<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Wayne Countryman: Andre Dawson: 438 HRs; 1,591 RBIs (more than Mickey Mantle); 1,373 runs; 8-time all-star; MVP; rookie of year; 8 Gold Gloves; 314 stolen bases (twice as many as Mickey Mantle); led league in hits, total bases, HRs, RBIs for seasons.<hr></blockquote><p>I didn't watch him play much either on TV or in person (his prime occurred while I was a teen), but my impression is that he was a great player--but not great enough to be enshrined. Obviously you're comparing apples and oranges when comparing Dawson with Mantle, who was a legend because of his on-field feats, the team he played for and the position he played on it. It's impossible to compare players of different eras anyway. Mantle was facing seven other teams in his league, whereas Dawson was facing, what, 13? That made for a lot of second-line pitchers for Dawson to have feasted on for all those years. Ballpark dimensions were different between the eras as well. <p>Evans, too, was great, and I watched him pretty extensively. You're right--runners didn't take the extra base on him, and he was a dangerous hitter. I still remember him whacking the first pitch of the 1986 season off Jack Morris at Tiger Stadium for a home run, a portent of things to come for those Red Sox. But Evans wasn't good enough to be considered a Hall of Famer.<p>With Canseco, of course, you are joking. Canseco is the modern era's Dave Kingman, though admittedly Canseco probably had (and squandered) more talent than Kingman did. I will be shocked, shocked, if Canseco gets enough votes to remain on the ballot after his first year of eligibility.<p>Now Jack Morris presents a solid case for enshrinement. He was undoubtedly the dominant American League pitcher of his era and always the ace on whatever staff he pitched on. His 10-inning shutout in the '91 Series represents one of the greatest Series games ever played and one of the greatest pitching performances of all time. The fact that he won "only" 254 games, in the era of the five-man rotation and on some bad Tigers teams, should not be held against him. Though he never won the Cy Young, he did finish in the Top 10 seven times, led his league in wins twice and was a five-time All-Star.<p>[ January 19, 2004: Message edited by: wordygurdy ]</p>
|