Dispelling ignorance, one ignoramus at a time.
Sorry for the abscence guys. You can blame Comcast, aka The Keepers of the Cable. I swear, hasn't Major League Baseball taught us that the anti-trust laws are good. By logical extension, large corporations are not good, nor are they even beneficial. I'm sure Comcast doesn't want to hear that though, nor do they care.

And before I go off on some Randy Johnson-Carlos Beltran related rant let me get something off my chest.

I am probablly preaching to the choir (the well-educated choir) but I got in a two-day argument this weekend with an ex-friend. The argument, mind you, was heated enough for me to declare him an ex-friend immediately following that awkward silence that follows when both sides are exhausted and have realized the other side is just too damn ignorant to realize how obviously wrong they are.

The argument stemmed from some mild Hall of Fame talk. At least it was mild until I walked into the bar.

Raise your hand if you think Roger Maris should be in the Hall of Fame.......You can put your hand down Mrs. Maris, as can my ignorant ex-friend. I swear those are the only two people who think so.

Let me come to the conclusion before I make the case. If you're mildly intelligent you can just nod your head, skip the rest of this article, and check out one of the links on the left.

Roger Maris should not be in the Hall of Fame.

Now, for a little exercise. Take a look at the career numbers of the two players below. Then tell me which one is Roger Maris and which is a player nobody has ever considered putting in the Hall of Fame.

            AB     H    HR  RBI   AVG   OBP   SLG

Player A:  5101  1325  275  851  .260  .345  .476

Player B:  4792  1219  275  845  .254  .351  .491

Player A is "Hall of the Decent" inductee, Roger Maris. Player B should be inducted as soon as he's eligible, its perennial fan favorite, Jeromy Burnitz.

Seriously, what's the difference? To me Burnitz looks like the better player, he's hit the same number of homers in 300 less at bats. How many people do you hear talking about Jeromy Burnitz for the Hall?

Of course, Jeromy Burnitz didn't play in New York, and Jeromy Burnitz didn't break a record that held for 37 years. And to keep in the spirit of fairness, the Hall of Fame, as it should, rewards a player's peak years. Just like Pedro Martinez should get credit for having a four year stretch of unprecedented dominance, so too should Roger Maris.

So lets look at his peak:

YEAR    R    H  HR  RBI   AVG   OBP   SLG

1960   98  141  39  112  .283  .371  .581

1961  132  159  61  142  .269  .372  .620

1962   92  151  33  100  .256  .356  .485

Now don't get me wrong, Maris's 1961 season was unquestionably deserving of the MVP. Even in 1960, Roger Maris was deserving of the award. But where do that three season peak rank in history?

Not too good, if you ask me. Even if you take the first two only, which are miles ahead of the third, Roger Maris isn't even close to having a peak worthy of the Hall.

Is Kevin Mitchell a Hall of Famer?

YEAR    R  HR  RBI   AVG   OBP   SLG

1989  100  47  125  .291  .388  .635

1990   90  35   93  .290  .360  .544

Shouldn't Jim Rice get in because of his peak before Maris?

YEAR    R  HR  RBI   AVG   OBP   SLG

1977  104  39  114  .320  .376  .593

1978  121  46  139  .315  .370  .600

1979  117  39  130  .325  .381  .596

And in all seriousness, Roger Maris best year, 1961, which was amazing, has also been topped by a lot of players nobody is itching to elect any time soon. Check out some more single-seasons that equal or top Maris' career year in 1961:

                YEAR    R  HR  RBI   AVG   OBP   SLG

Al Rosen        1953  115  43  145  .336  .422  .613

Luis Gonzalez   2001  128  57  142  .325  .429  .688

Brady Anderson  1996  117  50  110  .297  .396  .637

Nobody is jumping at the chance to put any of those guys in the Hall.

Now don't take this personally, all the two New York fans out there that haven't gotten fed up with me, but I don't see how any rational thought can put Roger Maris in the Hall.

The person I used to consider a friend told me it was a "travesty" that Maris is being "discriminated" against.

Please.

The only travesty involving the Hall of Fame is that it took them until 1971 to elect players from the Negro Leagues, and even then it took a "special" committee to do it.

Ignoring that, the biggest travesty is that Phil Rizzuto (and his 38 career home runs) is in, and Ron Santo (the best 3B of his era) is not.

Roger Maris was a pretty good ballplayer. Roger Maris had a great three year stretch. Roger Maris is NOT a Hall of Fame player. The day the Hall of Fame starts rewarding players for playing for the Yankees, or for having Billy Crystal make a cheesy movie about them, is the day I vow never to return to Cooperstown.

The third person who thinks Roger Maris should be in the Hall can email Curt to complain.  ¶ 7:12 PM