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Originally Posted by sebastian0622
That's my gut instinct as well. But, when you think about it a little more you have to balance out hitters and pitchers a bit. A consistent very good performer like Moose or Smoltz is hard to find in a starting pitcher. Even harder than it is to find in a position player.
I mean, how many position players are playing that you have a pretty good idea will be in the Hall down the road? Ten? Fifteen? It's more than four, that's for sure. Well, twelve roster spots usually go to pitchers. That's half a roster. Five starting pitchers per team compare to eight starting position players. There has to be a sense of proportionality in terms of putting valuable pitchers in the Hall. Not that there needs to be a "quota" by any means, but if you're going to end up putting Bernie Williams or Jim Thome or Gary Sheffield or Jim Edmonds in the Hall, you need to try to balance that out by putting pitchers in the hall who were similar in value.
Those four might not ever have been the most dominant players in their leagues, and if so, it was for a short period of time. They might not be heroes in 30 years. But precedent says they have a good shot at the Hall. They were consistently very good. Like Moose. I definitely know where you are coming from, because I do the same thing. But I have to remind myself there is already a loosely established standard for inception and try to respect that and go with that.
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Good stuff, but a few comments
1) That's not to say those 4 pitchers are the only active ones that would go in, just the only ones RIGHT NOW that I see as worthy. People like Ben Sheets, Mark Prior, etc could end up with HOF careers. So there is some balance between hitters and pitchers.
2) Extending my base to hitters, the ones I'd elect RIGHT NOW do not include Edmonds, Bernie, or Thome w/Sheff and Manny as borderline cases. People in right now, Griffey, Frank Thomas, A-Rod, Palmeiro, Sosa, Piazza, probably Bagwell. That's only 7.
Maybe the HOF should have a pantheon section to distinguish between the Clemens and the Mussina's.