Saturday, January 19, 2008

Hall of Fame Count

I've decided to add a Hall of Fame counter to monitor how many cards feature pictures of Hall of Famers. (I'm not counting cards that might only mention them by name on the back.)

Among the first 38 cards I've posted, here are the Hall of Famers I've missed:

#4 Eddie Murray (and yes, I'm counting him twice since there are two pictures of him on that card)
#5 Phil Niekro
#6 Nolan Ryan
#10 Ryne Sandberg
#14 Sparky Anderson
#21 Red Sox Leaders (for Wade Boggs)

Hall of Fame Count: 7

#2 has Rickey Henderson, very likely to be in the HOF soon.
#35 Harold Baines has an outside shot, although he hasn't done too well his first couple of times on the ballot. See White Sox Cards for arguments in favor of it.
#2 also features Don Mattingly, who I think has even less of a chance than Baines.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mattingly has less of a chance than Baines? I never considered Baines a future HOFer, but Donnie baseball was headed to Cooperstown until he started having injuries. Neither will get in on the vote of the BBWAA, but I think Mattingly has a chance with the Veterans Committee.

Andy said...

Mattingly has garnered support because he had some great years for a high-profile team. In the long view, though, his career totals and achievements are unquestionably not HOF caliber. Baines, on the other hand, accomplished a lot and amassed some very nice totals, and has hurt by being one of the first excellent DHs. As more and more DHs put together excellent careers, Baines' individual accomplishments look more and more impressive in retrospect, and ultimately I expect him to garner more votes than Mattingly. (But I also expect neither will ever get in the HOF.)