I want to extend a Blue Heaven congratulations to the three new Hall of Fame inductees - Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas.
All three are well deserved new members. I should also note that the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (a collection of 200+ bloggers throughout the country) made the exact same HOF recommendations in December. See my story about that here.
Of course, none of them spent a majority of their careers in Blue, but one player was a Dodger for a short time. Greg Maddux, probably the greatest pitcher I've ever seen in my lifetime, was a Dodger for short stints in both the 2006 and 2008 seasons.
In fact, he retired as a Dodger in 2008, and won his last professional in-season game against the Giants on September 27th - going 6 innings in a 2 to 1 victory. His last career in-season strike out was against Matt Cain (who foul bunted) and the last hit he allowed was to Omar Vizquel (a single to left field).
In the playoffs in 2008, he pitched in relief during Game 1 of the NL Division Series against the Cubs. He closed out the game, in a 7 to 2 winning effort, in the 9th inning. He faced 4 batters and gave up a hit to Ryan Theriot.
In the NL Championship Series against the Phillies, Maddux pitched in two games (Games 1 and Game 5). In Game 1 (in a game the Dodgers lost 3 to 2), he pitched in the 7th inning in relief of Derek Lowe. Maddux faced only 3 batters, gave up a hit Carlos Ruiz and closed out the inning with a double play. In Game 5 (the Dodgers lost the series 5 to 2), he went 2 innings and gave up 2 runs (both unearned).
His last professional walk was to Shane Victorino (intentional). The last hit he gave up was to Ryan Howard. Maddux's last professional strike out victim was Pedro Feliz.
Bill Plunkett of the OC Register noted the following from Ned Colletti during a press conference today at Dodger Stadium.
Colletti points out he is only GM to trade for Greg Maddux. And he did it twice (as #Dodgers GM near end of Maddux career)
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) January 8, 2014
Now that this voting is over for the year, I'm sure we'll hear complaints from the whiners. Morons will say that it's a travesty that Biggio didn't get in this year - even though it's assured that he'll get in eventually. And the same can be said for Piazza. Patience is a virtue that continues to disappear from American life. Also, one of the more annoying facets of social media is the damn whining!
Jack Morris is now officially off the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot. He will certainly be put on future special committee ballots, and I predict will eventually get enshrined with the help of his Baseball peers. Many will of course complain about that, but who cares. If there's one final arbiter of who is most deserving it's the current body of Hall of Fame members.
Congrats again to the 3 new members!
Below is a final vote tally from the BBWAA.
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