Set Appreciation Post #12 - 2000 Topps

It's the 2000 Topps set, but I am still hoping for a good post.  

Did that giveaway the ranking? 

I like making these posts, so a short checklist and boring design are not going to stop me from finding fun and interesting things to talk about.  

If you're a big fan of the 2000 Topps set, be a good sport or go to another blog.  

Base Set

The basic design is a boring gray frame with some sort of oddly shaped player name box at the bottom of the card.  If you squint your eyes you can see that there is also a player position just above the player name on the right side of the card.  

The photography in the set is the opposite of the Upper Deck and Stadium Club sets from this era.  It's a mix of boring portrait photographs, drab action photographs, and other pictures which have aged poorly.  I hated the McGwire "Gut Punch" celebration that was in vogue with the Cardinals in the late 1990s.  Did Jose Canseco own the rights to the forearm bash?  

After watching the unauthorized biography of the Bash Brothers on Netflix, I am guessing that the answer to this question is yes.  

I asked my 10-year-old son about what he thought was happening on the front of this card.  I stared at the front of it for a minute and told me the photo on the back of the card was better.  When I redirected him to the photo on the front, his responses were, "You tell me" and "Looking dumb".  

There you have it. 

Back of the card. 

This feels boring and uninspired too.  

Did some designer at Topps forget he/she was supposed to finish up the design for the 2000 Topps set and create it at the last moment possible?  I don't want to know the answer, just in case, this was actually seen as good at the time.  

The small checklist is also problematic for me.  I can always count on the Topps base set to give me a good 20-25 Cardinals players.  The 2000 Topps set gives me roughly a dozen.  The 1999 Cardinals were pretty bad, especially the pitching, but some name players got left off the checklist. Who are some of the 1999 Cardinals players that got cut out?  

It was Willie McGee's final season in the Majors. Yes, he was the fourth outfielder, but he did not get a card in the set.  It was Placido Polanco's first season in the Majors.  No rookie card.  Shawon Dunston was a key bench player who did not get a card.  The pitchers on the team are worse.  Jose Jimenez started almost 30 games, threw a no-hitter, and did not get a base card.  Kent Bottenfield won 18 games, no card.  Darren Oliver started 30 games, no base card.  Rickey Bottalico appeared in almost 70 games and lead the team in saves.  You know, no base card.  

Where Was Dwight Gooden in 1999?  

One of the most enjoyable parts of flipping through old baseball card sets is finding baseball players in weird uniforms.  Places where you may or may not remember them playing, or you are just trying to forget about them appearing there.  

There are some good ones in the 2000 set.  

First up, we've got Hideo Nomo on the Brewers.  

Yes, I remember him as a Brewer, but I try to block it out.  Hideo had some rough years and bounced around more than I care to remember during his career.  Always a Dodger in my mind.  

Next up, Tim Raines on the A's.  

Definitely a little odd.  He was only on the A's for 58 games in 1999.  Raines was a long-time Expo and White Sox.  I always think about the end of his career being as a bench player on the late 1990s Joe Torre Yankees teams, but he played for 4 different teams between 1999 and 2001, including a return to the Expos.  

Next.  

Yes, I remember Rickey Henderson on the Mets.  Rickey Henderson was seemingly on every Major League team between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.  There were about three different times he was on the A's, two or three times he was on the Padres, the Angels, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Mariners.  Not in the correct order and I probably left out a team.  

This brings us to Dwight Gooden.  

What the hell is this all about?  

I remember Dwight Gooden on the Indians.  He had an ERA of 6.  He was in his mid-30s, it happens.  

The Astros?

He pitched one game for the Astros.

One game.  

Did I mention that Willie McGee was a pinch-hitter for the Cardinals in 1999 and did not get a single card in this set?  

This is an insert card that Topps made of him because he had a Topps All-Rookie Team card.  It's always easy to criticize a baseball card that was made 20 years ago, but considering where he was in his career, this was a terrible decision.  Find an old Mets photograph, put it on the same card design, and it's a really popular card.  That's the way we all remember Dwight Gooden, right?  He was a Met?  

Best Cardinals Card(s) 

The obvious answer is the Fernando Tatis highlight card from his two grand slam inning against the Dodgers, which is why I am not going to choose it.  I am actually going to pick two of them. Scanned side by side, so let me explain my choices.  

If you remember Joe McEwing, chances are that you would probably remember him best as a utility player for the Cardinals and Mets.  However, he had a great half a season with the Cardinals in 1999 where he the starting second baseman. During the first half of that season, he had a slash line of .305/.355/.418 with 4 home runs and 19 doubles.  In the second half of the year his slash line .223/.303/.362 with 5 home runs and 9 doubles.  He was a great story for half a season before he was a utility player for the better part of a decade.  

Jose Jimenez pitched a no-hitter for the Cardinals against the Diamondbacks in 2000.  Bud Smith would pitch one the next year, making him the last Cardinals pitcher to do so, but the Jimenez no-no was much more memorable.  

First, he out-pitched Randy Johnson winning a 1-0 game.  Second, he ended up starting against the Diamondbacks a week later and pitched a two-hitter.  The Diamondbacks did not get a hit until the fifth inning.  

This is the only Jose Jimenez card in the set.  

Best Durham Bulls Card 

Shout out to Javy Lopez for this photo looking pained running to first base.  

If I were Javy Lopez, I would never speak to anyone at Topps again after they made this card.  

The best Durham Bulls card in the 2000 Topps set belongs to former pitching coach Kyle Snyder.  

He went to one of the blue North Carolina colleges (powder blue), so that's a negative.  He also used to give my son baseballs every time we went to a Durham Bulls game, so that's a positive.  No, seriously he is a really good coach who did great work with the Bulls and is doing the same thing with the Rays.  

Year 2000 Set, 1990s Style

Peroxide was really popular in the late 1990s.  It's an inexpensive way to make yourself blonde.  There were people who looked good with blonde hair, then there was Todd Jones.....

A closer look at Todd Jones with blonde hair.  

This was not a good idea and I am certain that Todd Jones is not the real Slim Shady.  

Although I could see him being at Burger King circling the parking lot, something about onion rings.  Go look up the song lyrics.  

I was also on the lookout for Turn Ahead the Clock uniforms, but I could only find one card.  It's not even a very good picture.  Really disappointed. 

The Turn Ahead The Clock uniform appears on the Gary DiSarcina card.    

If you are not familiar with the Turn Ahead The Clock promotion in Major League Baseball during the 1999 season, I suggest you use the Google Image search to find pictures of some truly terrible uniforms.  Short sleeves, large logos, and odd color schemes.  

 

Apparently, the Mets are moving to Mercury. 

Best Non-Cardinal Card(s) 

Topps does so many reprints these days, along with borrowed designs from past sets to make current year cards.  If I created a list of grievances of modern baseball cards, like the last 10 years, that would definitely be on the list.  

Topps did do a pretty good job with reprints in their late 1990s base set releases.  Typically they choose one great player from the 1950s, 60s, or 70s and reprinted their entire run of Topps cards both on regular card stock and Chrome card stock.  If I recall correctly, they used Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Nolan Ryan, and Hank Aaron.  

Aaron was the last player to get this treatment, as 2001 was the start of both Topps Heritage and Archives.  

Here is one of the cards.....

 

Here is why I liked these cards.  I appreciate Hank Aaron and recognize the fact that he is one of the all-time greats of the game.  Would I like to own some more Hank Aaron cards?  Yes.  Am I going to spend the money to buy a bunch of 1950s and 1960s Aaron cards?  No.  I still love looking at his cards though and can do that by looking through my 2000 Topps set.  It might be the only reason I have looked through this box of cards during the past 10 years.  

How Does It Compare?

It's not in last place on my list, but it's just really hard to get past the fact that the set is boring.  The 2000 set is not the worst Topps base set during my lifetime, but it's definitely in the bottom 5.  There just is not a lot here to love.  

The last time I did one of these was two months ago with the 1988 Donruss set.  It's not as good as that set, so my ranking decision came down to this set and the 2000 UD Ionix set.  Sad to say this about a Topps base set, but I am putting it below that Upper Deck release. 

12. 2000 Pacific Paramount Update 

11. 2010 Topps USA Baseball  

10. 2000 Topps 

9. 2000 UD Ionix  

9. 1988 Donruss 

8. 1995 Emotion XL 

7. 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League

6. 1998 Topps TEK 

5. 1986 Topps Mini League Leaders 

4. 2001 Fleer EX 

3. 1979 Kellogg's 

2. 2002 Topps Super Teams

1. 1983 Topps 

The bottom two are going to be really hard to knock out of those places.  

A Lazy Morning

It was a really busy week.  No time for baseball cards.  I slept in the last two days, my wife made a good breakfast, and I spent time time with the littles this morning.  I am sitting in my office watching episodes of Tiny Desk Concerts and looking at some the new cards that showed up in my mail recently.  

If only there were more time for baseball cards.  

There is always time for cards on a lazy morning.  

First up, I picked up another Anthony Banda card about two weeks back.  Weird thing is that I got it off of Ebay, half asleep, I did not realize that I bought it from my local card shop.  Probably could have saved myself a little shipping and them an EBay fee.  Not my finest moment.  

Banda has been my Durham Bulls player of choice this season.  He was not on the team long before the Rays called him up to the Majors, but tore up his elbow and ended up missing the rest of the season.  Last season, Anthony Banda pitched for the Diamondbacks and was traded to the Rays for Steven Souza.  A huge chunk of his Topps cards have still had him a Diamondbacks uni.  Better than some bad airbrushing.  

The coloring of the card feels really off.....

It's in the colorized movie neighborhood.  

I also added a few more Kellogg's cards from 1983 to help out with my set.  I will have more of these later in the week......

These were three that I needed for my set.  Love the Greg Minton card with the orange Giants jersey and cool mustache.  Moves me a little closer to finishing off my set.  No time for checklists this morning, but I am in good shape with finishing this off soon.  

I also got a big envelope of random cards.  A thank you for helping out another collector with some cards for a set.  It's hard to post all the cards from a big random envelope, but two stood out to me.  With the 1983 Kellogg's set being close to completion, both are candidates to be projects over the last two months of the year.  

There were actually four of these in the package, but I have enjoyed the 1983 Kellogg's set, so the 1982 version would probably be fun too.  I am actually a lot further along, starting point wise, then I would have imagined before I went to look.  The time spent looking is also part of the reason you're only getting two cards out of a big envelope.   Roughly 50% is already here.  

I don't love this scan, but these cards are hard.  

The last few Denny's sets were actually pretty nice.  This is from the 1997 set, which has a SportsFlix kind of design.  Not a very big set, not hard to find the cards, and most are inexpensive.  Again, this is a set that own a good chunk of already, might be fun to finish off.  

Set Project: 1983-1990 Topps Glossy Send Ins

If you opened packs of Topps cards during the 1980s, you probably remember the contest cards that used to pop up every couple of packs.  They usually involved winning a trip to the All-Star game or Spring Training.  I think in the later 1980s Topps also offered collectors the chance to buy sweatshirts, or a chance to subscribe to Topps Magazine.  Cannot believe I passed up those opportunities.

I actually did save up my contest cards though, and at some point towards the end of each summer, I could usually convince my parents to get a money order to send in for a sweet stack of 10 glossy cards.  I actually think based on the number of cards in my collection, plus the fact that I probably split the cards my brother, I likely got a $4 dollar money order.

In retrospect as an adult, the fact that the money order probably cost $1 to buy, I am surprised my parents just didn't take me and my brother to the card shop to just buy the set of glossy send in cards. 

Four to six weeks later in the mail, we would have a stack of the glossy send-in cards.  They were really the same card design every year with a different colored border.  Still pretty exciting for the time when there were not many choices of sets to collect in the baseball card world.   

I have a few from 1983, but there are too many that are in too good of condition for them to be something that I actually got that year.  Plus, that was the first year I collected.  The first year where I actually have a somewhat significant amount of the glossy mail-ins cards is from 1984.  

Again, same design every year.  

I know that some of these cards that are in my collection have been with me since 1984.  They have rounded corners, or for some reason, the fronts of the cards are different colors than the backs of the cards.  A little weird considering my house was definitely smoke free.....

and I kept my cards in boxes and pages.  You can see the edges of this Quisenberry cards are a little bit yellowed, as is the Carew card above, especially when compared to the back of the card.  I'm actually guessing that I probably put these cards in sheets at some point.  I recall having a notebook for my cards later elementary school years that were filled with the best cards in my collection.  

In other words, my glossy mail-ins and Vince Coleman rookie cards.  

Other copies of these cards in my collection have clean white borders and no rounded edges.  Likely because I bought them as an older collector.  

The Raines card above is not well centered, but is a much better card than the Quisenberry.  There used to be a card shop in south St. Louis County off of Telegraph Road where I actually think I ended up with a lot of these cards.  The guy who owned the store had a lot of sets like these and the cards usually ended up in dime and quarter boxes.

Surprisingly, I have large amounts of most of these sets, but none of them are complete.  Of the sets that I have, I am actually missing a lot of the Cardinals out of the them.  Maybe they were not in the dime and quarter boxes at that store, or some other reason that I cannot think of at the moment.  

I am not going to post the checklists of all the Glossy Mail-In sets, but I will break down each of them and give a percentage that I am starting out at.  Some are going to be easy to finish, perhaps a COMC order, others I am going to spend a little time digging around for the cards.  I have a few road trips coming up in the next few months, plus there are a few card shows around here.   

1983 - 31 out of 40 78%  

1984 - 28 out of 40 70% 

There are several 1984 cards that I will likely replace since my only copies were clearly from my actually collection in 1984.  The seven year old me was not good with corners.  Really lower than 70%

1985- 35 out of 40 88%

These are all pristine, not sure I actually ordered any as a kid in 1985.  Maybe my brother ended up with all of them.  

1986- 42 out of 60 70%

1987-  22 out of 60 37%

1988- 42 out of 60 70%

1989- 58 out of 60 97%

1990- 55 out of 60 92% 

The percentages are all pretty high starting points, outside of the 1987 set, but I still need almost 100 cards, roughly, when taking into account all the different years that I am trying to assemble here.  I am going to say that this is going to take until February.  I will be shocked if I finish it sooner.  

I am going to tack a few other set projects onto this before the end of the year.  

Friday Five: My Top Five Base Stealers

I have not made a Friday Five Countdown post in awhile, but I thought this list would tie in well with a card post I have coming up during the next week.  This week, I am going to go with the five best base stealers that I have gotten to watch.  Mind you, I was barely around for the very end of Lou Brock's career, so he's not on the list.  I put Joe Morgan into the same category too.  I know he ended his career with almost 700 steals, but he was not stealing many bases by the time I started watching baseball.

Without further delay, my Top Five Base Stealers, plus an Honorable Mention. 

Honorable Mentions

Ozzie Smith - I know you might think this is a homer pick, but you know I have some numbers.  What about someone like Juan Pierre, or Otis Nixon?  Both had more stolen bases than Ozzie Smith during their careers, both definitely played during my lifetime, and both actually had some seasons with some really high stolen base totals.  The main reason boils down to this:  Nixon and Pierre both had roughly forty more career steals than Ozzie, both were large quantity stolen base guys, but they both had success rates in the mid 70 percents.  The other mass stolen base players of the eighties and nineties, I know Pierre was later, were all above an 80% success rate.  Ozzie was right at 80%, he had 16 seasons with more than 20 steals, 11 with more than 30, 10 seasons with more than 30 (3 were while he was 35 or older), five over 40, and 2 over 50.  Ozzie was a consistent stolen base threat throughout his career, he picked good spots to steal, and was pretty successful, all while being the premier defensive infielder of his generation.  The only seasons Ozzie did not post more than 20 steals were his last three, which were played at ages 39, 40, and 41.  He was also a part time player during those years.  

5. Vince Coleman 

Coleman ranks sixth all-time in steals, which is the third highest total during my time watching baseball.  Between 1985 and 1990 he led the National League in stolen bases every single year, with three of those seasons ending with more than 100 steals.  Coleman's totals slowed during his last three years leading the NL in steals, dropping into the into the 80s, 70s, and 60s, but he also drastically improved his success rate.  Between the end of the 1988 season and the middle of the 1989 season, Coleman set the Major League Baseball record for consecutive stolen bases without being thrown out with 50.  He still owns that record, which seems like it is going to be really hard to touch in this current era of baseball, and he is also the last player to steal 100 bases.  Coleman left the Cardinals for the Mets in 1991, his career plummeted though after leaving St. Louis.  He was really a system player during the 1980's Whiteyball Era with the Cardinals.  There was not a lot of power on the team, but Coleman got on base and it was the same thing as giving up a double or triple.  He had trouble carrying his skill set over to other teams, stealing less than 100 bases between 1991 and the end of his career in 1997.  

4. Barry Bonds 

I put Barry Bonds in the same category as Ozzie Smith, where he has a high total of career stolen bases, but he never had one season with a total high enough to lead the league.  He had only one season where he crossed 50 steals, in 1990 with the Pirates, but he generally put up anywhere from 20 to 40 steals in a season.  By his mid 30s he had stopped running and became strictly a power hitter.  That combination of power and speed is what really puts him on this list for me.  There is less opportunity to run hitting in the middle of the lineup, yet he still managed more than 500 stolen bases in his career.  In 1996, Bonds became only the second player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season.  Jose Canseco was the first to reach that mark in 1988, ARod and Alfonso Soriano did it after Bonds.  He is also the only player to hit more than 500 home runs and steal 500 bases.  The single season totals don't jump out at you, but the overall total combined with his power numbers are extraordinarily impressive.  

3. Kenny Lofton

Post-Vince Coleman, Kenny Lofton took over his crown as the best base stealer in baseball during the early 1990s.  Similar to Coleman, Lofton had a long run of stolen base championships leading the American League five years straight from 1992 to 1996.  The totals were lower than Coleman, stealing somewhere between 60 and 70 bases in a season.  Although, Lofton played for teams with a lot more power behind him.  I am sure he was given his chances to steal, but I am also sure that having hitter like Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez batting after him also limited the chances at times.  Lofton bounced around the second half of his career, never led any league in stolen bases again, but he still remained a productive player.  Lofton ended his career with 622 stolen bases.  I have seen some good arguments for Lofton deserving a long look from whatever today's equivalent of the Veterans Committee is for the Hall of Fame.    

2. Tim Raines 

Raines is fifth all-time in stolen bases.  From 1981 through 1984 he led the National League in stolen bases each of those seasons.  He might have tacked another two to three stolen base titles if not for Vince Coleman.  After winning four straight stolen base titles, had five other season where he finished in the top 5 in the league.  In all, he had 8 seasons with more than 50 stolen bases.  Unlike most of the other mass stolen base players of the 1970s and 1980s, the other exception is the first player on this list, Raines actually had a really exceptional on base percentage.  During his 11 season where he played regularly with the Expos, he never had an on base percentage under .350.  By the time Raines played on a visible team, the late 1990s Yankees, he was a reserve player.  It took him awhile to get the Baseball Writers to appreciate his career numbers, he was primarily an Expo, but he finally made the Hall of Fame last year.  

1. Rickey Henderson 

Hopefully you knew who was first on the list before you even clicked the link.  If I had to pick out records set by modern baseball players that are nearly untouchable, I would have to put Henderson's career and single season stolen base records near the top of the list.  He ended his career with more than 1,400 steals, which is roughly 400 steals more than Lou Brock, who is second all time.  It's more than double the career totals of both Juan Pierre and Kenny Lofton, who were the last two players to enter the top 20 list of all-time base stealers.  As for Henderson's single season record of 130, set in 1982, the last time a player came within 50 steals of that number was in 2007 when Jose Reyes stole 78 bases.  The closet any one player has come since the record was set was Vince Coleman in 1985 when he finished 20 away with 110.  Beyond steals, Henderson collected 3,000 career hits, a career on-base percentage over .400, and is the all-time career leader in runs scored.  Bonds or Mike Trout are the best players that I have seen in person, but Henderson is definitely in my top 5.  The first half of his career, which was spent with the A's during two different stints, the Yankees, and Blue Jays was incredible.  The second half of career was spent drifting between a few more stints in Oakland, Padres, Angels, Mets, Mariners, Red Sox, and Dodgers.  I feel like several of those years tainted the big picture of how great a player Rickey Henderson was during his prime.  

If I Had A Hall of Fame Ballot I'd Vote with Baseball Cards

I have done this type of post a few times in the past, trying it again this year.  The Hall of Fame ballots are out and everyone on Twitter, Facebook, or baseball fans elsewhere has some sort of opinion about who belongs in Cooperstown.  I like a good argument as long as it doesn't go too far.

The Hall of Fame voters are allowed to vote for up to 10 players on the ballot, which has become sort of a problem recently with the backlog of steroid users.  So, while normal Hall of Fame voters are restricted to ten, I am going past that number since I am not an actual voter.  A few other things here before he begin.

If I did have a Hall of Fame vote....

• I would not be the moral police.  
• It still takes talent to hit or throw a baseball even if you are taking steroids
• There are not many relief pitchers that I value.  In case you were wondering, since I am not going to bring it up down below: Wagner > Hoffman.  

Here are my 10 (+2) in no particular order.  I'd be happy to see any of these players in the Hall of Fame, but only a few will actually make it.  

Tim Raines - Raines has more than 2,600 hits, 800 stolen bases, and an on base percentage of .385.  There is not a lot of hardware in the trophy case, but he did spend the end of his career with the Yankees and won a World Series ring in 1996.  The Expos had some good players at different points during his time in Montreal, but I wonder if Raines would have stuck around on the ballot this long if he had played somewhere else during the first half of his career. He led the National League in stolen base in his first four seasons, probably would have run the streak to seven or eight if it weren't for Vince Coleman, and scored more than 90 runs 6 of his first 7 full seasons.  Slam dunk this year.  

Manny Ramirez - Ignore all of the behaviors that people took exception to, and the steroid stuff, Manny could hit.  I first saw Manny at an Interleague Game the Cardinals played against the Indians in 1997.  The Tribe were loaded, but Manny Ramirez was really impressive.  I dabbled in his cards over the years and always enjoyed watching him play.  Maybe not the 2004 World Series, but the rest of the time was good.  He ended his career with more than 550 home runs, 1,800 RBIs, and a .312/.411/.585 slash line.  Again, ignore the drama, just look at the numbers.  The guy should be a no doubter.  I think there is little chance he gets in this year.  

Jeff Bagwell - There was no hitter in the NL Central I feared the Cardinals playing more than Jeff Bagwell.  The guy could hit, and if he did not play in the steroid era, would have been in the Hall long ago.  He's not in the Hall for all the same stupid reasons that Piazza sat around for a few years.  Bagwell ended his career with more than 400 home runs, 400 doubles, and 1,500 RBIs.  His overall slash line was .297/.408/.540 with an OPS+ of 149.  He took home the 1994 NL MVP.  I have seen a few people complain about the length of his career, 15 years, but he was really good throughout those years.  I have high hopes he gets in this year.  

Roger Clemens - I am not even going into numbers here.  I don't care about steroids, put him in the Hall.  I had my doubts about Clemens ever making it into the Hall, but I am starting to think that there is hope.  I am going to say he does not make it this year, but is in within the next year or two.  

Bonds - Just reread the Clemens paragraph, but substitute in Bonds where it says Clemens.  

Curt Schilling - Schilling seems like one of the really heated deabtes around the Hall candidates at the moment.  I don't do politics on this space, but again I am not a moral police kind of a person. When I look at Schilling's career the biggest problem is that there are a lot of lost years.  He had a few good years in chunks, missed time and games with injuries, and then would bounce back and have a few more good years.  216 wins is not very many, but if you are going to argue counting numbers, he did cross 3000 strikeouts.  Schilling also had four really good postseasons with the Phillies in 1993, DBacks in 2001, and Red Sox in 2004 and 2007.  I'd put him in, but I also know there are people who are down on him for baseball reasons and non-baseball reasons.  His vote totals are shrinking, no chance for awhile.  

Larry Walker - I have heard people talk about Walker as a Coors Field hitter, but that's a pretty weak argument.  Before he ended up on the Rockies, Walker was a really good player on the Expos.  In his 6 years in Montreal Walker had an OPS+ of 128 and was a true five star talent.  Walker hit for power, was an elite fielder and won Gold Gloves, and also had speed and stole bases.  By the time his career had ended Walker won three batting titles and ended with a .313/.400/.565 slash line.  I saw Walker several times throughout his career in person, but I watched his final two years with the Cardinals closely.  He was old, and his neck didn't allow him to hit for power anymore, but in two seasons in St Louis he had a 134 OPS+ and almost put up a 3 WAR season in 2005.  Busch Stadium is not a nice place for hitters, so that tells you a lot about the "Coors Field Hitter" argument.  Walker gets into the Hall at some point, but its at least a few years away.  

Mike Mussina - I am not always a huge costing numbers person, but lets start out with 270 wins and almost 3,000 strikeouts in 18 years all pitching in the American League East which was a tough division throughout Messina's career.  Also remember that 10 of those seasons were played in Camden Yards, which is a pretty stadium, but also a band box.  Similar to Raines, Mussina does not have a lot of hardware, but unlike Raines, Mussina did not get a World Series ring out of his time with the Yankees.  Here's where I put Mussina into the Hall: If you follow the WAR7 stat with Jay Jaffe, Mussina is a little short for peak years compared to pitchers like Schilling, but he's still ahead of a few of the 1990s Braves who are in the Hall like Glavine and Smoltz.  His overall career WAR is actually higher than Nolan Ryan, as well as his ERA+.  Mussina makes it at some point, wait a few more years.  

Sammy Sosa - Sammy never failed a drug test.  Sammy has 600 home runs.  Sammy hit more than 60 home runs 3 times.  Sammy belongs in the Hall, put him in.  Sammy gets in after Bonds and Clemens, but that's not far away.  

Edgar Martinez - I know a lot of people who feel the same way about DHs as I do about relief pitchers.  First, let me start by saying that I don't care about being just past 2,000 hits when the player has a career .418 on-base percentage.  That's one argument I have read multiple times about Edgar.  Walks, hits, whatever.  When Edgar did swing the bat though good stuff happened.  His career slash line was .312/.418/.515 with more than 300 home runs and 500 doubles.  The JAWS rankings on Gar are a little bit off since Jaffe lists him as a third baseman, but the last time he played more than 50 games there in a season was 1994.  No comparable really, just a good hitter with some great stats.  

Vladimir Guerrero - Not a really long career, but Vlad was good almost the entire time.  He was an incredible player in Montreal, but I am not sure that very many people saw him while he was playing there.  I first saw him during the summer of 1997 and was really impressed by his defense at the time, but he was also a great hitter.  I think it's the 50 Cent gif where he swings at the bad first pitch and gets a double, but there is this really bad vibe that he swung at everything and was not on base often.  Not true.  Vlad's career OBP is .379 with a .553 SLG and more than 450 home runs and doubles.  Loads of Silver Sluggers and All-Star Appearances, as well as the 2004 American League MVP Award help make up for the fact that he did not get any postseason hardware.  Not a difficult argument here, Vlad is in not in this year, but will be very soon.  

Ivan Rodriguez - As a Cardinals fan I really enjoy watching Yadier Molina.  I did not get to see Pudge very often, but he had that same sort of defensive dynamic to the game.  Teams did not run on him, he called a good game, and he also did a good job handling the bat.  Not always true of Yadier, but Rodriguez has about seven or eight years with a .300+ batting average, pretty good on-base numbers, and good extra base hit totals.  For his career he ended with a .296/.334/.464 slash line, more than 300 home runs, and almost 600 doubles.  He's the all-time dWAR leader for catchers and should be a no brainer for the Hall.  There are some steroid rumblings here, he still should get in soon.  

A Venerable Old Card Part 37

I usually put up some sort of Hall of Fame post around this time of year advocating for the players that I believe should be voted into Cooperstown.  I plan on still doing that here in the next two weeks, but for the moment I am going to just focus on one of the players on the ballot.

The ballot has gotten crowded in recent years and there are a lot of different voters who are playing moral police about who should and shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame based on whether or not they have been linked to steroids or not.  In some cases, like Bagwell and Piazza, just the mere suspicion has been enough to keep them outside of the Hall.

It's the final year that former Expos outfielder Tim Raines can make Hall via the regular writers ballot.  If I had a ballot I would vote for him in a second.  I will go over some of the reasons a little further down the page, but first lets look at a Raines card from long ago.....

the often ignored 1981 Topps Expos Future Stars card.  These have always sort of been a staple in Topps sets, I know they aren't in at the moment, but have taken on many different forms over the years.  The 1980s ones always seemed to have some decent/noteworthy player on the card along with two players who were completely missable.  See the Cal Ripken rookie card.  

Both Ramos and Pate played less than 100 games in the Majors.  I did not try to find either player to ask them their feelings about this card, but I am guessing they think it's pretty cool to have a card with a great player.  

I found it interesting that Raines was listed as a second baseman on this card.  I actually found it on his other rookie cards too. After a little researching on Baseball Reference it appears that Raines played second base throughout his Minor League career, but was placed in the outfield in favor of Doug Flynn and Rodney Scott when he reached the Majors.  

Maybe the only part of this card that I am not thrilled about is.....

is the back.  Sure, there is that cool vintage Topps logo next to each of the players names, but they could have done more with this space outside of just putting down the players vitals.  Still, I like this look better than some of the more modern prospect cards that are overly busy on the back.  

Now, about Raines being in the Hall.  

Two biggest things that Raines had going against him during his career were:

1.  He spent his best years playing on the Expos

2.  He played at the same time as Rickey Henderson who was a better similar player.  

Now the positives.  Raines is rated the seventh best left fielder in baseball history according to Jay Jaffe.  His WAR is 69.1 which is higher than modern Hall of Famers/Hall of Fame candidates such as Jim Rice, Lou Brock, Billy Williams, and 0.1 lower than Manny Ramirez.  If you use his WAR7, best seven seasons, he is 2 WAR ahead of Manny and 2 WAR below Pete Rose.  Pretty good company.  

Looking at counting numbers, it true that Raines never reached 3,000 hits, but his on-base percentage is .385, with 6 seasons above .400.  He has four hundred more walks than strikeouts over his 23 year career.  Raines also has more than 400 doubles and 800 stolen bases.  The stolen base mark places him fifth on the all-time list.  

In summation, I have no problem saying that Tim Raines was not the best lead off hitter of his generation.  That distinction easily goes to Rickey Henderson.  However, I would argue that Raines was the second greatest lead off hitter of his generation and rates better than other speedster in the Hall such as Lou Brock.  I'd vote Raines into the Hall if I had a vote, and hopefully this year enough baseball writers will finally agree with the numbers and put him in Cooperstown.