Edgar Misses Out

On Thursday afternoon the fate of Edgar Martinez getting into the Hall of Fame was made known. Again he missed out narrowly this time. He was voted on seventy-one of the ballots given to the baseball writers who vote the Hall of Fame. This was up twelve percent over last year when he was at fifty-eight percent. Edgar has only one more year of eligibility to make the Hall of Fame. He needs just five more present to make it. So we are hoping that he does.

Most of the voting has to do with stats in the most part. Edgar is high on many of the stats except for home runs. He was more of a doubles hitter. I expect though a major reason he is not in is that he played most of his career as a designated hitter. He started his career as a third baseman but because of an injury Lou Piniella who was manager at the time thought it would be better for the team if he became the designated hitter instead of playing in the field. If he had stayed at third base or switched to first base with the same stats and length of career he likely would be in already. Some of the writers don’t feel that the designated hitter is not a legitimate position though the American League has had it for over forty years. It would not surprise me if those who didn’t vote for him cover teams in the National League. Having the designated hitter of the year named after him you would think get him in. We hope that next year will be the one for Edgar to get in. If he doesn’t than the veterans committee will have to decide and that will take some time.

Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Vladimir Guerrero were the position pitchers that made it along with closer Trevor Hoffman. It is sort of interesting that Hoffman made it because you could consider him a specialist in the same way as Edgar.

In my opinion the criteria for a Hall of Famer is one at the top or near the top at his position during his career.  Edgar was the best designated hitter during his period so he would qualify. I don’t think it all has to do with stats. Thome has over six hundred home runs which is pretty good feat however I never thought of him as one of the top first basemen when he was playing. If he belongs no question so does Edgar; anyway we hope to here his name next year.  

Going into next year’s vote Edgar has the highest voting of anyone who didn’t make it. So this means that he has a pretty good shot. What would keep him out would be if there enough first timers next year that would sneak in. For now we can continue to enjoy seeing Edgar as the Mariners hitting coach. Go Edgar!