The Case against Jack Morris and the Hall of Fame
Quote:
Former pitcher Jack Morris has one year left on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and it is unknown if he will get in but one thing is for sure: he shouldn't.
His supporters will argue he had the most wins of the 1980s, he was an ace on three different teams that won the World Series and that he was a dominant pitcher.
Yes, Morris did indeed have the most wins of the 1980s, but does it not help with playing on good Detroit Tiger teams in 1984 and 1987? That 1984 team went all the way. They started off 35-5 and were 100-0 when leading after 8 innings. The Tigers did have a pitcher who won the AL MVP in 1984, but it wasn't Morris. It was Willie Hernandez.
Which pitcher had the most wins of the 2000s? Was it Randy Johnson? Roger Clemens? Roy Halladay? It was actually Andy Pettitte. Has Pettitte ever struck you as a Hall of Famer? He does have a case but whatever case he did have has been thrown out the window because of his connection to performance enhancing drugs.
Keep in mind wins are a team effort. Yes, he won a lot of games, 254, which isn't bad but why do people want to induct Morris yet criticized the 2011 election of former Minnesota Twin Bert Blyleven?
Blyleven was a pitcher who had 3,701 career strikeouts. He pitched 60 shutouts on really bad Twins teams. He was on a couple of winners. He was on the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates World Champion team and part of the Twins team that won it all in 1987, beating Morris' Tigers in the ALCS.
In fact, they squared off in game 2 of that series. Blyleven got the better of Morris, with the Twins winning 6-3 over the Tigers and Blyleven pitching a very impressive performance. Blyleven actually was a pretty good postseason pitcher. He had a 2.47 ERA in eight career postseason games...
This is an excellent blog by Rizzo44, I suggest reading the rest:
The Case Against Jack Morris for the Hall of Fame ~ 101 Baseball
What do you think about Morris' and the HoF?
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