Booger

We suck at keeping up with posts on current events when we all have jobs and kids. But it's baseball's Hall of Fame season, so I have one short post before I get back to my Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale.

I feel like I'm seeing more and more of the "You can't tell the story of baseball history without ___" arguments from baseball writers this year--usually pertaining to the McGwire/Sosa combination, sometimes Bonds and Clemens as well (though I think we distinguish the latter pair as outright great and enhanced later in their careers, whereas the former are arguably more borderline HoF candidates and part of the debate is whether they'd have reached that level without PEDs). Anyway, the point is that some writers seem to be embracing the mission of the Hall of Fame as a museum celebrating the history of the sport and recognizing that all four of those guys play a major role in that history, warts and all.

Which brings me to Larry Walker. I don't think his case is a slam dunk at all--he was well-rounded but injury-prone, and he has some very good numbers (.313/.400/.565, 72.5 WAR) but didn't retire with huge totals in some categories that matter to voters (2160 hits, 383 HR, but 1300+ RBI and runs). He has the hardware (an MVP, 3 batting titles). But of course, he earned most of this playing in Coors Field, and the splits are dramatic.

But it's again his borderline status, combined with his role in baseball history, that makes him fascinating. How can we talk about baseball in the 1990s without Coors, those Rockies teams, the humidor, expansion, etc.? Even if he was a product of his environment (baseball-wide, but Coors even more so), so were other guys in different eras, and he represents some huge parts of the story of baseball. I get the skepticism about his numbers, but does that disqualify anybody who played the majority of their career in Coors, like Todd Helton (another borderline guy, probably)?

I dunno, just raising the question. Plus, there's the All-Star Game showdown with Randy Johnson, and the nickname "Booger." If nothing else we should keep having this discussion so we can show that clip and use "booger" in headlines.