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Blyleven is a tough call, but he just didn't do anything extraordinary enough to make it. Fourth in K's lifetime IS huge, but to me he's lumped in with the group of Jack Morris, Jim Kaat, Tommy John and Luis Tiant: SO close. Betcha he'll eventually make it via the Veteran's committee. Don Sutton would have been in this group if he hadn't made it to 300.

Speaking of benchmarks, it used to be that everyone with 400 HRs made it, but are there others beside Dave Kingman and Darrell Evans who didn't make it? Andre Dawson and Joe Carter are both over 400, I think.

Just checked the 400 HR club: Dawson had 438, he'll get voted in ; Joe Carter had 396, that'll probably keep him out, like Dale Murphy at 398.

Looking to the future, McGriff has 417, he'll probably make it. Palmeiro has 400, he'll end with 500+ (!). But the real tough call will be Canseco, who's at 446. I don't know about him...

Betcha he'll eventually make it via the Veteran's committee. Don Sutton would have been in this group if he hadn't made it to 300.

I figure it's the only way. And that's too bad.

Speaking of benchmarks, it used to be that everyone with 400 HRs made it, but are there others beside Dave Kingman and Darrell Evans who didn't make it? Andre Dawson and Joe Carter are both over 400, I think.

The three "automatics" as I understand them are 500 home runs, 3,000 hits and 300 wins. Dawson had 438 home runs and Carter 396.

I agree with your analysis on Blyleven; he, and Don Sutton, do not belong in theh HOF. The HOF is for the truly outstanding players of the game, not for the ones who were consistent over a long playing time. Neither Blyleven, Sutton, Kaat, Tiant, or John, would have ever been listed as one of the top 5-10 pitchers in any 5 year era they pitched in.

I'd disagree with you on Jack Morris. Morris was considered to be one of the top 5 pitchers in the 1980s and was the top pitcher on three W.S. winners to boot, including his 1991 Game 7 performance. Should be in.

As for the 400 home run hitters, I think that argument can be easily made that Kingman (only 2 100 rbi seasons and .236 lifetime b.a. in 16 years) and Evans (only 1 100 rbi season and a .248 lifetime b.a. in 21 years), are nowhere near the same cateogory as Dawson (5 100 rbi seasons and 8 gold gloves in 21 years) and Carter (10 100 seasons in 16 years). However, that being said, I don't believe that either Carter or Dawson should be in the HOF. Just not good enough overall stats.

Speaking of benchmarks, it used to be that everyone with 400 HRs made it, but are there others beside Dave Kingman and Darrell Evans who didn't make it? Andre Dawson and Joe Carter are both over 400, I think.

Becoming a member of the 400 HR club was a guarantee that a player would have his bronze relief in the Hall. In 1985, that changed when Kingman joined up. After that, the bar was raised to keep him -- and other sub-500's -- out.

What a waste of talent that guy was. I watched him as a rookie with the Giants, and we all thought his progress would soften the blow of trading Willie Mays to the Mets and getting minor league reliever Charlie Williams (whose name might as well have been Jack Squat). Then he started getting cocky. He fell in love with his power, and never thought about anything else -- except that maybe he could be a pitcher, failing miserably (a mistake Canseco made years later).

In between tape-measure homers, the guy was nearly useless. But with his kind of power, there are always people who think they can tinker with him and make him more productive. Kingman constantly proved them wrong.

After Kingman hit his 400th, people would say, "Well, I guess that means Dave is headed for the Hall of Fame..." and then they would bust up laughing. I think all that really needs to be said about Kingman is that famed and respected baseball writer Roger Angell freely admitted in an article he wrote for The New Yorker that he screamed insults at Kingman at a Cactus League game.