"You think I give a rat's ass (about the Hall of Fame)?"
- Roger Clemens, wrapping up his highly entertaining news conference on Monday.
It was a surprising statement from a guy who has always prided himself on being a student of the game's history and well aware of his place in it. But Clemens said it - while looking very much like a cornered animal - so it's now public record and one of the sound bites that we'll continue to see and hear as this story drags on. I'd like to comment on Clemens' performance further, but I'll reserve total judgment until I see how this all shakes out when Clemens, Brian McNamee, Andy Pettitte or anyone else sits before the U.S. Congress to answer some softball questions.
It's noteworthy that less than 24 hours later we saw the other side of the coin. Rich (Goose) Gossage, the fireballing closer of the great Yankees teams of the mid-70's as well eight other teams during his stellar 22-year career, finally got the call he'd long been waiting for. Gossage, whose glare and hulking demeanour kept many a hitter from digging in, was on the verge of tears when the Hall of Fame finally called to inform him he had been granted baseball's highest honour. Sure, it took nine ballots to finally receive the requisite 75 per cent of votes, but like they say, good things come to those who wait.
One wonders, though, why the honour wasn't bestowed sooner. Gossage's 310 career saves - including a mind-boggling 72 that required seven outs or more - rank him 17th all-time and the majority came during a time when coming into a three-run game to get the final three outs wasn't nearly as is prevalent as it is today. Nothing against the Trevor Hoffmans or the Mariano Riveras of the world, but the role of the closer has changed dramatically since the days when Gossage was the number one fireman. As well, numbers from the current era will forever be skewed by the fact that some were likely attained with the aid of performance enhancers. That's why just reading the numbers, which is what too many of the current crop of writers do, many of whom cut their chops in the fantasy baseball era, isn't enough. That's why Hoffman and Rivera will be first ballot Hall of Famers, much like Dennis Eckersley was when he was inducted in 2004.
So congratulations, Goose, on a well-deserved honour; long overdue. And congratulations for also challenging those whose names have been linked to steroid use to "just fess up" to what they have done. Well said.
For the rest of the players on the ballot, it's "wait until next year" yet again. Most notable is Jim Rice, who fell just 16 votes shy of induction and must sweat it out another year. But the former Red Sox slugger is now on the clock. Next year will be the 15th and final year that he will be voted on by the baseball writers. If he fails again the only way Rice will make it into the Hall is if he's voted in by the Veterans Committee. Former Expos and Cubs star Andre (The Hawk) Dawson (65.9 per cent) also fell short, along with Bert Blyleven (61.9 per cent), Lee Smith (43.3 per cent) and Jack Morris (42.9 per cent). All should make the Hall one day based on the contributions each made during their era, but they might have to wait a while, as Gossage had to.
The one player whose exclusion leaves me scratching my head is Blyleven. He didn't reach the magical 300-win barrier during his 22-year career, but his 3,701 career strikeouts still ranks him fifth, well ahead of pitchers like Ferguson Jenkins and Bob Gibson who were inducted. It would seem Blyleven is being penalized for having played on some very average teams, even though he did have 287 wins and threw a whopping 242 complete games.
Next year's ballot will include Rickey Henderson, the game's career leader in stolen bases and runs and a member of the 3,000-hit club. I don't see Rickey being made to wait in line and he should be a first-ballot shoo-in.
At least what the Hall of Fame announcement did was start another healthy debate on who should and shouldn't be enshrined in the great Hall in Cooperstown. Lord knows the continuing steroid investigations have made many of us very weary. I think I'll take this weekend off from baseball and watch the NFL playoffs and see how Shawn Merriman does against the world champion Colts.
