Another relief pitcher is in the Hall of Fame. Sorry, Sal. It's not Goose.
Bruce Sutter (pronounced "SOO-ter") was on 400 of the 520 ballots cast for this year's Hall of Fame class (390 votes were needed to get in). He will be the fourth reliever with a nice shiny plaque to hang in Cooperstown.
Red Sox great Jim Rice had the second most votes this year (337, 64.8 percent) and has three more years left on the ballot before his legacy is turned over to the infamously merciless Veterans Committee for examination.
Much to NYCer Sal Marinello's chagrin, Rich "Goose" Gossage didn't get his golden egg. He only received 336 votes (64.6 percent).
Sutter enjoyed a 12-year career — 5 with the Chicago Cubs, 4 with the St. Louis Cardinals and 3 with the Atlanta Braves — where he closed out 300 games, went to six All-Star games and finished with a career 2.83 ERA. He also won a Cy Young in 1978 and a World Series ring in 1982. In that World Series, he had a 1-0 record and 2 saves, including Game 7, where he pitched the final two innings.
Whether he will choose to be portrayed as a Cub or a Cardinal (unlikely a Brave) is yet to be decided. While he began his career and won the Cy Young in Chicago, his World Series glory came with St. Louis.
Not even close
While 75 percent of the votes gives you baseball immortality, less than 5 percent gets you a brief mention in the next paragraph.
All but two of the first-year ballot candidates were killed off the list: Will Clark, Dwight Gooden, Hal Morris, Ozzie Guillen, Gary Gaetti, John Wetteland, Rick Aguilera, Doug Jones, Greg Jefferies, Walt Weiss, Gary DiSarcina, and Alex Fernandez.
Albert Belle and Orel Hershiser were the only two first-balloters to make the cut, reaping 7.7 and 11.2 percent of the votes, respectively. They will be on the ballot next year.
Willie McGee was also eliminated from the ballot in his second year.
But if it was up to ESPN...
Sutter, Gossage, Rice, and Jack Morris all would have made it. Ten writers for ESPN have votes, and at least eight of them voted for the aforementioned four.
Here are the full ESPN voter results.
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Article comments
1 - DJRadiohead
Rice and Gossage should have made it. Period. Lee Smith should be there as well.
Albert Belle got many more votes than I would have ever thought possible.
2 - Mark Saleski
how can they not have voted gossage in? he totally freaking dominated for, what, ten years or so?
3 - DJRadiohead
Sutter might have been the pioneer who invented the CLOSER but Gossage and Smith in my mind are the two who invented the closer role in its current incarnation. Both were dominant. Hell... 1984 LCS it was Gossage v Smith (Cubs/Padres). Wrong team won that series but I remember it.
4 - Matthew T. Sussman
If the collective Hall voters who work for ESPN think they should get in, I wonder how hard they will try to convince their colleagues.
It's just so interesting to see all these players from the '80s battle for Hall of Fame credibility. There were so many great players but not many of them stood above their peers. That's why Rice, Gossage, Morris, Bert Blyleven and (until recently) Gary Carter had a hard time getting 75 percent of the voters to say "Yes, he belongs in the Hall of Fame."
5 - The Theory
Congradulations Sutter...
He grew up locally, so his making the Hall of Fame has been big news and earned several front page articles.
Albert Belle should NEVER make the hall. And there is a reason most of those other eligibles didn't get the 5%.
6 - Matthew T. Sussman
I know in my mind Hershiser isn't a Haller either, but the 59 straight scoreless innings will be a record for a while. Plus we BGSU alum have to stick together.
7 - The Theory
with the hall's current lax standards, I'd say Hershiser is as worthy as anyone... though in the ideal world it should only be the elite of the elite who get into the hall... and Hershiser was just really good.
8 - Matthew T. Sussman
I wonder if it's lax standards or parity among the greats in the current generation of athletes under the microscope.
9 - Matthew T. Sussman
Update -- he's going as a Cardinal.
10 - RJ Elliott
Will Clark didn't even get 5%? Jeez...
11 - Matthew T. Sussman
Will Clark got 4.4 percent. That's rough, especially for a fan favorite.
12 - The Theory
fan favorite or not... do we really want to see Will Clark in the hall of fame? He's not the sort of player to ever get the required % of votes... so might as well end the misery now instead of letting it just drag out year after year.
13 - James d.
Maybe I have a terrible memory or was misled, but I grew up (born 1983) hearing that no matter who actually invented the splitter, it was Roger Craig as a pitching coach who did the most to properly show people how to throw it. I never heard -- and this is just a couple years after Sutter retired -- Sutter mentioned in that same breath as the player who made it popular.
That's probably because that assertation was already well-known. But much like the contention that Mattingly was a legendary fielder, yet no one ever complained when Tino was manning the bag, I wonder if the legend of Sutter's influence is something that's remembered through rose-colored glasses.
Any perspectives on this?
14 - Matthew T. Sussman
Theory, if it were me I'd like to see how many years I could stay on the ballot. And no, I don't think Will Clark is by any means a Hall of Fame player, but there are many shades of gray between Hall and no Hall.
There's getting elected on the first ballot (George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Ozzie Smith),
Getting elected after several ballots (Gary Carter, Ryne Sandberg, Bruce Sutter)
Never getting elected, receiving only half the vote (Bert Blyleven, Lee Smith),
Never getting elected, receiving a small portion of the votes (Alan Trammell, Don Mattingly, Steve Garvey)
Never getting elected, removed from the ballot after a couple years (Fernando Valenzuela, Willie McGee)
Getting removed from the ballot after the first year (Will Clark, Cecil Fielder, Lenny Dykstra)
Even getting on the ballot is an accomplishment in itself, because it means you were able to sustain yourself as a major league ballplayer for 10 seasons.
• James, all voting is speculative. So if the voting collective has a positive impression of the dude, then of course they'll give him some leeway, whereas Mattingly was unfortunately a superb player in a bad time for the Yankees.
15 - Scott
I'm glad ol' Ryne-o Sangberg got in recently. He was the reason I decided I wanted to play second base.