2 More to the Hall

Despite the announcement not even being a day old, there's been quite a lot of conversation regarding Lee Smith and Harold Baines' election to the Baseball Hall of Fame via the Today's Game committee.

I'll be honest, this HOF vote, separate from the regular ballot that will be voted on in January, was one that came out of the blue for me. Last year, Alan Trammell and Jack Morris were elected into the Hall through a special committee as well, and although there was little denying that these 2 belong in Cooperstown, there's some room for discussion when it comes to Baines and Smith.

While Smith received every vote from the 16-person committee that voted on a group including Lou Piniella and Joe Carter, Baines received the minimum 12 votes necessary to be inducted. 

A career .289 hitter, many people are saying that Baines belongs more in the "Hall of Very Good" rather than the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I'll start with Lee Smith's case, the former all-time Saves leader with 478. To this day, he's still 3rd on the list behind recent Hall of Fame inductee Trevor Hoffman and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera. 

Smith was a 7-time All-Star compared to Baines' 6 All-Star game appearances and even finished 2nd in the 1991 NL Cy Young award voting. Dubbed the greatest relief pitcher of his generation, Smith spent his 17-year career with the Cubs, Cardinals, and Red Sox primarily, though he also played Angels, Reds, Expos, Yankees, and Orioles at one point or another. 

He really hit his stride with the Cardinals in the early 90s, and his 1,251 strikeouts as a reliever remain impressive to this day.

On the other hand, there's Harold Baines and the number #134 that is bound to be brought up a lot as the days go on. At the end of his career, Baines was just 134 hits away from joining the 3,000 hit club as well as tying Roberto Clemente on the all-time list. However you look at it, that stat is impressive. 

However, because he transferred to DH basically full-time starting in 1987, writers and fans alike are saying that he should compensate with a better offensive performance. While there's no denying Baines was good, it's more of a debate as to if he was great.

Personally, I don't have an issue with Baines in the Hall of Fame so long as Edgar Martinez joins him in this class when the votes are announced in January. Martinez finished his career with superior stats and WAR and was just 5% off from making it earlier this year. While he'd certainly be able to be elected via a committee, it would be best for the career .312 to be inducted now.

As Harold Baines and Lee Smith progressed through their careers, the game of Baseball began to change. From the time each player made their debut in 1980 and retired in the late 90s or early 2000s, Baseball as a whole had changed so much, becoming far more of a game made for power hitters and dominant starting pitchers. 

Because of this, people began to pay less and less attention to guys like Lee Smith and Harold Baines, players who were still stars but not being seen as such. It's hard to stand out when you're playing in the same league as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa when they're hitting insane numbers of home runs. By the time they get busted for PEDs, the game's changed too much for Baines and Smith to be remembered for the players they were.

Do I completely agree with Harold Baines being inducted to the Hall? No, but I'm trying to see it from other perspectives. Rather than looking at Baines and Lee Smith from today's perspective and all the analytics that didn't affect either of them while they were playing, it's critical to think about Harold Baines and Lee Smith through the era they played in.

Maybe if we do that, the committee's decision will start to make more sense.