Rock, Pudge, and a Killer B

January 18, 2017 3:50 PM

The results of the 2017 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame vote were announced this evening, and Tim Raines (in his last year of eligibility), Ivan Rodriguez (in his first year of eligibility), and Jeff Bagwell (in neither his first nor last year of eligibility) were elected. Close watchers anticipated both Bagwell and Raines's elections based on Ryan Thibs's ballot tracking spreadsheet which compiled over 240 votes (more than half of those cast) from public posted columns and a few given anonymously, but the it was still unclear until the announcement whether Rodriguez would have enough support from those who did not make their ballot public to clear the 75% mark required for election.

Raines's election is particularly meaningful to the few remaining fans of the Montreal Expos, and here Jonah Keri tries to explain why.

The three inductees join former GM John Schuerholz and former commissioner Bud Selig, who were elected by the Veterans' Committee late last year, to no small amount of controversy in Selig's case.

posted by Copronymus (24 comments total)

If you happen not to care about this group, you can always look forward to next year, where Vlad Guerrero and Trevor Hoffmann are leading candidates based on the number of votes they got this year, and Ji Thome and Chipper Jones are making their first appearances.
posted by Copronymus at 3:53 PM on January 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Melvin Mora and Arthur Rhodes get their chance, get zero votes, will not appear again. But boy, when those guys were good, they were good.
posted by escabeche at 3:58 PM on January 18, 2017

This Expos fan is pretty happy!
posted by Capt. Renault at 3:58 PM on January 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Rodriguez on the first ballot! Way to go, Pudge!
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:01 PM on January 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

Hooray! It's also nice to finally see the voters start to acknowledge that there were good hitters in the 1990's.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:02 PM on January 18, 2017

Edgar
posted by Windopaene at 4:03 PM on January 18, 2017 [4 favorites]

Pudge deserves it, but I feel like we're in for some slim pickings the next 5-10 years : /
posted by zerolives at 4:05 PM on January 18, 2017

Hopefully Rock goes in as a Yankee.
posted by AugustWest at 4:05 PM on January 18, 2017

Hopefully Pudge goes in as a Yankee
posted by AugustWest at 4:07 PM on January 18, 2017

Hopefully Pudge goes in as a Yankee

Surely you mean beloved Washington National Pudge Rodriguez.
posted by Copronymus at 4:09 PM on January 18, 2017 [4 favorites]

Hopefully Mussina goes in as an Oriole.
posted by escabeche at 4:18 PM on January 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

You can't induct a National the same year as an Expo. They'll invade.

Two Bagwell questions:
1. Which hat? I vote for late-Astrodome "shooting star"
2. How long can they make the goatee? Hanging off the bottom of the sculpture?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:20 PM on January 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

How long can they make the goatee? Hanging off the bottom of the sculpture?

Only if they can have a continuous stream of tobacco juice oozing from Hoffy's mouth when he gets in.
posted by LionIndex at 4:22 PM on January 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Nos Amours rocked! Bravo Mr. Raines!
posted by Malingering Hector at 4:46 PM on January 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hopefully Mussina goes in as an Oriole.

Hopefully Moose goes in at all. He has put up stellar numbers over a long period of time, but he does not seem to have a lot of initial support. I am hoping he gathers support as the eligibility period progresses. When he does make it, he should go in as whatever team he won 20 games for. Oh, that is the Yankees.

Either way, Oriole or Yankee, Moose deserves the Hall.
posted by AugustWest at 5:03 PM on January 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Still cannot believe Vlad had a .318 career average. Dude swung at literally everything, even hitting pitches that bounced before the plate like a goddam Cricket batsman or batterwonger or battingson or whatever they call them. Hell of a fielder too.
posted by sanka at 5:34 PM on January 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Jose Canseco is pissed. But that is his natural state.
posted by delfin at 5:55 PM on January 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

I confess that I didn't really have any strong feelings about Ivan Rodriguez before now, but he tweeted some adorable videos of him taking the phone call where he found out he got in/celebrating with his family, which is pretty great. Sadly, I will instead only know him as Unbuttoned Sleeves Man from now on because my brain rejects nice and good things whenever there is bizarre minutiae.
posted by Copronymus at 6:20 PM on January 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't know - I agree about that something seems hypocritical about the PED stance, but if this pisses off Jose - I can't help but think it's the right thing.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:00 PM on January 18, 2017

Allegedly, Tim 'Rock' Raines's nickname actually comes from the cocaine vial he carried in his back pocket while playing. This is, also allegedly, why he only slid head first. This may be apocryphal, but it's impossible for me to hear that nickname without thinking of the story, anyway. It's kind of like how my automatic mental association for Richard Gere involves a hamster.

Anyway, heck of a player, and he damn well better be wearing a Montreal Expos hat in the Hall, since there aren't going to be many (any?) more of those coming.
posted by rokusan at 9:29 PM on January 18, 2017

he damn well better be wearing a Montreal Expos hat in the Hall, since there aren't going to be many (any?) more of those coming.

Vlad Guerrero might end up in an Expos hat since he did play more there than anywhere else, but he won his MVP with the Angels, so that's also a possibility. I was going to say Larry Walker, but I checked and his Expos career is much shorter than I remembered. I guess there's always the chance that Bartolo Colon keeps pitching until they get a team back and then wins 4 Cy Youngs as a 60 year old once-and-future Expo.
posted by Copronymus at 10:56 PM on January 18, 2017 [4 favorites]

As a kid in Montreal I started getting into baseball just as the Expos were getting good in the late 70s. In 1980 they had a now largely forgotten player, Ron LeFlore, make a run at the seasonal stolen base record (he ended up at 97). This also happened to be Rickey Henderson's first full year and he did the same -- 100 by year end.

Neither made it to the record but the chase was daily news for two months and left me with a life-long soft spot for players who could steal a ridiculous number of bases (years of sabermetric Debbie Downerism on the SB notwithstanding).

Raines came up at the end of 1980 just as the hoopla over LeFlore was hitting its peak and went 5-0 on the basepaths, then reeled off seven straight years with 70 or more, plus he's arguably the greatest percentage base stealer of all time. He really just had the misfortune of being the second-best leadoff man in history playing at the same time as the first.

In conclusion, I have a happy today, still being one of those aforementioned few remaining Expos fans.
posted by Quindar Beep at 6:02 AM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Fuck yeah Rock Raines
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:32 AM on January 19, 2017

Neither made it to the record but the chase was daily news for two months and left me with a life-long soft spot for players who could steal a ridiculous number of bases (years of sabermetric Debbie Downerism on the SB notwithstanding).

If you're good enough it's worth it. Tim Raines is close to 85% career.
posted by atoxyl at 11:16 AM on January 19, 2017