Hall of Fame: Class of 20??
By Tony Serri

On a talk show today I heard the Giants shortstop referred to as “Future Hall of Famer Omar Vizquel”. I had to admit – the words had an unfamiliar, oxymoronic feel to them like “President Hillary Clinton” or “Academy Award Winner Julia Roberts”. I thought it might be fun to go down the current MLB rosters to see who is a future Hall of Famer and uncover any unexpected, but valid candidates like Omar Vizquel.

Like most things that sound “fun” or simple, it turned out to a little tougher than I thought. I decided to limit the discussion to veteran ballplayers (players with 7 years or more service). I came up with four categories. The first two are self-explanatory. The “Ship Has Sailed” category is for players who seemed on their way a few years ago but have not piled up enough credentials and time has definitely caught up to them. The “Tainted Love” category is for active players whose statistics merit induction, but who have been tainted by steroid accusations and/or Mitchell Report findings. Only time will tell whether HOF voters will include them. Myself, I say none of them should go in.

Sure Fire First Balloters:

Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine – 300 game winners. They may actually go in together.

Randy Johnson – If he wants anyone to show up at his induction, he should retire when Maddux and Glavine do.

Derek Jeter – Already picking out a suit and matching girlfriend.

Alex Rodriguez – So great that even Jose Canseco couldn’t take him down

Mariano Rivera – I never liked the “Greatest Post-Season Closer” tag. I think it puts too fine a point on his greatness. He’s one of the 5 best relievers ever.

Vlad Guerrero – Won’t end up with all-time stats, but he’s scared the resin out of opposing pitchers for a decade now.

Mike Piazza – Just retired, so I’m putting him on here. Baseball’s Dan Marino. Came up big in the clutch but his teams were always lacking something.

Frank Thomas – Dominated for the first 5 years of his career but went into cruise control for the last 13.

Ichiro Suzuki – Did for Japanese baseball what SONY did for Japanese technology.

Chipper Jones – Nailing it this year with his Ted Williams impersonation

John Smoltz – If Dennis Eckersly is in for his starter/closer hybrid, then Smoltz is in too. Smoltz was a better starter to boot and with apologies to Curt Schilling, the best post-season pitcher in the past 30 years.

Pedro Martinez – Goes in the Sandy Koufax Wing for pitchers who were virtually unhittable for 3-4 years, but who never stuck around long enough to pile up big numbers
Albert Pujols – The Gen X version of the Big Hurt in that he was phenomenal early and appears to be losing interest.

Ken Griffey Jr. – Take away the last 5 years production and he’s still a first ballot candidate.

Will Get In But Not First Ballot:

Jim Thome – Kind of a one-trick pony, but he did that trick (homer) over 500 times
Omar Vizquel – Goes in the Ozzie Smith Wing for guys who made jaw-dropping plays at shortstop for over a dozen years but didn’t hit all that much.

Trevor Hoffman – The voters will make him sweat for a few years like Sutter and Gossage.

Curt Schilling – Will set the record for longest induction speech. His inclusion will depend a lot on what ultimately happens to Jack Morris’ candidacy.

Lance Berkman – The last and greatest Killer B.

Ivan Rodriguez – His power magically melted away with drug testing in 2005 but he fielded well enough to eventually get in.

Jorge Posada – Posada along with Jeter and Rivera has become part of the “True Yankee” triumvirate of the four-championship run of the late 90s.

Andruw Jones – He’s my Omar Vizquel candidate in that it just doesn’t sound right. True he’s a clown now, but he’s a 12-time Gold Glove winner and 4-time All-Star with 370 homers.

Jeff Kent – Yup. Jeff Kent.

The Ship Has Sailed:

Carlos Delgado, Moises Alou, Garrett Anderson, Jim Edmonds, Mike Mussina, Nomar Garcia-parra, Luis Gonzalez, Todd Helton, Shawn Green (interesting how many in this category were Dodgers).

Tainted Love:

Barry Bonds (still active), Eric Gagne, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Roger Clemens, Andy Petitte