As much as I like Harold Baines, I rather enjoyed Ken Tremendous’ posting on Fire Joe Morgan. Bit by bit, he dissects a Mike Downey article from the Chicago Tribune.
A snip:
(quoting from Downey) Harold Baines has more hits than Brooks Robinson, Charlie Gehringer, George Sisler, Luke Appling, Lou Gehrig … (keep going) … Billy Williams, Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Reggie Jackson, Ernie Banks … (don’t stop now) …
Who on blog’s green earth would evaluate HOF inductees solely by hits? What kind of insane cherry pick is that? Not any other stat. Not longevity or era…not even taking position into account. Just: hits. Hits! That’s like evaluating pitchers based on saves and deciding Pedro Martinez doesn’t get in because he only has three.
KT’s posting is lengthy, opinionated but actually on the mark.