I've been itching to write lately, but free time is a luxury these days and anyone who blogs knows that it's not just about sitting down and typing something out. Well... I guess I could sit here, write a few sentences and hit "publish", but that really isn't my style. If I'm going to blog, I'm going to at the very least put some thought into the post, add a scan or photo, and do the routine formatting. The goal is to make each one "enjoyable" and "meaningful".
Unfortunately... that means we're talking about thirty minutes to an hour minimum per post.
Well today I just happened to have an entire day to myself... and the only thing on the agenda was following the Seattle Seahawks game which I'll get to in a minute.
Earlier in the day, I caught up on reading some blog posts from earlier in the week. One of them inspired this quick "under an hour" post (actually when all was said and done... it was more like two hours).
On Wednesday, Matt over at Diamond Jesters centered his Repack Haiku post around Harold Baines who some believe isn't Cooperstown worthy. So he challenged his readers to fill in the blank...
"If Harold Baines is in, then _______________ should be in!"
The one condition is the person you nominated had to meet or exceed Baines' six All-Star Game selections and one Silver Slugger Award.
The first person who popped into my head was Barry Bonds. Yup. I'm on that side of the line. If you wanna read my reasoning, click here. And that's whose name I left in Matt's comment section.
Later in the day, his challenge popped into my head again and I started wondering about MLB pitchers who meet his requirements. A quick trip over to Baseball Reference revealed that there were four: Zack Greinke, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Fernando Valenzuela.
Obviously Glavine and Smoltz are already in. Greinke is still playing. Which leaves us with El Toro:
1983 Donruss Action All-Star #53
Fernando wasn't only a 6x MLB All-Star who won a Silver Slugger Award.
In 1981... he won the NL Rookie of the Year Award, Major League Player of the Year Award, and NL Cy Young Award. He also won a Gold Glove Award in 1986 and has a career WAR higher than Catfish Hunter.
Plus he's arguably the greatest MLB player born in Mexico and when you factor in how many people became fans of the game because of Fernandomania, I think his name should at least be considered.
Before I give you my personal verdict on him, I wanted to quickly share something a fellow collector sent me earlier in the week:
He actually used the tissues as padding (pretty ingenious) inside the box he sent... which included hundreds of cards. I'll write about plenty of them in the future. In fact, I have an entire box sitting on my desk filled with cards I want to write about eventually and at least 50 of them were included in care packages from him. I just need to find a little free time and figure out a way to make the post enjoyable and meaningful.
Speaking of enjoyable and meaningful... Fernando Valenzuela was both. That being said, I'm a Small Hall kind of guy... so he's more of a Hall of Very Good guy to me.
Feel free to argue or agree down in the comment section below.
Thank you Matt for being the inspiration for this post... and Reader X for the care package and tissues.
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
Extra Innings
By the way... I was hoping to see who won the battle when Baines faced Valenzuela at the plate. Unfortunately, Baines never played in the National League where Fernando pitched most of his career. In 1991, Fernando played for the Angels, but only pitched in two games. Neither were against Baines' A's.
1994 Topps Gold #175
And in 1993 they were teammates in Baltimore.
I could do a little more research to see if they faced each other in the playoffs, but I've already spent way too long writing this post.
19 comments:
I can't write short, quick posts. It means it doesn't blog as much, but I feel a lot better about what goes up on the blog when I do get a chance to write.
First answer I had to the Harold Baines question - DICK ALLEN!
Dick Allen,Don Mattingly,Steve Garvey,Bill Madlock,Dave McNally and Dale Murphy just to name a few lol.
I'm done with the HOF arguments. Sure, put him in.
I was rooting for the 49ers. I'd be happy to see them in the Super Bowl.
I took a 4 year break from writing.........I am now back....I have missed this blog and Fuji's style. I look forward to catching up!
Lou Whitaker or Bobby Grich - both perhaps as second baseman whose careers overlapped from the late 1970s through the mid 1980s.
I agree with you on the whole "putting time and thought into every blog post" thing -- even if that means fewer blog posts. Also, I feel like there are a lot of cards that show Fernando in a batting helmet.
Enjoy the three-day weekend, Fuji!
My answer would probably be Don Mattingly.
The Seahawks hung tough for a while. My son and his team had winter baseball training during the second half of the game, and we had to ask them to turn the game off because they weren't focusing!
nick - i have a deep admiration for you and guys like night owl who write such quality posts. it would surprise me if you're the next one writing beckett articles. as for dick allen, he wouldn't qualify because he played before the silver slugger award era
sg488 - in regards to matt's challenge... dick allen and dave mcnally didn't win a silver slugger award, because both had retired by 1980. madlock didn't have enough all-star game appearances or win a silver slugger award. garvey met the all-star game requirement, but didn't win a silver slugger award (which is kind of surprising). but both mattingly and murphy meet the 6 all-star game appearances and 1 silver slugger award prerequisites.
night owl - there's a good chance you'll be happy then. the 49ers are legit. if i were gonna put money down on anyone, it'd be them.
the big kahuna - welcome back! i just noticed a new post on my blog reading list. excited to read it in a few minutes.
laurens - whitaker falls short one all-star game based on matt's requirements, but i was impressed that he won 4 silver slugger awards. grich is an excellent pick. i was a big fan of his during his time with the angels.
gregory - lol. i couldn't find any cards of fernando batting in my collection, so i went with the batting helmet card. hope you're enjoying your 3 day weekend as well.
the lost collector - mattingly is definitely a great name to toss out there. he was one of the best in the game when i was a kid. as for the hawks... i was surprised that they hung in there the first half. this season went so much better than i ever expected, so i can't complain. hope your son and his teammates don't have to wear parkas while training ;D
I'm with you on putting Bonds in. I think his career numbers while "skinny" are probably good enough. He's still the only player that I've ever seen get intentionally walked with the bases loaded.
Strongly agree that Dick Allen should be in. As Fuji said, he never won a Silver Slugger, but only because the award literally didn't exist when he played. I also have to put in a word for Keith Hernandez, who surprisingly is 1 All-Star game short of meeting the parameters, but regardless of that clearly belongs in the Hall. He's got 2 Silver Slugger awards, and TEN Gold Gloves.
The Hawks game was good until the second half unless you're a 49'ers fan :-)
Also might be too late for this but Happy New Year - since it's your first post of the year, I think it's still valid.
You don't hear a lot of clamoring for Fernando to get in, but I think a case could definitely be made.
I'm apathetic about the HOF. As a collector, there are lots of players on the outside that I find more compelling than Baines.
I'm honored to have been inspiration for this post! I think Greinke will eventually get elected once his career ends, leaving poor Fernando as the only pitcher who meets the "Baines accolades" minimum and isn't in. If his career hadn't dropped so steeply he might have had a decent case. His only shot at the Hall would be if the voting committee focused more on the cultural impact of Fernandomania. I wouldn't be mad if he got in, but there are easily more defensible and better qualified players I'd put in before him.
I was so infatuated with Nolan Ryan, I didn’t pay much attention to Fernando. I think he should be considered though.
How many times did Baines get named to the All-Star team because they had to pick someone from the White Sox.
Allen didn't win a Silver Slugger, but his MVP Award should count for that.
When I saw Baines was elected I was shocked and Mattingly definitely should be in the hall as well as Steve Garvey. Not sure I agree with Baines but yes Fernando should get the nod as well.
Looking at this post, I would've been shocked (and awed) had you said that it was finished in under an hour.
nachos grande - that's only part of my argument for barry. i also feel that ped's were part of the game during that era... just like greenies were part of other eras. but i don't have a vote, so i'll leave it at that
brett alan - allen would get my vote too. hadn't given hernandez much thought, but i enjoyed following his career when i was a kid. i'll have to dive into his stat a little deeper
steve at 1975baseballcards.com - yeah... they hung in there for half the game. happy new year steve!
wax pack wonders - although i wouldn't vote for him on his stats alone, he should be discussed when you factor in his cultural contributions to the game as well
anonymous - you're not alone. i've read a few baines blog posts and there are people on both sides of the line
matt - i didn't look close enough to greinke's numbers, but i feel like i've heard several people say he's a future hall of famer. and at the very least, cooperstown should have a display of influential baseball players from mexico... where fernando is featured prominently
sumomenkoman - i couldn't help but pay attention. fernando was huge news in california. i know i was in northern california, but he still received a lot of press even up here.
runforekelloggs - lol. interesting question. i'm not sure. i wonder how many baseball players were chosen because of that rule
rr - i'm thinking mattingly gets in at some point. possibly garvey.
jon - i'm jealous of anyone who has the ability to hammer out a blog post of similar length in less than an hour. i think this one took me just around two hours with another 15 to 20 minutes tacked on to add the extra innings part. five of it was tracking down the fernando orioles card.
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