Posted on 01/22/2019 3:37:35 PM PST by DFG
Longtime New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera became the first player to ever be voted unanimously into the Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday, joining former Yankees and Baltimore Orioles ace Mike Mussina, the late Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay and former Seattle Mariners designated hitter Edgar Martinez.
Rivera, who holds the record for most saves all-time and won five World Series championships, made it into Cooperstown on his first try as did Halladay, who died in a 2017 plane crash.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Schilling got 60%
Bonds 59.1
Unbelievable
I guess we need a lower bar for Blacks and a higher bar for Conservatives.
Yep - one of the greats.
Congratulations Mr. Rivera!
Questionable whether relievers even should be considered for the Hall of Fame - much less unanimously.
My trip to the baseball HOF is on hold until Bonds, Clemens, and Schilling are voted in.
They’re not booing, they’re shouting MOOOOOOOS! Good times. I hate all professional sports. Bunch of losers and SJWs. But I love reminiscing.
It’s not a question to HOF voters, who have put a number of relievers in already.
Never heard of any of these guys.
The first class included Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. Certainly the greatest bunch.
Ty Cobb was only 4 votes shy of being unanimous and Babe Ruth 11. Those 4 and 11 voters should be ashamed of themselves.
Happy for Rivera.
Way to go!
Bonds has the steroid issue lingering over his head. However, I think his bigger problem is that he treated the media like trash (and rightfully so!). I used to crack up when he’d treat an idiot reporter/broadcaster like garbage (like Tim McCarver for example ... ask stupid questions, win stupid prizes).
Barry deserves the HoF ... the man is one of the all time greats. I don’t think he started juicing until MLB started heaping is praise on McGuire and Sosa after the 1998 season. While that doesn’t condone his choices, MLB didn’t seem to care about steroids at the time.
Well, with Bonds and Clemens, you get into the whole steroid/performance enhancing drug debate.
There have always been arguments about why is so and so in the Hall of Fame, yet someone else, allegedly a better player, is not enshrined.
Most overrated Hall of Famer? Joe DiMaggio. Don’t get me started on the NY press blowing sunshine about his personal life either.
Mariano Rivera deserved to be voted in the first time he was eligible. But unanimously? He’s greater than Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Sandy Koufax, and Nolan Ryan?
If the cheater, “Steroid Bonds”, gets in the HoF...
...then Pete Rose deserves to be in the HoF - THE greatest hitter of all time.
Pete never took steroids.
HoF is NOT a part of MLB.
I was watching “You Bet Your Life” and Groucho had Casey Stengel on the show. They talked baseball for a while and it was clear that Marx really knew his baseball.
Groucho asked him who was the greatest player ever and Stengel replied, “Ty Cobb, no one else was even close”. Groucho agreed then asked him how Cobb would do against modern pitchers. ‘He would hit around 270” That is not that great said Groucho. “Well you have to remember that Cobb is in his 70s”.
After 11 tries, Edgar Martinez finally gets in. IMHO, it’s about ( expletive deleted) time!
You're going to see plenty of more relievers getting into the HOF, since the role of the relief pitcher has gotten so much more important as the dominance of starters has declined.
Mussina really surprises me in this group. He put up good numbers over a long career, but I don't think he was ever considered a dominant pitcher -- let alone one of the best in the major leagues -- at any time in his career.
Unfortunately, the induction of Harold Baines into the HOF is an acknowledgement by the voters that 20% of the players who were in the big leagues for at least 10 years could conceivably end up in the Hall of Fame.
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