Boggs and Sandberg make it

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NEW YORK -- Wade Boggs was overwhelmingly elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility Tuesday, and Ryne Sandberg made it with just six votes to spare on his third try.

Hall of Fame voting
Name Votes Percentage
Wade Boggs 474 91.86
Ryne Sandberg 393 76.2
Bruce Sutter 344 66.7
Jim Rice 307 59.5
Rich Gossage 285 55.2
Andre Dawson 270 52.3

Boggs, a five-time American League batting champion for the Boston Red Sox, was selected by 474 of the record 516 voters who are 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

The 91.86 percent of ballots he received was the 19th-highest percentage in Hall history, and he became the 41st player elected on his first chance.

Sandberg, the 1984 National League MVP for the Chicago Cubs, was picked by 393 voters. He appeared on 76.2 percent of ballots, just above the 75 percent cutoff (387). Sandberg received 49.2 percent of votes in 2003 and got 61.1 percent last year, falling 71 votes short.

Reliever Bruce Sutter, appearing on the ballot for the 12th time, received 344 votes (66.7 percent), up from 301 last year but 43 shy of what was needed this time. He was followed by Jim Rice (307), Rich "Goose" Gossage (285) and Andre Dawson (270).

Willie McGee, also on the ballot for the first time, received 26 votes, exactly at the 5 percent cutoff to avoid being dropped in future years. Darryl Stawberry, another first-time eligible, got six votes.

Pete Rose, ineligible for the ballot because of his lifetime ban from baseball, received nine write-in votes, six fewer than last year and his lowest total. Rose, who admitted last year that he bet on the Cincinnati Reds while managing them in the late 1980s, has been written in on 239 of 6,687 ballots (3.6 percent) over 14 years.

He must be reinstated by late November to appear on the ballot in 2006, the final year he would be eligible.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)

Good to see Sutter's total increase. Gossage jumped 14%, maybe not enough to get him over in the next couple years.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

Good stuff. If Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, and Dwight Gooden are the best of the first-timers on next year's ballot, then it bodes well for guys like Sutter and Rice who were close this time.

It's interesting that Garvey got twice as many votes as Mattingly, and Lee Smith gets no respect despite the gaudy save numbers (I agree with this, though, Blyeleven, Sutter, and Gossage are all more deserving than him and the votes reflected that).

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

"If Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, and Dwight Gooden are the best of the first-timers on next year's ballot, then it bodes well for guys like Sutter and Rice who were close this time."

Is that right? Jesus, what a weak group.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 00:00 (twenty years ago)

Orel could have made it if he wasn't overworked like mad, maybe. But instead he's going down.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 00:14 (twenty years ago)

Bill James has written that Will Clark has a better case than you might think -- certainly better than Garvey's.

The Morris-Blyleven argument went nowhere, as it looks like the BBWAA won't be electing either anytime soon.

Last night I saw Joe Sheehan clean Gammons' clock in a Jack Morris credentials debate on ESPNews. Wow, they let Baseball Prospectus guys on their THIRD channel! Imagine if they let BP do an "indie" version of Baseball Tonight -- right after the HR-Krukker version every night -- featuring analysts who actually know what the fuck they're talking about.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

"Bill James has written that Will Clark has a better case than you might think -- certainly better than Garvey's."

Garvey has very little case for the Hall though IMO. I liked Clark and until the injuries began to mount I could have seen him having a better case, but it's hard for me to see him as really being a HOFer either with all that.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

If Clark had hung around for 4 more years, he would've built up "career numbers" for that crowd.

I agree Garvey's case is weak, but a third of the writers don't.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

Well Clark was only going to make it on career numbers and prolonged excellence. He just wasn't that dominant of a player even when he was at his best.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

Was Kirby Puckett any more "dominant" than Clark? (Yeah, I know -- Will acted like a prick, while Kirby didn't, aside from the wife-beating.)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 18:11 (twenty years ago)

Well, Puckett was lucky enough to make it to the post-season and play very well on two World Series winning teams. He was also a perennial Gold-Glover, All Star and Top-Ten MVPer and played more consistently (albeit not really for any longer) over the course of his career than Clark did. I'd say that Puckett was considered (at most points) to be a far better player than Clark was and when it comes to HOF voting that's going to be most of what matters. Also Puckett got some sentimental votes to boot (although I think he probably would have made it anyway, 10+ years at the highest level for your position will usually do it for the Hall.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

I forgot, why did Will Clark retire so early?

Clark was consistently very good, he didn't have a monster season, but 850-900 OPS every year is impressive -- but not so much for a 1B (particularly for a guy who played his 30's in hitters parks in a hitters era).

He's probably better remembered for having one of the sweetest swings in baseball than for his performance on the field per se.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

I thought it was just nagging injuries with Clark, but I could be wrong.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 18:47 (twenty years ago)

"I forgot, why did Will Clark retire so early?"

He played until he was 36. I think he just got out while the getting was good, Clark had battled injuries quite a bit later in his career. The guy hit about as well as the last ten years of his career his final season, so that should count for something. One thing that is interesting about Clark's stats is that his hitting numbers didn't go gonzo with the rest of the league in the mid 90s, his power numbers declined. Maybe this was because of the injuries, I don't know, but it is something to note.

Will Clark at his peak performance still wasn't better than Don Mattingly. Their career numbers are pretty similar, but Mattingly completely lost his power after his back went bad and he played on for another half dozen years.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)

Will Clark is a great-fielding Fred McGriff with a better swing and exiting on a very high note.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 19:08 (twenty years ago)

Jimmy Kimmel should stick to comedy

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 6 January 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

jimmey kimmel shoud stick his head into a visciously quick rotating fan, blades sharp as knives, what fun.

― John (jdahlem), Thursday, 6 January 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

unfortunately I think Kimmel's better at baseball analysis than comedy.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 6 January 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

Sad, but true.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 6 January 2005 22:39 (twenty years ago)

his football analysis sucked, tho.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 January 2005 22:53 (twenty years ago)

Speaking of football the people that didn't vote for Peyton Manning for offensive MVP are KRAZZZY. WTF is wrong with you people. I mean Terrell was having a great year and it's legitimate to claim he was a HUGE difference maker for his team, but what fucking game are these people watching where breaking the all time TD record doesn't get acknowledged. I am flabbergasted.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 6 January 2005 23:29 (twenty years ago)

NO FOOTBALL.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 6 January 2005 23:32 (twenty years ago)

PLEASE. THANK YOU DR. M.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 January 2005 23:48 (twenty years ago)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 6 January 2005 23:58 (twenty years ago)

plus Terrell missed the last two games of the year. sorry but at WR a better case could be made for any three of the Indy wideouts who oh BY THE WAY WERE GOOD BECAUSE OF THE RIGHTFUL OPY PEYTON MANNING thanks

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 7 January 2005 00:03 (twenty years ago)

NO!!!! THIS FOOTBALL IS LIKE SUNLIGHT! IT BURNS IT BURNS IT BURNS!!!

― NOT DR MORBIUS (Alex in SF), Friday, 7 January 2005 00:19 (twenty years ago)

OMG WORLDS ARE COLLIDING!

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Friday, 7 January 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

Seriously dudes, I rule this board with an iron spatula. I will slice, dice, and mince your football posts with my ginzu administrator skills.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 January 2005 00:51 (twenty years ago)

wrap your head around this one!

http://www.tristarproductions.com/Sales/Images/BoJackson.jpg

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 7 January 2005 00:54 (twenty years ago)

http://www.dallasnews.com/img/photo/12-02/woo45.jpg

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 January 2005 01:08 (twenty years ago)

dude I was just saying, jimmy kimmel couldn't pick a game to save his life. that's all.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 7 January 2005 05:01 (twenty years ago)

As much as I hated the popeye armed bastard, I do think Kimmel is right that Garvey's reputation as a player was much higher then than now.

Dave Parker isn't getting hall of fame votes either and he was pretty good player, but like Garvey his off the field actions haven't made him any fans with the writers.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Saturday, 8 January 2005 01:37 (twenty years ago)

eleven years pass...

Nice appreciation of Boggs:

http://www.billjamesonline.com/on_centuries_and_chickens/

Amazing--even in the midst of five straight 8.0 WAR seasons, never received a single first-place MVP vote.

― clemenza, Thursday, 26 May 2016 23:12 (nine years ago)

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