should ripken be the only player inducted this year?

Question

a few times in Hall of fame history only one person has been inducted and while i agree Tony Gwynn is deserving. do you think he is deserving on a first time vote as ripken is? as there are so many who deserving of even a vote in that have been repeatedly passed over. your opinions/arguments for either position on this are appreciated.

to make it perfectly clear I KNOW the voting was done already I am just asking do you think they BOTH deserve it. obviously some peeps dont understand simple english!

yes frankie i agree that the way the voting is done should be fixed. as for those who handed in blank ballots/didnt vote. i think that they chose the wrong way to express the position and so what if niether vote was unanimous. i think that if they are childish enough to express themselves the way they did they should have their privelege of voter status reviewed and possibly suspended or revoked.

Answer 1

Yes, Tony Gwynn was deserving of the first ballot induction.
Gywnn is one of the best hitters of all time and was the best of his time. He had A three hundred average just about every season, not to mention 200 hits, over 3,000 hits for his career and A team first way of looking at the game (i know that last one shouldn't be A reason to get into the hall first year, but it means something).
Cal is one of the greatest players in MLB history and is the best all around shortstop in history. And it was for that reason why some overlook Gywnn's accomplishments in comparison.

As for the fact so many are overlooked for the HOF altogether, baseball has the hardest hall of fame to get into in any sport do in part to the voters (who are baseball writers) who tend to pick people who's numbers were elite or knew how to sweet talk the media. It is A mistake that MLB must fix.

Answer 2

Gwynn absolutely deserved to make it on the first ballot. He's one of the greatest hitters of all time. His career BA is .338--20th all time. Think about that, of the thousands and thousands of players in MLB history, only 19 had better batting averages.

Nobody has hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941, but Gwynn came the closest. In 1994 he had 165 hits in 419 at bats for a .394 average. If he had only gotten 3 more hits, his average would have been .401. Granted it was a strike shortened season, but only 3 hits away with over 400 at bats is pretty damn impressive. The only other player that came close to that is George Brett when he was only 5 hits away from .400 in 1980.

There's no question, Tony Gwynn deserves to be a first ballot hall of famer.

Answer 3

Whoa whoa whoa. Hold the phone. Tony Gwynn was way better than Cal Ripken Jr. I loved Cal as a player, the consecutive games streak was great, but are you serious? Look at the career batting average, the hits, the numbers. They're both deserving first ballot hall of famers.

I'm not taking anything away from Ripken, but come on, Gwynn was the best pure hitter of the 1990's decade.

Answer 4

No, I believe both should have gone in on the first ballot. Both playing their entire careers with the same team, both with a lot of grit and determination.

The ironic thing that I find when asked about the few votes that missed one of them going in unanimously, there was one that didn't vote for either of them.

When asked, this writer (and voter) said, "I had more than 10 people I thought were deserving, I know Cal and Tony would get in, so I used my vote elsewhere"

He didn't understand the significance of the unanimous part. No one has ever been elected unanimously either.
It seems like a hard thing to do, but if you ask individually, don't you think deserved to get into the hall of fame?

I am not sure if I was a voter, if I would distinguish between 1st ballot and any other ballot.
I would probably set my votes according to who I think deserved it and keep it that way unless someone gives me info that I hadn't considered.

Answer 5

Both players are already in. Ripken received 98% and Gwynn 97%. Voting was done in January, I believe.

What exactly are you asking? With the election over already than there is no question who is being inducted.

Or are you saying that Gwynn should not have been a first time election like Ripken?

IF that's the question than I disagree. Gwynn was a great hitter and played his whole career for one team. He was not a power hitter or a great defensive player, but he was a 15 time all star, won 7 or 8 batting titles, over 3,000 hits, and his career batting average was .338....pretty good numbers. He deserves to get in first shot.


JUST TO CLARIFY: I apologize and I understand english. I just think that maybe you should have asked should Ripken HAVE BEEN the only player...or asked "WAS Gwynn deserving of a first time vote as Ripken was?" Past tense would have shown that you were referring to something that as already taken place (IE the vote)

Answer 6

I watched Tony Gwynn play the game for years and he was really one of the great hitters of all time. Not only did he have a lifetime batting average of .330, he hit over .350 seven times in his 18 year career with his high of .394 in 1994. In the early part of his career he would steal a base for you and actually had 56 stolen bases in 1987. The most amazing thing to me is that he never struck out more than 40 times in a season and in his 18 year career he struck out only 421 times which is an average of about 23 a year. Many of today's players will strike out more than 23 times in the first month of the season. Tony Gwynn was a Great player, great teammate, great for the game of baseball, and deserving of induction to the HOF on a first time vote.

Answer 7

I think both are equally deserving. It's hard to argue against either one. I liked Tony a lot more because he was such a great hitter. He got his hits by hitting it to all fields. It's not like he is fast and can beat out grounders like some people with a lot of hits. Ripken I think is more admired for his consecutive games played streak than anything else. He was also the first real home run hitting SS. I think his consecutive games played streak isn't as great as the Iron Horse because of all the medicines and medical advancements, but hey, it's still one of the greatest milestones ever accomplished.
Both are great ambassadors to the game. Great people with great baseball talent. I think both are well deserving of the Cooperstown on the first ballot.

Answer 8

I'm not gonna jump down your throat about how you asked your question.
Yes Tony Gwynn absolutely deserves to be a first ballot hall of famer. His numbers prove it.
Cal is just as deserving. A great player and class act.

Answer 9

They both deserve it.

The whole being voted in on the first ballot thing is overplayed. Once a player is in, he's in. Not many people remember on which ballot he was elected. And in 30 years no one will remember. The reason is simple: it doesn't matter. The plaque of Dave Bancroft resides in the same room as the one of Babe Ruth. No one is suggesting Bancroft could even carry Ruth's spikes, but they're both Hall of Famers; they both share the sport's highest honor.

Now don't even get me started on the fact no player has ever received 100% of the vote... :-)

Answer 10

No...

both players deserved it... Tony Gwynn got the 7th highest percentage to be in the HOF... He had 11 American League batting titles, 3100+ hits, averaged .331 lifetime and in his breakthrough season he had a World Series run.....

He deserve it as much as Cal does... they used the natural way on getting to the point of where they are right now...