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2 great Posnanski articles RE: HoF, sabermetrics, Blyleven and Raines


Moose Milligan

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Didn't hurt Paul Moliter, and I wonder how many of the people who would penalize Raines for it voted for Moliter and downplayed the same thing.

As other people have already mentioned, the perception of each player and their cocaine use is different (I had actually forgotten about Moliter's cocaine use). Perception is everything with the HOF voters. Cold hard numbers just don't get it done on their own... unless one of those numbers is 3,000 hits, which can help the voters forget about other issues... like recreational drugs ;)

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And the fact that he was arguably the 2nd-best leadoff hitter of all time, but one of his direct peers was the 1st-best.

I agree to an extent... I can understand that it might not help his case, but if you really believe he was the 2nd best lead-off hitter of all time, I don't think it should hurt his case at all. That's like saying Sammy Sosa would have a hard time getting support as one of the best power hitting corner outfielders of all time just because he played at the same time as Barry Bonds. (For the sake of that example, imagine both players are clean :D)

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Didn't last that long? How would you know? Were you Molitor's dealer or something? Seems strange that someone would vote for one guy over another (with similar careers, similar types of players, similar values - slight edge to Raines) based on a coke habit that lasted 18 months instead of three years.

Heaven forbid anyone says anything that the almighty Drungo takes umbrage with!

While Eckersley battled alcoholism, Molitor conquered a drug problem early in his career. It never held him as alcohol gripped Eckersley, but it at times seemed like a close call.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/7525197

Perhaps I should have said his drug use wasn't as "debilitating" or "well publicized" as some of the others this game has seen. He wasn't at the Pittsburgh Drug Trials, for starters.

I'll tread more lightly next time.

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Heaven forbid anyone says anything that the almighty Drungo takes umbrage with!

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/7525197

Perhaps I should have said his drug use wasn't as "debilitating" or "well publicized" as some of the others this game has seen. He wasn't at the Pittsburgh Drug Trials, for starters.

I'll tread more lightly next time.

Don't take stuff so seriously! I'm just saying that Molitor and Raines have nearly identical careers and problems, and it seems rather odd to have one be a shoo-in and the other getting <25% of the vote. Especially if it's based in any way on the length of their cocaine habits.

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Don't take stuff so seriously! I'm just saying that Molitor and Raines have nearly identical careers and problems, and it seems rather odd to have one be a shoo-in and the other getting <25% of the vote. Especially if it's based in any way on the length of their cocaine habits.

My bad, my bad. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

Nah, I think Raines isn't getting in because he didn't spend his prime years in a major market. He didn't win any titles until he was past his prime and a role player with the Yankees. No major accomplishments, (3,000) or anything.

Don't get me wrong, I think Raines should be in...I just understand the ignorant reasons why people aren't voting for him.

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