Sutter Enshrined

Well the newest member of the Hall of Fame has been announced and it’s the very first person to be elected to the Hall who played his entire career as a reliever but the question remains does a 2.83 ERA and 300 saves warrant being nominated to Cooperstown? Especially when Lee Smith is on the outside looking in with 478 saves and a 3.03 ERA.

The thing I worry about is that the likes of Smith, Sutter and guys like Goose Gossage and Tom Henke, who were all guys who were amongst the best closers of their era but in an era when the closer role was still being defined, are soon going to have their achievements dwarfed by the new wave of closers in this age where the bullpen has never been more important. Will we look at Bruce Sutter and then think about how he got in when someone like Bobby Jenks didn‘t?

I do feel that Sutter should have eventually been inducted as the inventor of the splitter but isn’t that a matter for the Veterans Committee to decide upon?

However, there are two pitchers on this years ballot who really should have been given the chance to be inducted in this lean year (for the record I think Andre Dawson and Jim Rice should be put in eventually but I can see the reasons why they maybe shouldn’t). First up is Jack Morris who should be put in simply for being involved in the epic game 7 in the ‘91 World Series but when you have 254 career wins including three 20 win seasons and are generally the ace of many a championship team then surely that’s just gravy. He might not be a leap out and grab you candidate (a 3.90 ERA isn’t particularly wow), people with far worse moustaches have been enshrined.

The second in my mind really is a slam dunk candidate. 287 wins (25th most in MLB history) and 3701 K’s (5th best all time) leaves me wondering just how Bert Blyleven isn’t in the Hall? I mean come on!! He’s up there on so many of the lists that count and there aren’t many contemporaries from the same era who can say that.

Anyway, Sutter is in and well done to him but now this years vote is over we can look forward to next years ballot with some of the greats up for election like Harold Baines, Mark McGwire and Cal Ripken and the truly legendary Tony Gwynn (will he break the 95% mark?). Apparently hotels in Cooperstown have been taking reservations for the past five years in preparation for that.