2007: Cal Ripken Jr., SS, Baltimore Orioles (1981-2001)/ Tony Gwynn, RF, San Diego Padres (1982-2001)
Accomplishments:
Ripken: 2x AL MVP, 1982 AL ROY, 19x All-Star, 1983 champion, 2x Gold Glove, 8x Silver Slugger, consecutive games played record holder (2,632)
Gwynn: 15x All-Star, 5x Gold Glove, 7x Silver Slugger, 8x batting champion
Holy moly, this was a doozy to pick between. The best player in the history of each of their respective franchises, two of the defining ballplayers of their era, both holding eye-popping baseball history tidbits that can be nearly recited by memory by baseball fans to this day, I could not do it. This ended in a tie, as one of the best HOF classes in history elected only two, but two of the best to do it. Ripken, of course, holds the consecutive games record once held by the legendary Lou Gehrig, suiting up in every game from May 30, 1982 until September 19, 1998. Gwynn, on the other hand, was only the greatest pure hitter of his generation, garnering 8 batting champion titles while holding one of the best career averages of all time. “Mr. Padre” also came the closest in a long time to reaching one of baseball’s biggest milestones, hitting .394 in 1994, a year in which the lockout robbed him of a chance at .400 and fans of an opportunity of seeing one of the most well-liked players that ever graced the diamond achieve history. For their accomplishments on the diamond and what they meant to the history of the teams whose uniforms they donned, it may just be too hard to pick one over the other.
2006: Bruce Sutter, P, CHC/STL/ATL (1976-1986, 1988)
Accomplishments: 1979 Cy Young, 6x All-Star, 1982 champion w/ STL, 4x Rolaids Relief, 5x NL saves leader
Other inductees: 17 Negro League players
As readers out there may have noticed, there were a whopping 18 players elected to the Hall of Fame in 2006. However, only one played in the Major Leagues, as Sutter joined a class of nearly 20 former Negro League players and executives, none of which were able to see their elections in person, as the longest any of them lived was Willard Brown (1996). Sutter, however, was the star of this gigantic class. A Cy Young winner in 1979, a rare feat for a reliever in any era, as well as a World Series champion, Sutter excelled in each of his three uniforms, winning his Cy Young in his second-to-last season in the Windy City and recording a career-high 45 saves five years later in his last year with the rival St. Louis Cardinals. Finishing off an even 300 ballgames certainly has its rewards on the diamond, one of which turned out to be a trip to Cooperstown for Sutter.