Which one player is most HoF deserving in 2006?

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I have a gut feeling only one player will be elected to the HOF today. Which one player most deserves it?

Gossage
Sutter
Rice
Byleven

[trosmok]

None of the above

Blyleven may be the most deserving of the ones you've listed, Sutter and Gossage should come mighty close, again. Rice is rather enigmatic, with no real strong arguments for or against his inclusion. The player most deserving of induction into the Hall of Fame is Andre Dawson.

[The Dude]

Of the 4 listed, Gossage. He's the 3rd greatest reliever behind Wilhelm and Rivera, and deserves to be in this year.

[Captain Cold Nose]

I expect Blyleven to make up the greatest ground from last year. The only thing I see voters holding against him is his 250 losses and lower winning percentage. Minus the magic 300 wins, he takes a back seat in voters minds to 300 game winners like Sutton, Perry and Niekro who also had to wait a couple seasons. Which is very unfortunate and hopefully he has enough time to make up for his poor start in the voting.

In terms of being relative to their positions, Gossage and Sutter are closer to the top then Blyleven or Rice. Is a top-5 reliever (based on voting results and not counting present-day players) more deserving than a guy who conservatively ranks in the 30's all time as a starter, with good arguments for a higher ranking than that? With a constantly changing reliever role where players usually don't have long-term success, probably not.

My order, based on general impressions and observations throughout their careers (I was there) of who's most deserving:

Blyleven
Sutter
Gossage
Rice.

Wrong or not, Sutter was regarded a being a stonger reliever (not by much) while in direct competition. Gossage would take a back seat to Quisenberry, fo example, for a couple years in that regard while Sutter was considered as good while Quiz and his submarine delivery were earning raves. Which is probably why he's doing better (besides being on the ballot a few years longer) than Gossage at this point. I don't believe Sutter was pulling 55% of the ballot 7 years in.

Rice was a very good player who for a few years was one of the most feared hitters in the A.L. 2008 is his last year on the ballot. I expect the same to happen to him as Orlando Cepeda.

[KCGHOST]

Blyleven is a clear choice to me. My nose tells me that no one is going to be elected.

[Baseball Guru]

I think Blyleven is the most deserving but I have a funny feeling that Sutter and Goose may make it in....

[Dontworry]

I voted for Bert, he's easily a better Pitcher than HOF pitchers like nolan ryan, and jim bunning, and pretty close to tom seaver.

Jim rice, he's a joke, Product of fenway, I would rather see Tim Raines Inducted into the HOF before this loser, Or dwight Evans.

[hudsonharden]

Orel Hershiser

[Mattingly]

In case anyone hasn't noticed, there's a better forum for this. It's called the HoF forum, so I'm booting it here, from CE.

Enjoy, and please continue the excellent discussion!

[J W]

Well I obviously think Bruce Sutter is most deserving.

[runningshoes]

In case anyone hasn't noticed, there's a better forum for this. It's called the HoF forum, so I'm booting it here, from CE.

Enjoy, and please continue the excellent discussion!

I wonder if it is a better forum at the annoucement time of the inductions?

It's quite current, is it not?

If this thread had been started a month ago or a month after the announcement I would agree with you.

[[email protected]]

Will Clark and Bert Blyleven were the two most deserving IMO

[Mattingly]

I wonder if it is a better forum at the annoucement time of the inductions?

It's quite current, is it not?

If this thread had been started a month ago or a month after the announcement I would agree with you.

Debatable, but to me, if a thread starts out about the Hall of Fame, I'd prefer that it be in the forum dedicated to this.

If it's a mere reference to the HoF, such as a Palmeiro discussion about his future, etc, then obviously I'd leave it under CE.

Please PM me with any further questions about this. Thanks.

[Mattingly]

I have a gut feeling only one player will be elected to the HOF today. Which one player most deserves it?

Gossage
Sutter
Rice
Byleven

Do you want Will Clark's name added to the poll?

BTW, I changed "What" to "Which" on both the thread title and poll.

[Chisox]

I voted for Bert, he's easily a better Pitcher than HOF pitchers like nolan ryan, and jim bunning, and pretty close to tom seaver.

I don't think Bly is "easily" a better pitcher than Ryan. I got Ryan "easily" ahead. I got Bly ahead of Bunning and a lot of others already in, though. Close to Seaver????

Jim rice, he's a joke, Product of fenway, I would rather see Tim Raines Inducted into the HOF before this loser, Or dwight Evans.

On that I agree. Evans I think should be in. Raines I wouldn't feel about either way, but he's in mine. Rice was a product of his park. A Loser?

BTW
I added Will Clark and Other options to the poll.