Call to the Pen » Jack Morris

Jack Morris And Others Run Short Of Time On Hall Ballot

Lew Freedman — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:58:45 +0000

Jack Morris was the leading vote-getter on last year’s Hall of Fame ballot who didn’t make it. This is his 14th year up for consideration by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Dale Murphy is on the ballot for the 15th time. Don Mattingly is on the list for the 13th time. Alan Trammell is on the ballot for the 12th time. Lee Smith is a candidate for the 11th time.

As the voting for the 2013 class nears its end it’s pretty obvious that some of these fine ballplayers are never going to get into the Hall of Fame unless a Veterans Committe takes another look somewhere down the line. With the influx of at least five new candidates with better statistical credentials than these players have, some might not even survive to stay on the ballot any longer. But since it takes just five percent of the approximately 600 voters to carry a player’s name over, then most of them should, even if they don’t make any progress in obtaining a higher percentage of the vote. (more…)

Expect Wild Hall Of Fame Voting

Lew Freedman — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 20:50:28 +0000

It has begun. The ballot for the 2013 Hall of Fame class is being distributed and the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America are into their deliberations for the Jan. 9 announcement of who will be inducted next year. This is the election baseball fans have been waiting on. For the first time Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa are up for consideration. The five-year waiting period since their retirement is up and the clock starts ticking on the 15-year limit on their potential stay on the modern era ballot.

Bonds, Clemens and Sosa clearly have the statistical qualifications to be first-ballot Hall of Famers. But we are about to find out if reputation counts more than numbers in the minds of voters, if enough voters think they got away with cheating even if the cases made against each man have only grown murkier in the light of courtrooms and testimony. Does suspicion trump proof? Is truth somewhere in-between fact and hunch? (more…)

Jeff Bagwell Our Hall Of Famer

Lew Freedman — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:23:21 +0000

While predicting the results in the NCAA college basketball tournament has become a nationwide passion come March whatever type of office you work in, if you are a baseball writer attached to a web site such as FanSided, the pending list of Baseball Hall of Fame candidates is irresistible. So concurrently with the Baseball Writers Association of America we conducted our own mock vote.

The deadline for receiving ballots to be tabulated for the class of 2012 induction ceremony in Cooperstown passed Saturday and those official results are scheduled to be announced Jan. 9. It takes 75 percent of the vote for a player to be selected for the Hall. In the meantime, 44 FanSided Major League Baseball writers mulled over the candidates and just one, Jeff Bagwell, the long-time Houston Astros star, met the 75 percent threshold with 77.3 percent of the vote.

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Barry Larkin Best Hall Choice

Lew Freedman — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:26:19 +0000

After reviewing all of the candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot which members of the Baseball Writers Association of America had to fill out by Dec. 31, it seems to me that the guy who is going to have the happiest New Year is Barry Larkin. While I believe that others are equally deserving, I believe that when the votes for induction into the Hall in Cooperstown in 2012 are tabulated and announced Jan. 9, Larkin will be the only player that receives the necessary 75 percent.

Larkin went into this year’s process carrying over a ledger with 62.1 percent of the vote from the last go-round of Hall voting. No new slam-dunk candidates were added to the ballot this year, so being the highest vote collector left over can definitely benefit Larkin. The long-time Cincinnati Reds’ shortstop’s credentials include being a 12-time All-Star, a nine-time Silver Slugger Award winner, the 1995 National League MVP, and a three-time Gold Glove winner. His lifetime batting average is .295.

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Jack Morris Has Fighting Chance

Lew Freedman — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:43:53 +0000

He is not at the top of my Hall of Fame list, but pitcher Jack Morris has an outside chance of being named on enough Baseball Writers Association of America ballots in order to make it to Cooperstown when voting closes for the 2012 class Saturday. I don’t think there would be loud screams from proponents of other candidates against it, nor would it be the most surprising result of all time, either.

Big Game Jack is remembered that way for his step-up-to-the-mound performances in the playoffs and World Series and that is a good reputation to have. A five-time All-Star who was on four World Series champions, Morris compiled a record of 254-186 in the majors between 1977 and 1994. He struck out 2,478 batters, but one thing that could hold him back is a career 3.90 earned run average. That’s a tad high for a Hall of Famer.

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Jack Morris, the Hall of Fame and the Most Wins in a Decade

Wally Fish — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 04:25:40 +0000

For whatever reason, Jack Morris has a seemingly large group of fans that believe he deserves a spot in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. I’ve heard all of the arguments, including the laughable ones that claim he was a big game pitcher or that he pitched to the score. Being a big game pitcher itself is a real and tangible thing. Pitching to the score is far less tangible and to this writer and fan something that runs completely counter to the point of pitching (or doing anything competitive).

The problem with these arguments as they relate to Jack Morris is that they are unfounded. Fortunately many reasonable people such as Bill James, Joe Posnanski and Rich Lederer (just to name a few) have taken the time to reveal the fallacies and flaws behind such arguments.

Neither of those arguments thrown out by the pro-Morris HOF camp bother me nearly as much as the following:

Jack Morris had more wins in the 1980s than any other pitcher in baseball.

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