Where Joe Posnanski Mentions Tony Gwynn

I came across* an extremely long post by Joe Posnanski yesterday, called A Long Hall of Fame Review. A curiously long post as Joe might say. It was so long I still haven't finished it. But the gist was Hall of Fame voting . . .


Pos went back and examined every Hall of Fame vote since 1966. He was basically trying to find a predictor for Jack Morris and whether he was likely to make it into the HOF based on the high percentage of votes he received this year (66.7%) and will need next year (75% for entrance).

He does this cool exercise where he creates all star teams from guys who only survived on the ballot for one year and another team for guys who were on for a couple years. And he argues that these teams would actually destroy teams comprised of the lowest tiered players who did make it into the Hall of Fame.

It was very cool. I only stopped because I came upon this gem:

One thing I have come to believe is that unless a player is a slam-dunk choice like Frank Robinson or Tony Gwynn, the rest of the ballot matters a lot. I don’t think that a player has to be the best choice on the ballot. But I do think that he has to be the best choice IN HIS CATEGORY on the ballot.

In a time where so much talk centers around who is really a Hall of Famer, do they pass the eyeball test or what is it that their statistics really say about them, it is warming to the soul to see that the Sports Writer of The Year acknowledges Tony Gwynn as a slam dunk choice as a HOFer. And perhaps it is equally gratifying to see Tony, as a singles hitter, mentioned in the same sentence as a slugger like Frank Robinson.

In a sad way it often feels like Tony Gwynn is the only thing a Padre fan can really hang their hat. And somehow, because it is Tony, I'm perfectly fine with that distinction.

*(h/t Hardball Talk)