Mark Mcgwire - Foiled Again!

Last week Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were elected for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Being elected to Cooperstown is the highest accolade you can bestow upon a ball player and Henderson, who is widely considered the greatest lead off hitter in the history of the game, was voted in to the Hall in his first year of eligibility. Ironically Rice was voted in in his last year of eligibility! Henderson, absolutely deserves to be there. Rice? He's borderline, but I think he deserves the honour.

But what about Mark Mcgwire? Is he not equally deserving? His 583 homeruns is good for 8th on the all time list, and with the exception of Barry Bonds, the only players ahead of him are either still active or in the Hall already! As for the rest of his numbers, some are good, some are ok, some of them are great! However numbers only tell part of the story and I think when a sports writer is considering a player for induction into the Hall, he or she has to look a little deeper and see the complete picture.

After receiving only 128 votes in each of his first two years of eligibility (for a total of approximately 23% of the vote where 75% is needed for induction), Mcgwire saw that number fall to 118 votes this year. With numbers that low, unless there is a fundamental shift in the way players are elected, or it is found that Mcgwire was not in fact using performance enhancing drugs, I doubt Mcgwire will ever get into the Hall. As far as I'm concerned, it is an absolute travesty that he isn't already in Cooperstown.

In 1994, the owners did the unthinkable and cancelled the World Series! It was unprecedented. Not even World Wars I or II had managed to shut down baseball's postseason. When Major League Baseball resumed in 1995, baseball fans were bitter. And they displayed that bitterness by staying away from the game. They weren't filling the stadiums, and they weren't watching on TV. MLB was floundering.

Enter Mark Mcgwire & Sammy Sosa!

In 1998 Big Mac and Slammin' Sammy were chasing Roger Maris' homerun record which had stood for 37 years! It is arguably the most prestigious record in all of sports, and for one magical summer, these two extraordinary men captured the hearts of a nation as they chased down that elusive record set at 61! Mcgwire and Sosa pushed each other all season long, so it seemed somewhat appropriate that the Cardinals were playing the Cubs when Big Mac smacked number 62 over the left field wall at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

It's been said that Rickey Henderson was elected to the Hall as much for his stolen base records as anything else. If this is true, are Mcgwire's 70 homers in 98' not more important than Henderson's 130 stolen bases in 1982? That summer, Mcgwire and Sosa single handedly revived baseball! As far as I'm concerned, that should count for something, and should be recognized.

So just why won't Big Mac get into Cooperstown. Depending on which sportswriter you ask, you'll get a different answer.The most common and obvious answer is performance enhancing drugs. However, regardless of what you, me or any sportswriter might think, Mcgwire has never admitted to using any performance enhancing drugs. I thought in the United States citizens were "innocent until proven guilty"? That being said, even if he did use an illegal substance, baseball had no drug policy in place when Big Mac was playing and therefore it shouldn't be held against him anyway.

The second argument you'll hear is that he is a one dimensional player and his numbers just aren't good enough for the Hall. Are you kidding me? Of all the hitters inducted into the Hall since 2003, only Wade Boggs and Rickey Henderson have a higher career on base percentage than Mcgwire. And that includes players like Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, Paul Molitor, Gary Carter, Eddie Murray and Jim Rice.

But let's address the issue of numbers and compare Rice who got in, to Mcgwire who didn't.

Rice clearly leads in batting average (.298 vs .263), hits (2452 vs. 1626) and triples (79 vs. 6). They have very similar totals for runs, RBI's and extra base hits (1249/1451/834 for Rice vs. 1167/1414/841 for Mcgwire). Mcgwire however dominates in slugging percentage (.588 vs .502), on base percentage (.394 vs. 352), walks (1317 vs 670), and of course Home Runs (583 vs 382).

Mcgwire was a 12 time all-star (Rice made the team 8 times), was a 3 time Silver Slugger (Rice won the honour twice), won a gold glove (which Rice was never able to do), and perhaps most importantly won a World Series in 1989. Rice was never able to accomplish this goal. Mcgwire also has the lowest Homerun per at bat ratio (10.61) in MLB History!!

The numbers speak for themselves. If they warrant induction for Rice, then Mcgwire deserves to be in too. However, after receiving only 128 votes in each of his first two years of eligibility (for a total of approximately 23% of the vote where 75% is needed for induction), and 118 votes this year, it is unlikely that he will ever get into the Hall.

Personally, I think there has to be a fundamental change in the way players, coaches and managers are elected to the Hall. Giving the sportswriters all the power to decide who gets in is inexplicable to me. I do think they should have a vote, but so should former players and managers, and even the fans. Whatever the answer is, there has to be a better system than the one that's in place - it's incomprehensible to me that Mcgwire can be kept out of the Hall given his contributions to the game. Any writer that left him off the ballot should be ashamed of themselves.