It doesn't matter how much time passes, Jack Morris is a Baseball Hall of Famer. The 2012 class was announced today, and former Cincinnati Reds Shortstop, Barry Larkin, was the only player elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America, receiving 86% of the vote (75% is needed for induction). While Larkin's induction is more than deserving, Morris, who received 67% of the vote this year (received 53.5% last year), should have been voted in as well.
No one in the decade of the 80s won more games than Morris. When you wanted to win a game, he was the one that you wanted to give the ball to. Sometimes it wasn't pretty, but when he needed an out, he got one. In his career, Morris was the ace on three World Series winning teams (Detroit, Minnesota, Toronto); won 254 games, completed 175 games, and had 28 shutouts. He pitched a No-Hitter in 1984, won 20 games three times, and pitched 10 innings in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series and beat the Atlanta Braves, and John Smoltz, 1-0, to lead the Minnesota Twins to their first ever World Series title.
Critics of Morris point to his 3.90 career ERA and lack of awards, as some of the reasons why he is not deserving of the Hall of Fame. Baseball Reference's website compares his numbers to Hall of Famers, Bob Gibson, Red Ruffing, Amos Rusie, Burleigh Grimes, Bob Feller, and Jim Bunning. I'd argue he has better or comparable numbers with Ruffing, Grimes, and Bunning.
I think a lot of voters look too much at numbers and forget about what they saw when these players played. Bottom line is, Morris is a Hall of Famer. He is only on the writer's ballot for two more years. Despite the deep 2013 ballot, I think Morris gets in, as 2013 will be the first year where a lot of "Steroid Era" players will be on the ballot. Writers, it's time. Vote Jack Morris into the Hall...
Completely agree, stop the nerdy statisticians who don't really comprehend what they are analyzing (different division/leagues/and era create apples to oranges comparison EVERY TIME). Morris was the most successful pitcher of his era. His stats, except for ERA (national league factor accounting for most of differential) compare favorably with Nolan Ryan's during the 1978-1993 period. In fact, Blyleven's stats during those period are dwarfed by Morris' despite playing part-time in the national league. Other hall of famers don't compare favorably over that period and Roger Clemens had too small a sample size to be part of the conversation. Morris thrived in the American League East, the most competitive, highest scoring division, not the other junior divisions of baseball, and especially not the National League West. He was the real deal and won with grittiness, not the famous spitball so many other "hall of famers" had to resort to due to lack of integrity and respect for the very game that honored them. His durablity and grittiness to stay in the game are legendary and second to none in the modern era of baseball. STOP REINVENTING A CAREER WITH CONVOLUTED STAT COMPARISONS. JACK MORRIS CAREER SPEAKS FOR ITSELF, THE BEST OF A FITEEN YEAR PERIOD BY FAR AND AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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