Gwynn is IN!!!

So the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown announced who are going to be inducted this year. The big news is that one of the two is Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn.

Top 5 reasons Tony Gwynn should be in the Hall of Fame
1. Gwynn's lifetime batting average was .338. His career average is the highest among players whose careers began after World War II. He hit below .300 only once in his career. His rookie year of 1982 when he hit .289.
2. He led the National League in batting average 8 times. Only Honus Wagner has won as many NL batting titles.
3. He struck out a total of 434 times in his career. That equates to once every 21 at bats. Putting this into perspective, in 2006 Adam Dunn struck out once every 3 at bats.
4. Gwynn was a 15 time All Star. He started 11 of those All-Star Games.
5. Gwynn won 5 straight gold gloves from 1986 to 1991.

Oh yeah, Cal Ripken was also elected into the Hall of Fame on Tuesday. I like Cal Ripken. I get that he has revolutionized the short stop position and he has the record of playing in 2, 632 consecutive games. Though there are some who would argue that his pursuit of that streak actually hindered his team. Had he rested more throughout the season, he may have been able to lead his team to more post season success.

Similar type arguments could be made against Gwynn. Apparently, there were times when his team, the San Diego Padres wanted to deal Gwynn in order to improve. Gwynn refused to be traded. He went to school in San Diego, was a college baseball star in San Diego, played his entire career in San Diego and now that he has retired, is actually coaching at the University of San Diego. It is really difficult to trash someone with that kind of dedication.

Voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame has a lot of distinctions. Only baseball writers can vote. They can vote for as many people who are eligible up to 10. Eligible candidates must be on 75% of the ballots in order to be elected into the Hall. If an eligible candidate gets less than 5% of the vote, he is kicked off the ballot in future seasons. If you do get more than 5% but not enough to be inducted, you can remain on the ballot for 15 years. Despite all this, only one or two players get elected each year.

Here is the breakdown of the ballots this year:

Cal Ripken 537 (98.5%), Tony Gwynn 532 (97.6%), Rich “Goose” Gossage 388 (71.2%), Jim Rice 346 (63.5%), Andre Dawson 309 (56.7%), Bert Blyleven 260 (47.7%), Lee Smith 217 (39.8%), Jack Morris 202 (37.1%), Mark McGwire 128 (23.5%), Tommy John 125 (22.9%), Steve Garvey 115 (21.1%), Dave Concepcion 74 (13.6%), Alan Trammell 73 (13.4%), Dave Parker 62 (11.4%), Don Mattingly 54 (9.9%), Dale Murphy 50 (9.2%), Harold Baines 29 (5.3%), Orel Hershiser 24 (4.4%), Albert Belle 19 (3.5%), Paul O’Neill 12 (2.2%), Bret Saberhagen 7 (1.3%), Jose Canseco 6 (1.1%), Tony Fernandez 4 (0.7%), Dante Bichette 3 (0.6%), Eric Davis 3 (0.6%), Bobby Bonilla 2 (0.4%), Ken Caminiti 2 (0.4%), Jay Buhner 1 (0.2%), Scott Brosius 0, Wally Joyner 0, Devon White 0, Bobby Witt 0.

Here is what I find interesting. 8 of these baseball writers believed that Cal Ripken should NOT be elected into the hall of fame and 13 of them believed that Tony Gwynn should NOT be elected into the hall of fame. If those two aren't good enough...who is good enough for these idiot writers.

Even worse. 3 of these writers believe Dante Bichette SHOULD go in the Hall of Fame. Bichette who hit less than 300 home runs in his career and had a lifetime batting average less than .300. And even those numbers are inflated as he played 7 seasons in the best hitting park in Major League Baseball, Colorado's Mile High Stadium.

So with the news of Gwynn's induction, I have informed J-Mac that we are to be heading down to Cooperstown this fall. We aren't going for the induction ceremony, I just want to head down later to play some golf, check out the scenery and check out the new plaque for the greatest hitter of our generation, Tony Gwynn.

She is already on board by figuring out our route down to Cooperstown, picking out some good hotels and trying to determine whether we will drive back to Canada up through the Adirondacks up past Plattsburg and meet up with Coglero in Ottawa or not.

We did this same trip in September 2000. My favourite memory of being in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown was standing outside the Negro Leagues section of the Hall. I was waiting for J-Mac who was admiring the Babe Ruth memoribilia when I hear this guy in front of us pointing out the Negro Leagues section and saying to his wife, "We don't need to go in there." I love Americans.