Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Lee Smith for Hall of Fame!

As Trevor Hoffman is now within 10 saves of Lee Smith's career record (he could break it before the season is over), I gotta wonder, how come Lee Smith hasn't already been elected to the Hall of Fame? Hoyt Wilhelm, the 1st reliever to get in, held the career saves record for many years until Rollie Finger broke it. Fingers, too, was elected upon eligibility. Then Lee Smith came along and broke the old record by over 100, to 478. Percentage-wise, that would have been like Aaron surpassing Ruth's 714 by over 200, to 900-something HR's, or Rose passing Cobb's hits record with over 5,000. Still, Smith gets passed over year after year, while first Eckersley and last year, Sutter (only 300 career saves) double the number of relievers in Cooperstown. And I hear more lobbying lately for Goose Gossage (310 career saves) than for Smith. What's the deal? I once read that voters were holding Smith's losing Won-Loss record (71-91) against him. I'm not buying that--since when does a reliever's winning percentage count for squat? Closers get most of their wins on blown saves! Put him in now--what are you guys waiting for?

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