Saturday, December 09, 2006 | By: Unknown

Big Mac's stats say no HOF for him.

The rage for baseball nutz, such as myself, to rant and rail against Mark McGwire's nomination into the Hall of Fame has mostly been because of his "supposed" use of steroids and HGH among other things. Even taking into consideration that Big Mac used that shit prior to it becoming illegal doesn't calm anyone down. He did it..he should not be allowed into the HOF.

But, being the bleeding heart liberal that I am, I say Big Mac should eventually get in. Michael Bradley, a columist for Sportsline, who goes by the moniker "El Hombre", says not so fast sportsfans. His recent column on the subject of Big Mac's HOF nomination brings up many points which I, personally, had not figured into the equation. Things like Big Mac's stats, those suckers really aren't up to snuff according to El Hombre. Lets revisit some of them..its a slow sports Saturday and I don't have a damn thing to do, since I just sent the ball and chain out to get my car detailed for my trip to the coast tomorrow.

McGwire played 16 seasons and finished with just 1,626 hits. If he were admitted to Cooperstown, he would find only 13 players with fewer knocks. Of them, four (Roy Campanella, Monte Irvin, Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby) spent considerable time in the Negro leagues, three had just six seasons of 100 or more games played and five had 900-plus fewer at bats than McGwire. His .263 lifetime average reflects his lack of pure hitting prowess.

McGwire can't be considered a big RBI man, either. He finished with 1,414, fewer than any of the other three mentioned so far. He had 100 or more in a season seven times, and in 1998, when he hit 70 homers, he drove in 147, evidence that he A) cracked a lot of solo dingers; B) he didn't have too many other run-producing hits; or C) both. That year, McGwire hit just 21 doubles and had only 103 total bases that didn't come from round-trippers.

And finally, these stats:

Finally, let's look at McGwire in comparison to a player who hasn't made the Hall -- but who many think is worthy -- Jim Rice. Like McGwire, Rice played 16 seasons. He hit .298 for his career, rapped out 2,452 hits, had 1,451 RBI, 4,129 total bases (against McGwire's 3,639), 373 doubles, 1,249 runs scored (to McGwire's 1,167), struck out 1,423 times (vs. 1,596 for McGwire) won an MVP award (McGwire didn't) and finished in the top five on five other occasions (three times total for McGwire). Rice had 200 or more hits four times, vs. zero for McGwire, and knocked in 100 or more runs eight times.

Makes sense to me..sorry Big Mac..but if any of the voting members make these connections, along with the drug flap..yo ass won't be in Cooperstown any time soon..if ever. I have always been depressed about Rice not making it into the HOF. But I don't vote..I just bitch.

2 people gave us their .02 cents:

Anonymous said...

There's some food for thought.

In hindsight, a lot of these players terrific late 90's seasons are islands of strangeness in mediocre careers.

Unknown said...

Yeah, the ball had a lot to do with their stats as much as their ability SR.