Former Players Who Should Be in the MLB Hall of Fame Class of 2008

The 2008 Hall of Fame class isn't going to be as glamorous as the 2007 class. There isn't going to be a Cal Ripkin nor a Tony Gwynn. Those men played their whole careers with the same team. They built up a huge fan following in Baltimore and San Diego. This year's class has some quality men whose play showed that they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Some of them were in obscure places (Montreal), or played on some pretty bad teams (Braves of the late 1980's). The writers votes are due in by December 31, 2007 and the results will be made on January 8, 2008.

Bert Blyleven

This is Blyleven's 11^th year on the list. It is time he gets voted in. He pitched in the major leagues for 22 years winning 287 games. Blyleven won 15 games or more 11 times in his career, and had more than 200 strike outs eight times. The amazing thing about Blyleven is that he pitched well for some pretty bad teams. In the 22 years he pitched his teams finished only 13 games over .500. He also received Cy Young votes in 1973, 1984, 1985 and 1989. He was a member of the 1973 and 1985 All-Star teams. Blyleven was on two World Series winning teams, 1979 and 1987. His post-season record was 4-1 with an ERA of 2.47.

Andre Dawson

This is Andre Dawson's seventh year on the ballot. Dawson played the majority of his career for some pretty average Expos and Cubs teams. He hit .279 for his career with 438 home runs and 1591 RBIs. Dawson received MVP votes in nine of his 21 years in the majors. He won it in 1987 when he hit 49 home runs and had 137 RBIs. He was also in eight All-Star games. To go along with the All-Star games Dawson won eight Gold Glove Awards, and four Silver Slugger Awards.

Jim Rice

Jim Rice isn't in yet, and that is a crime. The Red Sox slugger was one of the most feared hitters for close to ten years. Rice ended his career as a .298 hitter with 382 home runs and 1451 RBIs. Rice showed what type of hitter he was in his rookie season of 1975. He won the Rookie of the Year award, and came in third in MVP voting. Rice did

win the MVP award in 1978, and received votes in seven other years. The eight time All-star is among the top 100 players in hits, home runs, slugging percentage, RBIs, total bases. It's time to put Rice in.

Rich "Goose" Gossage

The nine time All-Star is up for consideration for the ninth year. Goose pitched in the majors for 22 years. During that time he received votes for MVP and Cy Young awards five times. Gossage had 31 saves over his career to go along with 124 wins. He ranks 17^th all time in saves and 6^th in games finished.

Jack Morris

Morris needs to be in the Hall. He pitched in 18 seasons winning 254 games. He won 15 or more games 12 times for the Tigers, Twins and Blue Jays. Morris seemed to turn it on when he got to the post season. He had a career record of 6-1 in the post season, which includes 3-0 in World Series. In regards to all time pitchers Morris ranks in the top 50 in wins, innings, strike outs, games started, and batters faced. He did all of that while posting a career ERA of 3.90.

Dale Murphy

Another feared hitter. One thing that writers take into consideration when voting is whether or not that hitter was dominant during a time span. From 1980 to 1987 Murphy averaged 33 home runs, 96 RBIs and 26 doubles. This was on a Braves team that finished above .500 only three times during that eight year span. Murphy was selected to seven All-Star games, won the NL MVP award in 1982 and 1983. He finished his career with 398 home runs and 1266 RBIs.

I hope that the baseball writers will look at the statistics of these men as well as how much they meant to their teams. There were times that each of these players had to carry his team on his back. That is the mark of a Hall of Fame player.