by CHRIS LYNCH , American Digest Sports Editor
LAST WEEKEND ROBERTO ALOMAR made it official and retired. Now the only question is whether is will get the votes necessary to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I say "Yes" and here's why:
- 12 consecutive All-Star games
- 10 Gold Gloves in 11 years
- 4 Silver Slugger awards
If you compare him to Ryne Sandberg (the last 2nd baseman elected to the HOF) you find that Alomar leads Sandberg in runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, batting average, on base percentage, OPS and OPS+. Alomar was also clearly the better player with the glove. If Sandberg is in then Alomar clearly deserves induction.
What Alomar has working against him are four things:
- He didn't spend his whole career with one team like Sandberg
- The incident where he spit at umpire John Hirshbeck
- Comparisons to more offensive minded players like Craig Biggio and Jeff Kent
- How his career just fell completely apart these last four years
These things will be brought up but all the objections are relatively easy to overcome. Plus Alomar has an ace in the hole - Peter Gammons. Alomar may just be Gammons favorite player and I would look for Gammons to pen an epic homage to Alomar sometime in the next week.
Alomar may not make it on the first ballot but he will be voted into the Hall of Fame.
Hey, baseball has been a joke for more than four years. Maybe he just refuses to juice. Good man, off to the Hall with him.
Posted by: Uncle Mikey at March 23, 2005 10:15 AM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.