No, no... and no

The Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee elected no one to the Hall for the third straight year, which evidently has some people pissed off. Why, I'm not sure. Of the names that topped this year's list in the voting, I would say that only Jim Kaat is on the bubble, and if it was up to me that's right where I would leave him. The fact that he won a record 16 Gold Gloves at pitcher (a record that Greg Maddux tied last year and could well break in 2007) is what makes it close in my book, because that is truly remarkable. And yes, he has 283 wins, 17 shy of the magic number, but that's over the course of a 25-year career. I am in favor of rewarding longevity, but I still say that the most important qualification for the Hall has to rest with this question - was there a definitive period in the player's career when they were utterly dominant, among the very best in baseball? In Kaat's case, the answer is decidedly no. He had one great year, 1966, and otherwise an exceptional, very long, but not all-time great career. No Hall for you, says Large.

As for Ron Santo and Gil Hodges, Jesus, come on. Santo's a career .277 hitter with 342 home runs. Here are some of the batters he's close to statistically according to Baseball Reference - Dale Murphy, Gary Gaetti, Graig Nettles. Nice players all, but not Hall-worthy by a longshot. Likewise for Hodges - .273, 370 HR's. They put Gil Hodges in the Hall, then they better put in Tino Martinez. Christ they might as well throw in Lee May.

Joe Morgan, who is an undeniable asshole, but nevertheless... in his capacity as vice chairman of the Veterans Committee he said this today - "We're being blamed because something hasn't happened. If you're asking me, "Do we lower our standards to get more people in?" - my answer would be no."

Hear hear.