I was reading an mlb.com article the other day and part of it touched on the "debate" apparently presently ongoing as to whether Ichiro is a Hall of Fame worthy player.
I guess my initial (well only) thought was: There is a debate?
He has 1940 hits in 8 1/2 seasons.
He has 9 straight (after this year) 200 hit seasons.
THE GUY HAS 437 INFIELD HITS IN 8 1/2 SEASONS! (I hate all caps but it is true, you know)
Not bad defensively (actually pretty good) so you cannot subtract points there.
In any debate, of course you need someone to argue the "other side". Who would do it? Who would they scrounge up to debate the "No-Hall" position here? Here are some candidates:
1. Chris Berman - Someone without credibility so maybe this is up his alley. He also seems to love the attention and people like this usually settle for negative attention if they cannot get it any other way. Berman would be a possibility. Ichiro then goes to the Hall.
2. Jay Mariotti - He hates everybody and is also not afraid to walk around with egg on his face. Of course Jay is quite unpopular and this also perhaps could insure a 100% vote for Ichiro. Let's do it. Ichiro then goes to the Hall.
3. John Kruk - Earlier in the week on ESPN's Baseball Tonight, I saw him arguing that baseball should adopt a football-like challenge system where each manager gets one "flag" to throw to challenge an umpire call and beyond that there should be no arguments between managers and umpires. This is mind-numbingly dumb for a number of reasons; one of which is fans really like manager/umpire arguments so why would you limit them. Actually, you know what? We have a winner. Kruk gets to argue the Ichiro "No-Hall" position. Ichiro then enters the Hall in his first year of eligibility.
THE GUY HAS 437 INFIELD HITS in 8 1/2 YEARS!
2 comments:
if ichiro retires at the end of this season, he is a first ballot hall of famer, no doubt about it. the only thing that could ever cost him votes is... he may play for another 10 years. if he turns into a .220 hitter for the next ten seasons, he starts bulking up and hitting 90 home runs a year or he starts dating hollywood hotties and beats them up in drunken fits of rage. if he can avoid those 3 career killers, he's in.
I think that he could survive all that but if he got caught secretly taping Erin Andrews, then all bets are off.
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