I have the good fortune of sharing my birthday week with one of my favorite people in the entire world, Louis Leo Holtz. He is the last great Notre Dame football coach. I hope Brian Kelly joins him in that category, but as of right now, Holtz is the last one. But besides his great success at Notre Dame, the thing that I love about him is his belief in Notre Dame. As he once said, "If you've been to Notre Dame, no explanation is necessary. If you haven't been there, no explanation will suffice." I was reading his autobiography and he discusses the spirit of Notre Dame that makes Notre Dame a special place. He felt that and I felt that. If Ohio State was found to have all sorts of rules violations and they were ruled ineligible for the championship game and were somehow replaced with Notre Dame, Lou would absolutely be convinced that Notre Dame would beat Oregon. Even though he was never a Notre Dame student, Lou Holtz understood Notre Dame. I fear that Brian Kelly does not.
Anyway, my birthday week and the Baseball Hall of Fame elections make me think of my birthday two years ago. It was my first day back at work after the National Championship Game in Miami. That day and the day after the Celtics lost Game 7 to the Lakers in 2010 were the two days that I've least wanted to go to work in my entire life. The one thing that cheered me up two years ago just a little bit was the fact that nobody was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Today four people made it in. They should have just voted Ken Griffey Jr. in this year even though he's not eligible yet. How would I vote for the Hall of Fame? First, just think about it. There's no doubt about some players. If I have any doubt, then I go to the numbers. And nobody who cheated or bet on baseball gets in. Here's my hypothetical ballot:
1. Ken Griffey Jr.- I'd write him in a year early.
2. Randy Johnson- No doubt. He had a very long run of dominance. I don't need to go through his numbers, I just know he belongs in.
3. Pedro Martinez- Again, no doubt. He wasn't dominant for as long as Johnson. But at the top of his game, he was even better than Johnson.
4. John Smoltz- If you were an Atlanta Braves fan and you had a big game to win, this was the guy you wanted on the mound. And you had Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine on your team. Those two guys got in easily and they were better regular season pitchers than Smoltz, but being better than those two in big games has to get him in also.
5. Curt Schilling- Sorry, John. Schilling was pretty much as good as Smoltz as a big game pitcher. He had a short run when he was teammates with Johnson and he was just as good. And even when he wasn't at the top of his game, you wanted him pitching a big game (the bloody sock game comes to mind).
6. Mike Mussina- I have no doubt about those first five guys. I had some doubt about Mussina. One of my favorite Mike and the Mad Dog bits was when they would go through a player's seasons and decide if they were Hall of Fame seasons or not. I'm giving him eight Hall of Fame seasons (1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2008). Combine that with several other solid seasons and it's enough to get in. I know his ERA wasn't always the prettiest, but keep in mind that he spent most of his career in a really bad place to pitch (and Yankee Stadium wasn't a great place to pitch either) and he pitched in the height of the Steroid Era.
7. Edgar Martinez- Probably not as surprising as the next player on my list, but hold on, we'll come back to him.
8- Fred McGriff- Fred McGriff? Yep, Fred McGriff. Hold on, we'll come back to him too.
Here's a list of guys I wouldn't vote for:
1. Tim Raines- There's an asterisk here. I don't remember Tim Raines in his prime. Some guys love Tim Raines. I would abstain on him (if that were an option). I just don't remember him well enough to say whether or not he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
2. Craig Biggio- He's from Kings Park, New York, but no. I think there's some suspicion of steroids. And if he was on steroids, he's out for sure. But let's assume he's clean for a minute and give Biggio the Mike and the Mad Dog treatment. I'm giving him four Hall of Fame seasons (1994, 1995, 1997, 1998). He had some other really good seasons. But it's not the Hall of Really Good. He got in because he stuck around for 20 years and compiled numbers.
3. Mike Piazza- I'd be shocked if he wasn't on steroids.
4. Jeff Bagwell- Again, I'd be shocked if he wasn't on steroids.
5. Barry Bonds- We know he was on steroids. He got 202 votes more than he should have.
6. Roger Clemens- We know he was on steroids. He got 206 votes more than he should have.
Here's why I hate the guys that used steroids. They killed part of the greatest game in the world. Baseball is a game of numbers. 755 (Hank Aaron's career home run total), 714 (Babe Ruth), 660 (Willie Mays), 61 (Roger Maris's single season home run record), 511 (Cy Young's career wins), etc. So you could say Barry Bonds murdered several of these numbers (and McGwire and Sosa before him in the case of the single season total). But it's not just Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa. It's Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, David Ortiz, Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, etc. Players who had great careers are made to look ordinary in comparison to these cheaters.
And that brings me back to Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff. Like I said, my first test is just thinking about a player and whether or not he's a Hall of Famer. Edgar Martinez passes that test. In a big spot, I would have been scared to death of Edgar Martinez and not so much of Rafael Palmeiro. But they played in the same era and Edgar Martinez's 309 career home runs looks like nothing compared to Rafael Palmeiro's 569. And when I check the numbers, I get eight Hall of Fame seasons for Edgar Martinez. He was David Ortiz before David Ortiz, a DH that scared you to death minus the steroids (I think, and if I'm wrong, Edgar Martinez doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame). As for Fred McGriff, one number really stands out: 493. He hit 493 home runs. You know who else hit 493 home runs? One of the five greatest hitters of all time, Lou Gehrig. Of course, Fred McGriff is not Lou Gehrig, but he had some great seasons. Again, his 493 home runs doesn't seem like a big deal because Rafael Palmeiro was playing at the same time and hit 569. If all these scumbags weren't cheating when Fred McGriff was playing, his 493 home runs would really stand out. Instead, they get lost in a sea of cheaters. I have nine Hall of Fame seasons for McGriff (1989-1994, 1999-2001, and 1995, 1996, and 2002 are very close). Again, this is assuming that McGriff was clean. But I feel really bad that dominant players like Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff can't get into the Hall of Fame because they happened to play at the same time as a bunch of scumbags.
Now that I've gotten myself angry with the cheaters who ruined part of baseball, let's go back where I started and finish this on a positive note. Here my list of favorite coaches/managers from my lifetime:
10. Al Groh- He's one of exactly two Jets head coaches with a winning record. Sad, but true.
9. Mike Brey- I used to be a big critic, but we could be doing a lot worse. He needs to have some more success in the tournament, though.
8. Gregg Popovich- He's a great coach. I was always happy if he beat the Lakers or Heat.
7. Tom Coughlin- He won my two favorite Super Bowls of all time.
6. Brad Stevens- I want to be Brad Stevens. I'm was a big fan going back to his Butler days. I really want to see him successful with the Celtics. Danny Ainge needs to turn all these draft picks into some good players for him.
5. Bill Parcells- He's the other Jets head coach with a winning record. He took the Jets from a laughingstock to a Super Bowl contender.
4. Joe Torre- I liked Torre before he went to the Dodgers. He led the Dodgers to their first playoff series win since 1988.
3. Doc Rivers- I'll always remember him for beating the Lakers in 2008.
2. Tommy Lasorda- He's the only Dodger manager to win a World Series during my lifetime. He's kind of the Dodgers' version of Lou Holtz.
1. Lou Holtz- I already covered Lou, but I'll just point out the National Championship in 1988 and the National Championship he was cheated out of in 1993. I love Lou!
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