Posted by bad_luck on 1/13/2013 5:49:00 PM (view original):
Biggio
Bagwell
Bonds
Clemens
Raines
Trammell
Schilling
Martinez
McGwire
Walker
I don't think I want Schilling in, there were too many other, better guys pitching at the same time. And yes, he was good in the postseason, and I'll let Pettitte maybe slide in on that platform, but I'm not going to put at best the 2nd-best postseason pitcher of his generation into the Hall with a career 216-146 record. 127 ERA+ is really good, but in an era of high deviations it's not quite outstanding. Schill can talk all high-and-mighty on steroid use, but the fact that he peaked in his mid- to late-30s is, at least, suspicious. I'm not saying he used. But I'm not going to vote him in on a "clean pitcher in a dirty era" platform, either. At the end of the day, I just don't look at Schilling and think, "yeah, that's a HOF guy right there." Plus he's just such a douchenozzle...
I could see an argument against Big Mac since all he did was hit homers and the steroids helped a lot with that. OTOH, he does have the best career HR rate in history... Edgar Martinez is also at least questionable for me. When he played in the field he was bad, and for most of his career they didn't even bother trying. His bat was great, but I understand the argument that if you don't play defense your bat needs to be truly special to get in. Personally, with a .418 career OBP and 147 career OPS+, I think his bat is special enough to qualify. Unfortunately, a number of the writers still seem as oblivious to the importance of OBP as so much of the general public, and 309 career HRs at DH don't exactly pop off the page. Yeah, he was a great hitter, but you wouldn't mistake him for Frank Thomas or Jim Thome. Again, I'd put him in, but I see the argument against him. All the other guys on your list I think should go in, absolutely.