I know I have mentioned many times of my love for listening to sports on the radio. Any time of the day, any setting. Sitting on the water like this brings me back to my younger days again, listening to baseball on Lake Superior at the beach on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Or, after I graduated college, bringing my radio with me, sitting on the channel at Holland State Park on a Sunday afternoon, watching the various boats come in an out of Lake Macatawa, heading out to Lake Michigan. The dulcet tones of Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey serenading me through a lazy afternoon, hall of fame broadcasters, listening to them talk about future hall of fame players. Then it, of course, got me to thinking about this year's hall of fame induction, and wondering, what are going to be the new levels of achievement to get into the hall?
This year we are seeing Joe Mauer, Todd Helton, Adrian Beltre' and Jim Leyland get enshrined into the Hall of Fame. With who has been elected into the hall of fame in recent years, I guess I cannot say I am surprised. Beltre' is the most deserving out of this group. 3177 hits, 477 HRs, 1700+ RBIs. These are all benchmarks that I have grown up with as far as milestones to get into the Hall of Fame. He sits in some rarified air with his production amongst third basemen, and his WAR (which I will probably never totally understand), is amongst the best all time with third basemen. Todd Helton, I guess is worthy of Hall of Fame election. Career .316 hitter. just under 2600 hits. 1400 RBI. Many have said that his career was aided considerably with the fact he played at Coors Field all of those years. Altitude aided stats is what many have said. He did have a long career. 17 years. Took the veterans committee to help get him in.
So this leads me to my earlier point. Are we transitioning into a new era where we are lowering the expectations or the "bar", so to speak, with letting people into the Hall of Fame. Joe Mauer was a hell of a player, I get it. But his career stats, to me, do not shout out HOF. Under 2200 Hits, 143 HR's, not even 1000 RBI. I know he was the AL MVP in 2009. And yes, he played 15 years in the major leagues, but seriously. Never played on a team that went to the World Series. Four playoff appearances, and four losses. I just do not see it. All this tells me is the threshold for MLB acceptance has lowered, or will be lowered.
Let's take a quick look at the active career leaders. Strikeouts are the only thing, to me, that will stand out as not changing much. Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are over the 3000 strikeout plateau, and Clayton Kershaw is within 30 of reaching it. And with the way the game is played now, where striking out is more widely accepted, I think that wills tay the same. But the other thresholds are going to certainly be lowered, or no one will ever get in. 300 wins will be a thing of the past. Justin Verlander is the closest with 260 wins. Kershaw is at 215. Garret Cole is aat 148! Cole is the 4th highest! I could honestly see 225 as the new standard bearer if not 200.
Home runs. 500 used to be a lock to get into the Hall. Gioncarlo Stanton is the active leader with 420. The only reason he gets into the hall is because of east coast New York media bias. Bryce Harper, maybe Freddie Freeman, to me, are the only two that have the best chance to get past 500 HR's. Mike Trout will come close, but his injury history may prevent that. And let's take a look at career hits. Freddie Freeman is the current active leader with 2220. Jose Altuve' is next at 2167. Freeman is 34. Altuve' is older. 3000 hits will be a thing of the past. You may get an outlier player get past 3000, but I just do not see it.
Oh well, this is the new and improved Major League Baseball. Analytics and preserving players for the future. The perfect manager for that is going into the Hall of Fame today. Jim Leyland, former Pirates, Marlins, and Tigers manager was famous for this. His time with Detroit was littered with saving players for the playoffs and for the future. He does have a World Series crown to his credit, so his HOF election is worthy. And for those that know me, it took a lot for me to say this.
Well as you can tell from above, it is going to be an absolute chamber of commerce day. A great day to do everything you love outside. And for me that will be spending it with family, with a Tigers game in the background on the radio. Yes, real radio. No satellite radio. And as always, keeping my random thoughts going.
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