Reckoning day

In a little more than three hours, we'll know without a doubt whether the baseball writers of America are collectively idiotic--even what percentage of them tried to spare such an ignoble fortune. It all boils down to one question.

Is this man going into the Hall of Fame?


I just don't see how you argue against him. He was better than his peers at his position, better than predecessors at his position, and better than other players at his position who are already in the Hall of Fame. The notion that some players are deserving of 'first-ballot' entry into the Hall of Fame and others are not is a notion that some baseball writers have concocted to stratify the unbelievably great players (Ruth, Mays, Aaron, Williams, DiMaggio, Morgan, Brett, Schimdt, Bench, Henderson, etc.) from simply great players, and in the process puff up the writers' status as arbiters of greatness. The Hall of Fame itself makes no such distinction--there is not a special room for the guys who get in the first time up--and unlike football polls there is no extra voting for a first-place player.

I think Larkin gets at least 50%, which bodes well for future induction, probably next year. I also think the BBWAA is myopic and generally full of crap.

N.B. The baseball card above is from the 2000 Topps HD set, the last set of baseball cards I ever hand collated. It was a beautiful set on heavy card stock with high-resolution photos front and back and a high-gloss finish. They made one more set the next year and then discontinued it. This is my favorite Larkin card.