Tag: jack morris

HOF ’09: We’re Done!

Well, with Teddy Ballgame’s write-up on Greg Vaughn earlier today, we’ve concluded HOF ’09, our series of profiles of this year’s candidates for the Hall of Fame.  It’s been fun and I think we’ve even learned a bit along the way.

As for me, it was an interesting group of players to profile for a couple reasons.  A big one was that most of these players were big stars while I was a teenager and young adult when I was forming my serious interest in baseball.  Dave Parker, Jim Rice, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson… I have fond memories.  Not to mention that some of these players played in the era when the Chicago Cubs finally became a post season threat (I can still remember the ’84 series against the Padres… ugh). 

Also, these players came from a time when baseball had more of a balance of power, speed, and pitching.  Appropriately enough, that is reflected in the 2009 Hall of Fame ballot.  With the speed of Henderson and Raines, the power of McGwire and Rice and the pitching of David Cone, Bert Blyleven and Tommy John, this class is well represented. 

Who will get elected?  Well, we put our opinions down who we think SHOULD get the call but as to who WILL get elected is another matter.  The BBWAA has been rather stingy lately and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s very possible that just one (Rickey Henderson??) will get elected and others will have to wait.

Time is running out for some, though.  The midnight hour is chiming for Jim Rice as it’s his last ballot.  There are some (myself included) who feel that his career and contribution is worthy of the Hall. 

We’ll find out tomorrow and the chips will fall where they may.  No doubt, many bloggers and pundits will be unhappy no matter how it goes.  I’ll predict at least one writer will have his credentials questioned and will be asked to step down from the BBWAA.  Unfortunately, THAT is the safest prediction I make right now. 

All that said, here are the opinions we’ve made in the last month.  Links go to our profiles on the players. 

Thanks for reading!

Hall of Fame Hall of Very Good Why is he even on the Ballot?
Harold Baines    
Jay Bell    
Bert Blyleven    
David Cone    
Andre Dawson    
Ron Gant    
Mark Grace    
Rickey Henderson    
Tommy John    
Don Mattingly    
Mark McGwire    
Jack Morris    
Dale Murphy    
Jesse Orosco    

Dave Parker

    
Dan Plesac    
Tim Raines    
Jim Rice    

Lee Smith

    
Alan Trammell    
Greg Vaughn    

Mo Vaughn

    

Matt Williams

    

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Teddy Ballgame and DonS for their help with his project.

Also, a lot of research went in to this.  I’d like to give props to the websites that were helpful. 

Baseball Reference:  I can’t say enough about this web site.  If there are baseball fans out there who haven’t seen this site and what it can do, you need to check it out.

Baseball Page:  Very helpful for bios and such.

Baseball Musings’ Day by Day Database:  Good for finding stats between established periods of time (and lots of other stuff).

Baseball Almanac:  another good bio site.  Good for the quotes too :)

HOF ’09: Jack Morris

It’s a way to stay alive, a way to survive as a pitcher. If you didn’t do it, you either had phenomenal control, or you didn’t last.

Jack Morris

I admit, I didn’t know a whole lot about Jack Morris until doing research for this article.  The one thing I DID know as most baseball people do, is that Morris won more games than any pitcher in the 80’s.  Yes, wins aren’t a perfect stat but let’s keep that in mind. 

Morris Facts
  • Drafted 5th round in 1976 by the Detroit Tigers
  • Attended Brigham Young University
  • Played for Det, Min, Tor, Cle (1977-1994)
  • 5 time All-Star
  • pitched no-hitter April 7, 1984 for Detroit vs ChiA
  • led AL in WP six times

 

First and foremost, Jack Morris was a Tiger.  He was drafted by them in 1976 and played for them for 14 of his 18 years.  He was a workhorse by today’s standards, pitching over 240 innings nine times.  Not only that, he had 175 complete games (remember those?). 

Morris hit the 20 mark in wins three times in his career all pretty much spaced out over his career… 1983, 1986 and 1992.  It’s actually pretty amazing that he holds that 80s record but you can attribute to consistent play throughout the decade (aside from 1989 when he only garnered 6 wins). 

jmorris Due to his high inning totals, you’ll see Morris up there in the all-time leader boards.  He’s 14th in home runs allowed (389), 36th in GS (527), 8th in wild pitches (206) and 19th in walks (1390). 

But he also has 254 wins (to 186 losses) to which kinda surprised me when I looked it up.  Not only that, he had a tasty 7-4 record in the postseason.  Morris helped the Tigers win the World Series against the San Diego Padres in ’84.  His experience was helpful for Minnesota in 1991 when they went all the way and the next year, Toronto rented his services and won another crown.  

Morris’ career 3.90 ERA is a bit high.  It’s actually higher than the league average when he was playing.  But no doubt about it, he was a winner. 

    

  Hall of Fame

Hall of Very Good
  Why is he even on the Ballot?

 

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.