General Forum

Agreed 1000% both Freehan and Allen are very underrated and you should add Munson to that list as well (Second best catcher in the AL during the 70's).

I won't argue with Freehan and Allen. Allen came up one vote short. Freehan has a legit shot next time around in a few years. 

With Kaat in -- which is right on the edge, in my opinion -- I don't see how you keep Tommy John out. But I could say, with Oliva in, I don't see how you keep Dick Allen out. But they did...

Interested to see if anyone gets in through the regular ballot. I could see four or five getting in, but I could also see, perhaps more clearly, no one getting in. 

v3

I've always maintained that 2 MVP's should get you an automatic ticket to Cooperstown regardless of the rest of your career (I suppose if the rest of your career was David Howard/Rafael Belliard/Mario Mendoza levels of crappiness that might be enough to change my mind).  While Roger Maris didn't have mindboggling career numbers he did have 2 MVP's, 61 homers in '61, & 3 World Series rings (in 7 Series appearances).

As for a guy who may have a shot next year -- Dale Murphy should unquestionably be in.  He was the face of baseball for many kids growing up in the '80's even while playing for a mostly mediocre Braves team  He had 2 MVP's, 5 gold gloves, 4 silver sluggers plus finished with 398 homers (back when 400 was still a significant milestone).  While I'm a big hall guy and was happy for Harold Baines when he got in there is no way he should have made it in before Murphy - he got MVP votes in 4 seasons - never finishing higher than 9th (Murphy had MVP votes in 7 seasons with 4 top-9 finishes).  If they are penalizing the steroid guys and guys who were jerks --  they should be giving bonus points to Murphy. 

All the rest of the multiple MVP award winners are in the Hall of Fame (except for active guys or people with steroid accusations):

• Barry Bonds (7)
• Albert Pujols (3)
• Alex Rodriguez (3)
• Mike Trout (3)
• Miguel Cabrera (2)
• Juan Gonzalez (2)
• Bryce Harper (2) 

Glad to see Kitty make it in. Always enjoyed him as a player and broadcaster. When I was in high school, we had a pet cat. My sister named him Fluffy but I always called him Jim Kaat!

Thankfully, for my wallet and sanity, if I was still doing a physical collection of Cooperstown inductees, Fowler is in one of the mid 1990s Ted Williams Company sets!

Buck, Oliva, Hodges, Kaat and Miñoso can be found in plenty of inexpensive retired stars sets since the 1990s.  But many obscured greats from pre-1903 (first modern WS) are hard to find in recently (this century) produced cardboard.

I could watch old interviews of Buck telling stories all day! What a story teller!