Will Cal Ripken Jr make it to the baseball hall of fame this year?

Question

Will Cal Ripken Jr make it to the baseball hall of fame this year?

Answer 1

Will the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's?? Rip's nomination is a given, not so much for his record number of consecutive games, but the WAY he played each and every game...with skill, intelligence, and (above all) grace. The irony is that the writers will have two prime examples of ying and yang on the ballots this year...Ripken and Gwynn vs. McGwire and Canseco. Two men who showed us how this game SHOULD be played vs. two men who showed us how this game could be "played."

Ripkin was a first ballot HOF lock even before his final season. The way he carried himself during the swan song made him legendary. He may well end up as one of the highest vote-getters in the past few decades, if not in the history of the HOF balloting.

Answer 2

Ripken made the All Star team NINETEEN TIMES. Any other players (besides Pete Rose) make 19 all star teams and not make the HOF? He won two MVP awards (same as Willie Mays, and one more than Hank Aaron). Again, this guy was a shortstop. Ripken's playing while hurt or sick only "hurt" his team if the Orioles had a better shortstop to replace him with. They didn't. He set an AL record for assists by a shortstop, with 583 in 1984. (before you claim that this is because the Orioles had a "ground ball" staff, keep in mind that the Orioles 2nd basemen were in the middle of the league in assists that year... and before you claim that Ripken led the league because he was the only player who plays every inning, he also had more SS assists than any AL TEAM that year). Ripken's 583 assists that year is STILL an AL record (Ozzie, of course, holds the NL and MLB record, with 621). Batting average doesn't mean anything, if you're going to focus on a statistic, don't focus on that, focus on RUNS....focus on what wins the game. Ripken wasn't merely "over 1,500 RBI"... He scored 1,647 runs AND Drive in almost 1,700 (1,695 RBI)... that's not good enough for the HOF? How many SS's hit 431 HR's? He's one of the top 3 shortstops in baseball history. Honus Wagner is the only SS who was unquestionably better than Ripken... a couple of others might be questionable, but there aren't 5 better SS's in the history of baseball. If you want a list of SS's who shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame but are, you can start with: Dave Bancroft Travis Jackson Hughie Jennings Rabbit Maranville Phil Rizzuto Joe Sewell Bobby Wallace John Mongomery Ward Among "real" HOF Shortstops, Ripken is better than Aparicio, Appling, Banks, Boudreau, Cronin, George Davis, Pee Wee Reese, Ozzie Smith, Joe Tinker, and Robin Yount. Arky Vaughn, in the context of the time in which he played, might be better than Ripken (Bill James ranked Vaughn 2nd among all time shortstops, with Wagner first and Ripken 3rd...and he had good reasons to do so).

Answer 3

Cal Ripken is the first player who I feel truly deserves to be recieve 100% of the vote.

He is most definately going to the Hall Of Fame in the first ballot.

Answer 4

Ripken and Gwynn go on the first ballot. Mark McGwyre probably would have gone as well this year, but when he took the fifth before Congress a couple of years ago he sounded more like an organized crime figure than a respectable ballplayer.

Answer 5

Of course. Not only did he break Gehrig's record, but he did it with style and substance.....tons of HRs, great defense, really the first prototypical "big bat" shortstop, much like A-Rod and Jeter to follow. Before Ripken, teams were just happy to have a solid glove at SS (heck, the O's got by for years with Mark Belanger just for his leather), but after Ripken things changed. Now a SS is expected to contribute offensively as well (see: Jeter and Miguel Tejada). IMHO, of course.

Gwynn, Rice and Lee Smith should all be in the Hall. Gossage maybe, too.

Answer 6

Without a doubt. So will Tony Gwynn. Jim Rice belongs in the Hall, but won't make it again. And any writer who votes for Mark McGwire or Jose Canseco should turn in their press pass.

Answer 7

Without a doubt...first ballot Hall of Famer along with Tony Gwynn...

Answer 8

yes he will be in the HOF..when the voting results are released..he and Tony Gywnn are sure to get at least 95% of the votes EACH..both are class acts and players as for the rest on this years ballot to be inducted next Aug or late July is questionable

Answer 9

Yes i think he will. He was a fantastic player and played well for a long enough period of time. Sometimes people don't recognize that he has hof stats even without his consecutive games streak. Great player first ballot.

Answer 10

Probably - he has the numbers, and that consecutive game streak doesn't hurt. Tony Gwynn will also go in. Not too sure about anyone else - Mark McGwire maybe, but there is that steroid possibility hanging over his head.