Snubbed Again!

Jack Morris got shafted again by the Baseball Writers.  Instead, they elected first timers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas to the Hall of Fame.   Are they clueless or what?

In his 15^th and final year on the ballot, Morris received 61.5% ---78 votes short of the 75% he needed to make the Hall.  Critics say his earned-run-average (ERA) was just too high: 3.90.   It’s like saying Dustin Hoffman isn’t a great actor because he’s not as tall as other actors.  There should be more to this than one statistic.   Jack Morris did plenty to earn a place in the Hall.

• 4 Opening Day starts.
• Five All-Star appearances
• Three 20-win seasons
• Three World Series rings
• An average of more than seven innings per start.
• His 10-inning, 1-0 Game 7 win for the Twins in the ’91 World Series.
• Pitching the Twins to a championship in his first year there, after they finished in last place without him.
• He pitched 8 or more innings in more American League games than any pitcher since the DH era began.
• He pitched more than 230 innings in 11 of his 18 seasons
• The winningest pitcher in the 1980s
• The  No. 1 starter for three different World Series champions.
• Won 254 games.

A couple of other things may have cost Morris votes.   Voting can only name ten players on their ballot,  and 13 idiot sports writers actually voted for Jacque Jones.

Morris was a fiery Ted Nugent-like guy and a legendary competitor who cared a lot more about getting people out than making friends---baseball writers included.   I think some writers are actually making a statement to athletes that they’d better play ball after the game as well as during.

Former Tiger Alan Trammell also lost ground in the voting, and still has one year of eligibility left, but he won’t make it either.

Morris will get a second chance with the Hall's expansion-era committee, which convenes every three years. In that case, Morris would be up for consideration in 2017.

What are your thoughts?   Let us know, and we’ll use a few on the WBCK Morning Show.