Posted on 01/06/2015 6:53:02 AM PST by PROCON
NEW YORK (AP) — Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz appear to be shoo-ins for election to the Hall of Fame in what is shaping up as the baseball writers' biggest class of inductees in 60 years.
When the Hall of Fame reveals the results Tuesday at 2 p.m. on the MLB Network, holdover Craig Biggio and perhaps Mike Piazza could join those three first-ballot pitchers who were utterly dominant in a hitters' era of artificially bulging statistics.
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I was fortunate enough to see Randy Johnson's first no-hitter with the Mariners against the Detroit Tigers in June of 1990.
Very exciting.
Very fortunate to have gotten to see Pedro pitch in some rarefied air. Outside of baseball, he is also a great man, building a church, school, and homes in his hometown.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/sports/baseball/23pedro.html?_r=0
Priceless quote on the curse of the Bambino:
“I don’t believe in damn curses,” Pedro Martinez famously declared. “Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I’ll drill him in the ass.”
Randy Johnson’s single most memorable pitch was when he accidentally vaporized a bird.
Pedro will always be remembered for pushing down old man Zimmerman.
Only by turds in the punchbowl like you. And who’s Zimmerman?
Even Don Zimmer doesn’t agree with you. Go back under your rock.
From the N.Y. Daily News:
ZIM TAKES BLAME: Don Zimmer had two words for Martinez’s stated contention last night that their fight in Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS was “a disgrace for baseball” and that it was all Zimmer’s fault: No kidding. “I said it myself the next day in a press conference,” Zimmer said by phone from St. Petersburg. “I told the whole world I was wrong and that I was embarrassed by what I’d done and I apologized for it. I was definitely wrong and Pedro didn’t do nothing. I told the whole world that, even though the Yankees didn’t want me to hold a press conference because they were afraid I might say something to stir things up more.”
That’s called being a class act on Zimmer’s part, unlike Pedro. He was a classless jerk throughout his career. He may do great things off the field, and a tip of the hat to him. The list of people who acted less dignified than him on the field and in the media is a short one.
Have to think Pedro and Johnson are locks. If Biggio and Smoltz get in this year also it would help to start clearing out the logjam. Tim Raines probably deserves it but I don’t think it is likely at this point.
Freegards
Envy is ugly. How’s the view from your glass house?
“Pedro will always be remembered for pushing down old man Zimmerman [sic].”
Yes. it’s true.
I always think of him pushing down Zimmer.
I think Piazza is the most interesting question.
No doubt the greatest hitting catcher of all time.
But, despite never being caught or even implicated, the idea he used PED’s has kept him out so far.
Guilt by association with an era.
It’s funny, when I found out Randy Johnson was eligible for the HOF, I had to watch the video of that bird being obliterated. Just the possibility that a bird could be in that spot in that split second is pretty astounding.
It was easy for Pedro and Clemens to play the tough guy in the American League where THEY never had to face possible retaliation.
Then there was the one versus John Kruk in the All-Star Game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYXTV51GdUs
Whitey Herzog on coke and the Expos:http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=x7daAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f1kDAAAAIBAJ&dq=whitey-herzog%20cocaine&pg=6447%2C3503269
If someone doesn’t want to vote for him for that, I wouldn’t argue.
Freegards
Biggio getting in a over Piaza is a travesty. Biggio was nothing special, did nothing in the post season and Piaza’s numbers are better. That Edgar Martinez is not already in is also a travesty. He was the best designated hitter that ever played and the designated hitter award is named the
Edgar Martinez Award. Now go figure out why he’s not in the hall, when his numbers are better than many that are in.
Piazza’s numbers started going down, not up when he hit 35 years of age. Biggio on the other hand started hitting better after the age of 35. Now tell me which one was probably on roids.
Very good point.
Same pattern for Bonds and McGwire.
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