Andre Dawson elected to Major League Baseball Hall of fame

CNN/SI ^ | Wednesday January 6, 2010 | AP

[Huck]

To each his own. From my perspective, borderline means “not in.” Why put em in? Why not leave the hall to the true greats about whom there is no doubt? Why put Jim Rice in the same building as Ted Williams? He doesn’t belong there. Rice to me is like Mattingly, or Puckett, or Al Oliver, or any number of very good players who were hall of fame good for a couple of years, but not hall of fame players.

[Charles Henrickson]

I'm happy for the Hawk. This is his day, a time to celebrate the complete player and class act he was. Of course, being a Cubs' fan, I'm partial.

BTW, the current player who reminds me most of Andre Dawson is Vlad Guerrero: Started out with Expos, complete five-tool player, developed bad knees.

I would not object to Alomar (clear HOFer), Blyleven (all those shutouts), Larkin (superb overall SS), Raines (overshadowed by Henderson), Morris (big-game pitcher puts him over), and even Smith (many multi-inning saves with inherited runners, unlike the cheap saves of today) getting in. The next two years, with weak classes coming up, is the time to do it.

Trammell, close, but no cigar. Martinez, no way; the "best DH" argument doesn't sway me, and besides, that would be Frank Thomas, the *only* DH with overwhelming enough stats to make up for being half a player.

[Huck]

He's borderline, and IMHO, if you're borderline, you're out.

Damn straight! Definitely agree with you. Blyleven was like Mike Mussina. A very good pitcher for a decent number of years, but not Hall of Fame good. The complete games are nice, but that's how the games were played back then. I don't get why people want to mess around with so-called borderline guys. Let the veteran's committee deal with that when their turn comes up. For the voters, it's very very easy to tell a Hall of Famer from a hall of famer.

Let me demonstrate:

Randy Johnson: Hall of Famer

Bert Blyleven: Um, can I see his stats, er---bzzzzt. No.

Greg Maddux: Hall of Famer

Mike Mussina: Um, he was very good, er---bzzzzt. No.

Rickey Henderson: Hall of Famer.

Tim Raines: Well, if you look at total bases, and outs, and---bzzzt. No.

If Andre Dawson is in, I guess that means Fred McGriff will get in, which is ridiculous. Why not put in Dave Kingman while you're at it? Then again, Willie Stargell probably didn't belong either.

To sum up, here's what a list of modern hall of famers looks like:

Randy Johnson
Greg Maddux
RIckey Henderson

Here's what a list of also-rans looks like:

Bert Blyleven
Mike Mussina
Tim Raines

[Former Dodger]

Good point, I can live with that.

[Impy]

Congrats to Dawson. The case against him can be made (OBP will be the lowest in the hall for hitters). I’m too biased because he was a Cub to be objective though. ;D

Alomar definitely deserves it. It’s a joke he didn’t get in. I never liked this “first ballot” stuff. Either you deserve it or not. The voting process should be changed.

I’d have voted for Bert Blyleven too.

That clown Jay Mariotti brags he voted for no one. His ballot should be taken away.

[darkangel82]

If you’re making up an all-90s All-Star team, Alomar’s definitely on there. But that’s all he has in his favor. He was a great ballplayer, but a lousy human being otherwise. I wonder what cap Dawson will wear when he is inducted.

[Impy]

I was gonna say I hope it’s a Cubs cap. Thanks to those allegations (Wade Boggs and the Devil Rays) it’s not up to him.