On Monday, Jesse Orosco, above, became the latest one-vote recipient. He lasted 24 years as a left-handed reliever, and he won two World Series rings. Which, of course, is two more than Jim Rice ever won and he got into the Hall on Monday with 412 votes.
NYTimes
Now, I'm not as anti-Jim Rice as I probably should be. I'm young enough that I wasn't paying attention to baseball as his career wound down.
But I do think it's odd that his OPS+ is 1 point away from a certain Gold Glove 1B. Rice took 1200 extra ABs to collect 300 extra hits. If I ran a poll, most people couldn't correctly separate their AVG/OBP/SLG lines.
Yes, traditionalists, Rice collected 350 more RBI, but he managed to strike out 1000, count them, 1000 more times than a certain mustached man from the Bronx.
76% vs. 12%.
It just doesn't seem right.
9 months ago
jscape2000
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give it up
Rice is a fairly undeserving candidate. and he’s still more deserving than Donnie baseball. and the reasons for his unqualification (not a very long career relative to a only marginallly good rate for a HOFer) is even more true in Donnie baseball.
by RollingWave on Jan 13, 2009 8:45 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Orosco?
Looking at his stats he was an above average reliever. Why was he even on the ballot? I respect the longevity but seriously.
by sdhman11 on Jan 13, 2009 9:26 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Rice is deserving
The Hall is loaded with guys who probably don’t belong. But I’m old enough to remember when Jim Rice stepped to the plate at Yankee Stadium the place fell eerily silent because of a collective sense his bat was going to end the game. Rice was easily the most feared hitter of his day—and he did it naturally.
Perhaps he didn’t last as long as some sluggers, but his numbers are deserving—especially considering some who are already there.
"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will
by Ronster22 on Jan 13, 2009 9:45 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Two marginal candidates
Rice got in on his last shot. Scooter got in as an oldtimer. I have hope for Donny.
If I's known I was going to live so long, I'd have taken better care of myself. Casey
by Cbeck3 on Jan 13, 2009 9:47 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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