Really there is no debate. Rafael Palmeiro is absolutely a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. Take a look at his career stats. He is one of only four players in the history of baseball to have 3000 hits and 500 home runs. The others are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Eddie Murray. That’s pretty good company.
I was flipping between NPR and ESPN radio when I heard the guy subbing for Mike & Mike arguing that Rafael Palmiero should not be a first-ballot HOF’er and you can make an argument that he shouldn’t be in at all. What? Is he crazy?
Basically the argument was that Palmeiro has never lead his league in any major category (home runs, RBI, etc…) and that he hasn’t won any MVP awards or contributed to his team’s post-season success. It was said that Palmeiro was just a B+ player for an A+ length of time. That is a load of crap. Raf has hit as many as 47 homers and driven in as many as 148 runs in a season. Those are A numbers to me.
Because he played for the Orioles and the Rangers he never had “big market” exposure like players from Chicago, LA, or New York might get. If the Cubs had traded Mark Grace instead of Palmeiro way back when, no one would be arguing about Raf’s Hall of Fame status. I think the Cubs definitely traded the wrong player.
Generally a Hall of Fame player is the most dominant player at his particular position during his era. While this is not necessarily true for Palmeiro, it can also be said that because he came into his own during the “steroid era” of baseball and wasn’t one of the “monsters” like Sosa, Bonds, or McGwire, that he was somewhat overlooked as well. His numbers were great during the 90’s but not overly inflated like those aforementioned players.
Any way you slice it, Rafael Palmerio deserves to be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. My question for all of you is what other current players will be HOF’ers? I have my list and would like to know yours.
Listeners, I do not discriminate against any genres of music. Be forewarned.
MP3 | Ghengis Tron – Laser Bitch Cloak Of Love EP
MP3 | The Mountain Goats – This Year The Sunset Tree
The guy was mediocre without the juice. Defense was ordinary. Yeah, I put him in the Hall, but his numbers are an unsult to the guys who really great players who did it without the needle. BTW, has anyone noticed that Sammy has 9 HR and 29 RBI in almost 300 AB?
I think it speaks volumes of our culture when they ignore definite 1st ballot HOFs because they didn’t do anything flashy or attention-grabbing.
Palmeiro’s been solid throughout his career, and has achieved something that only HOFs have achieved: the whole hits/HRs shebang.
Instead, people want to see a 5-year flash-in-the-pan-type guy instead of a 19-year career of consistency.
.289 BA
.371 OBP
567 HR
1827 RBI
3007 H
The nutty thing is his K-to-BB ratio.
In 10405 ABs, he walked 1339 times and struck out 1339 times. Considering someone like Adam Dunn has struck out half that amount (663) in a fifth of the at-bats (2029) shows that Palmeiro had a batting eye and a quality that few players could match.
Oops, I meant Palmeiro walked 1344 times and struck out 1339 times in those 10405 ABs. To have those numbers so close is INSANE.
woah! that Ghengis Tron track is pretty good. At first I thought that it would remain electro all the way through and then it got all Mr. Bungle on me! Sweet! Super contrast to The Mountain Goats ^_^.
JT – I’m right with you there. I think that the whole Palmeiro debate is actually pretty typical of our society in general. Nothing is noticed unless it is sensational. I could go on…
Silent K – Thanks. I will be sure ot keep checking out FMGT.
No juice, no stats for Sammy. OK. But comparing him to Palmiero is ludicrous.