Harold Baines, Lee Smith elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

[True Dough]

LAS VEGAS — Harold Baines was given a save as big as any Lee Smith ever posted.

In a vote sure to spark renewed cries of cronyism at Cooperstown, Baines surprisingly was picked for the baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday after never coming close in any previous election.

"Very shocked," the career .289 hitter said on a conference call.

Smith, who held the major league record for saves when he retired, was an easy pick when the Today’s Game Era Committee met at the winter meetings. It took 12 votes for election by the 16-member panel — Smith was unanimous, Baines got 12 and former outfielder and manager Lou Piniella fell just short with 11. George Steinbrenner, Orel Hershiser, Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Davey Johnson and Charlie Manuel all received fewer than five votes.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25495724/chicago-legends-harold-baines-lee-smith-make-hall-fame

[Auggie]

1. I was expecting Orel Hershiser or Lou Piniella, not Baines

[beachbum bob]

2. What makes Baines worthy was his consistency and ability to deliver in the clutch

I enjoyed watching play for the Sox every year. He was the definition of a gentlemen athelete

[True Dough]

3. Won't argue about Baines' consistency

and he did put up very good career numbers. But, curiously, that hasn't proved to be enough for others who fit the same description, players like Larry Walker, Don Mattingly and Jeff Kent all put as as good or better career numbers than Baines but none of them have a spot in Cooperstown. The only real edge Baines has on all of them is a longer career (he played a remarkable 22 seasons).

Fred McGriff is another one who is clearly in Baines' orbit. Over 19 seasons, McGriff was a career .284 hitter, compared to .289 for Baines. BUT McGriff hit 493 total home runs compared to 384 for Baines.

Hard to figure sometimes.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Larry Walker Has The Coors Disadvantage

He played 9+ seasons out of 17 in Colorado.

Some people who vote for the HoF put too much weight on that. He did, after all, play half of those games somewhere else, and 7.5 seasons for teams that either only played a few games at Coors, or none.

[fishwax]

5. McGriff and Walker are still eligible for election through the Writers, though

and so they can't yet be considered by this committee. Assuming they exhaust their eligibility with the writers without getting elected, I'm sure they'll be strong candidates from the committee. Both of them will have exhausted their eligibility by 2021, when this committee votes again. Another notable name on the list will be Edgar Martinez, unless he gets elected by the writers next year, which will be his last year of eligibility.

[True Dough]

6. Good info

Thanks!

[hughee99]

7. Welcome to the hall-of-pretty-good fellas. Nt