There was an article in the Boston Globe a few days ago that was interesting and I thought I would ask you guys the same question that the article did: Should Albert Belle be in the Hall of Fame? Before I give my personal take, let me just relay some of the underlying points in the article written by Bob Ryan. First of all, the below numbers represent the AVERAGE 162-game season for some retired MLB players: AVG. HR RBI R OBP SLUG. 1. .282 33 106 82 .360 .529 2. .256 38 105 85 .376 .509 3. .298 30 113 97 .352 .502 4. .307 29 128 106 .395 .545 5. .279 22 96 74 .341 .463 6. .295 40 130 103 .360 .564 Now, to reveal the names of the owners of those stat lines... 1. Willie Stargell 2. Harmon Killebrew 3. Jim Rice 4. Hack Wilson 5. Tony Perez 6. Albert Belle Stargell, Killebrew, Hack Wilson and Tony Perez are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and Jim Rice is inching ever so close to getting in as well. Now, here's where it gets interesting....Belle's CHARACTER. ] And now for his stats and playing career.... over-all analysis... Now...personally, I don't particularly care for Bob Ryan grouping Pete Rose (a man guilty of betting on baseball and is banned from the sport because of it) and Albert Belle (sure he was an SOB to media and damn near everyone he knew in the baseball world, but he's not a crook)....but that's Ryan's opinion... I have two different ways of looking at Albert Belle. 1. Attitude aside, Belle WAS, indeed, the most dominate hitter during his playing days. Ty Cobb was, by nearly all accounts, the most miserable person to be around--both as a player and as a person, yet the "Georgia Peach" was the first player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Cobb had FIST FIGHTS with not only the opponents, but with his OWN teammates...ON THE FIELD AND verbally attacked damn near everyone around him. So Belle's "mean-man personna" doesn't look so bad now does it?? 2. He did only play 11 seasons (10 full seasons)...But his career was cut short due to injury. Not because teams had had enough of his antics, or because his skills declined. He hung them up because of injury....but it's still only 10 full seasons. Journymen players like Tony Graffanino hang around just as long.... For those that look at point #2, I offer this tidbit of information (also from Ryan's article): So, my personal feelings about Albert Belle is that I view him as a disgrace and I'm thankful that he hasn't been doing any promos for LSU, or public appearances representing LSU. He just doesn't have the attitude that I hope former Tiger players exhibit when they turn pro--Heck even if they DON'T turn pro.... But the Baseball Hall of Fame is not about who was the nicest...or who the media enjoyed being around the most. It's about who has been the most productive players ON THE FIELD and I can't help but feel that when Belle was playing, there wasn't a player more dominant than him. So, if I had to vote, all non-baseball things aside, I'd have to vote YES for Albert Belle to get in the Hall of Fame. What are your thoughts?
i had a thread with a poll on this last year sometime. was split down the middle. the poll was whether little joey deserved to be in the hall notwithstanding his bad attitude. certainly he as dominant as anyone in his 10 year span and I brought up how he certainly deserved the mvp when big mo beat him. however, when the media holds your nads in their hands, you pay the piper when the time comes. he made his bed and he'll never get in no matter how worthy his statistics obviously are. his slugging % is unreal. the one thing about baseball is you used to be able to compare stats from different eras unlike other sports because the mound is 60'6" and the bases are 90 feet no matter what but with the steroid era that doesnt hold true any longer. so just showing stats from players of many different eras isn't quite as simple anymore.
Albert was one of the most feared baseball hitters during the 10 years he played pro ball, and his numbers back that statement up. His alienation of fans and writers may hurt him in the end....I was kinda surprised he got as many votes as he did to stay on the ballot for next year.
Well, I sort of took advantage of Belle's current all-time low national publicity so-to-speak by being the winning bidder for an 8x10 autographed photo of Belle on ebay for a grand total of $5.00. :shock: It was worth the $5 gamble.....either way, I hope it increases it's value no matter what happens. :thumb:
As much as it pains me I must say you can't put in Belle, he had to many issues off the field that may have clouded peoples judgement.
I wouldn't vote for him. HOF inductees shouldn't be considered on talent alone. His character and off-the-field issues should keep him out of the Hall, IMO.
There are plenty of jerks, racists, and SOB's in the Hall of Fame. Belle should also be elected because his play rated it. He probably wouldn't accept the honor anyway and one can only imagine what his acceptance speech would be like. But nobody would have the bastard over for dinner.
of course I'm a little biased, but I'd vote for him. his numbers should seal it for him but the reality of it is that the whole thing is a popularity contest controlled mainly by the media. neat story I have about him. sometime around either his Jr or Sr year, the Tigers were playing Tech in Ruston. I sat in the grass behind the RF fence which kind of slantes up into a hill so everyone behind it can see the game. well, this obnoxious a-hole starts taunting Joey a little as early as bottom of the 1st with chants of "Ma Bell" (stupid) and gradually increases it with the passing of each inning. by the 4th inning, the guy is using the chant in combination with pinging an aluminum bat on this metal pole which was super annoying even to some of the fans. Joey's decided he's finally had enough so he turns around and tells the guy (and I quote) "hey, why don't you meet me after the game...and you can bring the bat." top of the 5th (possibly 6th), Joey up to bat and I mean he hammered the ball and it sails about 10 feet over this obnoxious guy's head, so much that everyone around him ducked. guy didn't say a word the rest of the game.
I know this isn't even the same era and he had a much better career, but Ty Cobb didn't exactly have the best attitude. Look where he ended up.
