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December 25, 2004Boggs belongs on first ballotByRecord-Eagle staff writer He ate chicken before every game and ruffled a few feathers along the way. Wade Boggs' detractors say he was selfish and stats-driven, not a team guy. He cared about singles and doubles and on-base percentage, but couldn't give a hoot about sacrificing an at-bat to drive in a run, even though he primarily hit in the No. 3 spot in the lineup. And God knows, Boggs had his personal problems, including a much-publicized affair with Margo Adams - remember that name? - and an admission that he was a "sex addict." But make no mistake, WADE BOGGS is a Hall of Famer. A first-ballot Hall of Famer. And he received my vote. Ten-year members of the Baseball Writers Association of America received their Hall of Fame ballots earlier this month. They're due Dec. 31, with results to be announced Jan. 4. Voters were given a list of 27 names and allowed to select as many as 10. Players must be named on 75 percent of the ballots submitted in order to be inducted. Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley made it last year. Boggs was an even easier choice. In 18 major league seasons with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devils Rays, the left-handed hitting third baseman collected 3,010 hits, five batting titles, 578 doubles, 1,412 walks and two Gold Gloves. He batted .328 for his career and set an American League record with seven consecutive seasons of 200 or more hits (1983-89), had 30 or more doubles nine straight years, scored 100 or more runs in seven straight and was named to the all-star team 12 years in a row. Every other eligible player with at least 3,000 hits is in the Hall of Fame - Pete Rose, of course, has been banned "for life" for gambling. The topper for Boggs: he won a World Series championship with the Yankees in 1996 and slugged a home run for his 3,000th hit, the only player to do so. Boggs is an absolute no-brainer for the Hall. As Ted Williams told him in 1999, "You don't get 3,000 hits in this game, buddy, without being one hell of a hitter." Yet, surprisingly, many BBWAA members will not mark an "X" next to Boggs' name. Some believe there is a difference between a Hall of Famer and a "first ballot" Hall of Famer. Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Hank Aaron - they were first ballot guys. Boggs, in the warped minds of some Hall of Fame gatekeepers, is not. Get real. If Boggs is a Hall of Famer next year, he's certainly a Hall of Famer this year. I can empathize with those who struggle with potential Hall of Famers they consider borderline - I didn't vote for Bert Blyleven last year, and I did this year But to purposely leave a player off the ballot because he doesn't deserve the prestige of making it the first time around is irresponsible - and, frankly, arrogant. Six other players also received my Hall of Fame vote this year. The first five were also on my ballot in 2003. ALAN TRAMMELL: I'm sure every baseball fan has at least one person in mind when talk turns to players who are continually screwed by the voters. Alan Trammell is that guy for me. Comparisons to Ozzie Smith - the St. Louis Cardinals shortstop who garnered an astounding 91.7 percent of the vote in 2002 - are obvious. Feel free to scoff, but the case can be made that Trammell was a better all-around shortstop than Smith. In fact, he may also be among the top 10 all-around shortstops to play the game. Smith was obviously better defensively. They didn't call him "The Wizard" for nothing. He was flashy, had great range and won 13 Gold Gloves. But, as I wrote a year ago, Trammell won four Gold Gloves during an era when multiple winners Cal Ripken, Tony Fernandez and Omar Vizquel also played in the A.L. Trammell's defensive numbers closely match those of five post-World War II shortstops who are already in the Hall of Fame - Ernie Banks, Phil Rizzuto, Robin Yount, Lou Boudreau and Luis Aparicio. And offensively, Smith's numbers pale in comparison to Trammell's. Trammell batted .285 with 185 homers, 412 doubles, 2,365 hits and 1,003 RBIs. Smith batted . 262 with 28 homers, 402 doubles, 2,460 hits and 793 RBIs while playing in 280 more games - two extra seasons. And, by the way, Trammell was the 1984 World Series MVP and finished among the top 10 in league MVP voting four times. Smith managed a top 10 finish once. Alas, Trammell received only 70 votes from the 506 writers who cast their ballots in 2003. If Trammell had spent his career with the Yankees, he'd be in the Hall of Fame right now. If only he could do back flips. RYNE SANDBERG: Nothing has changed from last year. This guy was the man among N.L. second baseman through the 1980s and into the '90s. The 10-time all-star and 1984 N.L. MVP won nine consecutive Gold Glove awards (1983-91) while playing for the Cubs and holds the major league record for consecutive errorless games by a second baseman (123). If Bill Mazeroski got into the Hall because of his defense, then what's the hold-up on Sandberg? His defensive numbers compare favorably with Mazeroski's, plus he was by far a better hitter, batting .285 with 282 home runs and 1,061 RBIs. Sandberg also swiped an average of 20 bases a year. Open the door and let him in. ANDRE DAWSON: He was an exceptional outfielder who played more than half his career on damaged knees, yet still hammered 438 homers and drove in 1,591 runs. The "Hawk" was an eight-time Gold Glove winner who also collected 2,774 hits - without padding his numbers as a DH. JACK MORRIS: A gamer. During the 1980s and early '90s, if you were asked to pick one pitcher to take the ball for Game 7 of the World Series, Morris would be the one. He walked too many batters and his ERA of 3.90 would be the highest of any pitcher in the Hall of Fame, but Morris won three championships with three different teams. His 10-inning shutout performance while winning Game 7 of the 1991 World Series for the Twins ranks among the greatest post-season pitching performances of all-time. During a 14-year period from 1979-92, Morris averaged nearly 17 wins a season. He won 233 games during that span, best in the A.L. by far - a whopping 41 better than second-place Dave Stieb of Toronto. Morris may have been a jerk, but he was a difference-maker. GOOSE GOSSAGE: He was the true dominant closer from the mid-1970s through the early '80s - better than Bruce Sutter, better than Lee Smith. The flame-throwing Gossage, who began his career as a starter, led the league in saves three times and finished with 310 saves in 15 seasons as a stopper. He was an all-star nine times and pitched in three World Series, including 1978 with the champion New York Yankees. Sutter and Lee Smith are popular choices, but what sets Gossage apart from them - much like Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers - is the great number of innings he pitched. Gossage hurled 1,809, compared to Smith's 1,290 and Sutter's 1,040, meaning he saved a heck of a lot more runs. Pretty impressive for a guy who didn't try to finesse people. He threw smoke. BERT BLYLEVEN: I dropped Blyleven from my ballot about 10 minutes before I mailed it last year. Two days later, his Hall of Fame worthiness became clear after a series of e-mails from baseball historian and All-Baseball.com columnist Rich Lederer. So I'm fixing my mistake. Lederer has been called a "cybergeek" by at least one longtime member of the BBWAA - and it wasn't meant as a compliment - but I was fascinated by his numbers crunching. He also convinced me that even conventional stats prove Blyleven belongs in the Hall. Blyleven, who pitched 22 seasons for five teams, is fifth on the all-time strikeouts list with 3,701 - behind Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, and ahead of Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Walter Johnson, Phil Niekro, Ferguson Jenkins and Bob Gibson. All of the Hall-eligible players on that list are already in, except for Clemens and Johnson - who will both be elected as soon as they're on the ballot - and Blyleven. In addition to his impressive strikeout total, the right-handed Dutchman is ninth on the career shutout list with 60. Every other pitcher with 50 or more is in the Hall. Blyleven also ranks 17th in Runs Saved Above Average (RSAA) - which Lederer says represents "the number of runs that a pitcher saved his team versus what an average pitcher would have allowed, adjusted for ballpark effects." Blyleven is the only pitcher in the top 20 who is not a member of the Hall of Fame. It's easy to pooh-pooh stats like RSAA. Actually, my first reaction was, "What?" But to pass it off as nothing more than the work of a "cybergeek" would have been irresponsible. So I looked closer - and agreed. Simply put, a guy who finishes fifth in career strikeouts, ninth in shutouts and 24th in wins (287) - as well as 20th in ERA versus the league average (4,000 or more innings pitched) - deserves my vote. And Blyleven got it. NEAR MISSES: Smith, Sutter, Jim Rice, Tommy John. TEN WHO SHOULDN'T BE ON THE BALLOT (and probably won't be after this year): Jim Abbott, Tom Candiotti, Chili Davis, Mark Langston, Jack McDowell, Jeff Montgomery, Otis Nixon, Tony Phillips, Terry Steinbach, Darryl Strawberry.
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