as a reliever in his era.....I think he is in.:D Sandberg....1984 MVP...great power hitting second baseman...also dominated at his position in his era and has been passed over 3 times already....I think this is his time and he belongs in there.:D

Darkhorse and belongs in in my opinion....Jim Rice....been passed over 10 times already and he WAS the most feared hitter of his era.....16 seasons, .298 career avg. 382 career homers....1978 MVP award winner....he has better than Cepeda numbers and he is in.;)

I know MikeP is out there lurking somewhere!:D

I am also in favor of putting Roger Maris in the Hall! Class guy, short career.....9 years I think....2 MVP awards-back to back in an era when the majors were, in my opinion, loaded with the best power hitters ever not to mention the best pitching ever! Won championships in New York and St. Louis....had a great glove.....one of the best right fielders ever with a rifle arm....272 homers I think in 9 years....not shabby at all.;)

Discussion...conjecture?:confused:

Mike P....I only read about him....tell us about Roger Maris having seen him play please.:D

Which hat will Boggs wear in the Hall ??????? is what I'm looking to see.

I bet Yankees!:yak: It will have to be a big hat though to fit his big head!:smash:

Maris was all you said. If anything, he was a better fielder than a hitter. However--but for 61 in '61, he wouldn't be under HOF consideration. Lack of longievity is the major reason. He only hit 30+ in two other seasons (the two bracketing 61) and those 3 years were also the only ones in which he had more than 100 rbi. His career avg is something like .260 or thereabouts. You can't make the Hall off 3 seasons.

I remember him more as a Cardinal than a Yankee--I was only 8 in 1961.

He had a great Series against the Sox in 67, but otherwise, he was a postseason bust. Played in 7 WS in his career. Avg around the Mendoza Line, only 6 dingers, 21 strikeouts.

Boggs is a no-brainer. Sutter should go in as one of the best relievers of his era. Dunno about Sandberg.

Rice made too many enemies among the baseball writers. He may have to wait for the Veterans' Committee to vote him in. Plus, there's this prevailing opinion among many older Sox fans that he was a monster at the plate when the Sox were up 8-3, but was a K or Mr. 6-4-3 with runners on first and second and less than 2 out in a tie game ;)

Boggs will wear a Red Sox hat. The players don't decide, the Hall of fame does.

I have heard that arguement about Rice for years Mike P and you know what....its lame!:smash: (I am not attacking you, just the reason....and I agree with you that that is why) I believe anyone who is not voting for Rice because he did not play nice off the field with the media should have his voting privilages revoked!:af: Are we not voting him into the Hall Of Fame based on what he did between the lines?:smash: I did not know that "How you treat the media" was a consideration when voting for these guys!:smash:

The writers do "payback"--no question about it. One Boston writer refused to vote for Williams just to deny him a unanimous first-ballot election :huh:

There's no other logical explanation for Rice not being in there---every radio sports talk show in NY is baffled by the lack of respect Rice gets up there, every time the issue comes up.

I was a bit young when Rice played I do remember seeing him play but don't understand his media problem:huh: What exactly was the problem?

Originally posted by Vectorfisher
I was a bit young when Rice played I do remember seeing him play but don't understand his media problem:huh: What exactly was the problem?

I really hate to say it---but I think a lot of it was racial. Rice came along when Boston was in the throes of the busing thing, and he was depicted by the media as one of those surly "uppity" African Americans. I don't even like writing stuff like that, but I think a lot of the locals and writers saw him in those terms. Tiant was the loveable, cigar-chomping whirling dervish (and being Cuban he really wasn't "black" in the eyes of a lot of the locals), the Boomer was an affable boob, Cecil Cooper was a quiet, unassuming guy. Rice had attitude. Boston back then couldn't stomach an African American with such a strong personality. I think Rice fully realized why he wasn't as beloved as some of the rest of the Sox and it affected the way he interacted with the writers and fans.

Bill Russell, to this day, doesn't command a quarter of the affection Boston fans have for Larry Bird, even tho he has almost 4 times the rings Bird has. I think Russell only came back for various Celtic functions as a favor to Red.

Jim Rice came up the same time as Fred Lynn too. Fred seemed like more of the favorite around here as he had good offensive and better defensive skills. Dewey Evans was also an exceptional defensive player and Jim Rice seemed to take some knocks as not being able to get it done in the field the same way as Lynn and Evans. Rice seemed like kind of a quiet guy and the press took that as aloofness. I'm not sure I could put up with all the questions from the press either as skillfully as say .. BILL LEE
:D :laughs:

They just showed Boggs at an interview and he was wearing a Hall of Fame hat. There was no team designation.

I think Rice is a border line hall of famer!
I may be wrong, but I think he leads the Sox all time for hit into double plays!!!:smash:

Mickey Mantle holds many strikeout victim records....:eek: should we banish him from the Hall Of Fame?:smash:

Originally posted by BigFish
Mickey Mantle holds many strikeout victim records....:eek: should we banish him from the Hall Of Fame?:smash:

He hit 536 home runs and 298 life time batting average :smash:

I think Margo should give the induction speach for Boggs!:laughs:

Hey Sexaholicism is a disease, damn insensitive Raiders fans.

Seems like Rice always was in someone's shadow. He and Lynn were rookies together in 75. They called them the Golddust Twins. Until Rice broke his wrist getting hit by a pitch, their stats were pretty close (and many think Rice's getting hurt cost them the Series). But Lynn had the picturebook swing, and glided effortlessly in the field--he drew comparisons to Joe D, in fact. If I remember right, they moved Yaz to first most games and had Cooper DH, and maybe displacing the Captain as the left fielder also was a sore spot with fans.

The ironic thing was that Rice went out there every day most of his career, and Lynn later developed the reputation of sitting out if he had a hangnail :laughs:

Even in his monster year of 78, it seems to me that guys like Burleson, Hobson and Fisk got more, and better, ink than Rice.

1978 was Rices year Mike and he got all the credit deserved him!:D What a great season he had that year....406 total bases, the first to do so in quite a few decades I believe.;)

I caught one of Rice's balls out in the bleachers in 78, I was a freshman in college then. I still have the ball He was the MAN. I hope he makes it.

From your lips to Gods ear Bruce....he was truely a great player!:D

Met Rice in a parking lot at a golf course when I was about 15... he seemed nice enough then :D

Originally posted by Slipknot
I caught one of Rice's balls out in the bleachers in 78, I was a freshman in college then. I still have the ball He was the MAN. I hope he makes it.

Me and a buddy of mine in HS went to a game where he managed to get a Jim Rice HR ball.

His kid brother needed one to play catch w/ one day and took that one....then proceded to lose it down the sewer.

I think that kid is still running today:D