Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven elected to Hall of Fame

The vote is in and only Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven have been elected for enshrinement on the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is something of a surprise to me, as I still hold a grudge against Alomar for one of the uglier incidents I can recall in sports. He spit in the face of an umpire and allegedly made fun oh his sick child. Alomar certainly paid a high price for those actions, but in the end it is the hall of fame, not the hall of really nice guys. Let us not forget Ty Cobb is enshrined there.

Without a doubt Alomar was the premier second baseman of his generation. He came up with San Diego in 1988, and while all saw his promise then it was not till he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays with Joe Carter that he rose to national prominence. Many will say he was the most important piece of the Toronto team that won back to back World Series in 1993-93. He hurt his legacy a bit after a trade to the New York Mets and by bouncing around the league for the final years of his career, but he was a great defensive player and evolved into a great offensive one as well.

Blyleven was never thought of as a great pitcher in his era, but he was a very good one. He pitched in a time loaded with pitching talent and was sometimes overlooked. He is fifth in strike outs, 8th in shut outs, and 17th in career wins. That is a very impressive resume. He also played the later part of his career on teams that were not necessarily elite attention grabbing teams. However his greatness cannot be denied.