Tom Glavine unsure whether he will be elected to Hall next year

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Tom Glavine not in the hall? Hard to imagine. Still, the 300 game winner spoke on SiriusXM and questioned his ability to earn enshrinement while appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.

Glavine expressed disappointment that Craig Biggio was not elected to the hall. Perhaps Glavine sees some familiarities between himself and Biggio. Both played either their entire career (Biggio) or most of it (Glavine) in one city where they were icons.

Despite being a great player at three positions Biggio’s production at the plate was somewhat overshadowed by other players of him time. Biggio had 3,000 hits and had modest pop but he was not the middle of the lineup guy. Glavine was also a great pitcher during the same time-span but was not even the best pitcher on his own team for much of his career.

Asked by the host, Jim Memolo, how he felt about his chances next year Glavine did not breath enthusiasm.

tomglavine2“Yeah, well, it feels good but, look, if they can keep a guy with 3000 hits out of the Hall of Fame for a year just because they want to there’s no saying that they can’t with me or Frank Thomas. I think Greg [Maddux] is pretty much a lock, I don’t think there’s any question about that. But you don’t ever know.” said Glavine, transcription via Talking Chop.

The biggest problem Glavine sees with voting for the hall is the belief held by some that players should wait a year to be a hall of fame player. This is on top of the five years that players are required to wait before appearing on the ballot.

“This whole notion that, well, we’re going to keep a guy out for a year and then he’ll get in eventually, that’s one thing I have a little bit of a problem with. I know there’s been a lot of talk this last week or so about the voting procedures and whether or not it needs to be changed and how it could be changed and all that stuff, and people having problems with writers who didn’t vote for anybody. I get all that stuff but at the end of the day I don’t understand this notion that, maybe we shouldn’t let this guy in on the first ballot, and maybe make him wait a little. What are you making him wait for? Either he has Hall of Fame stats or he doesn’t. So that’s why I think I look at my situation next year and whenever anybody says anything to me my standard answer is, ‘Well, I hope so.’ I don’t know that there are any guarantees in this day and age. You don’t know what writer doesn’t like you. You don’t know what writer is trying to make another statement, so who knows? I feel good about my career. I feel good about where it ended. I feel good about my chances somewhere down the line. I just, I’m not banking everything on it being a first ballot kind of thing because stranger things have happened.”

Also appearing on the ballot for the first time with Glavine will be Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina, Frank Thomas and Jeff Kent.

When Glavine retired it was hard to believe that he would not be elected to Cooperstown on the first ballot. That notion is no longer certain.

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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