Last_Blast's Blog

You are right but you know how it goes.

The post season is what used to seal the deal on the hall. The modern writers like yourself, think differently.

The older writers used to think inside the box and would never change their minds. I see it on here with the older bloggers.

JD is ok in my book. Lower back pain is tough to play with. Look to blame the person who signed JD, knowing the back pain was there.

Complete games just don't happen any longer but still guys with more than 100 complete games deserve recognition. They are still something special. As far as the post season (Elite One), you are right it used to matter much more to the writers. But is is Luis Tiant's fault that he only pitched in a handful of postseason games? Catfish Hunter played on great teams in both Oakland and New York and had the benefit of playing in many postseason games and series. And as for Tiant's postseason experience when it comes to Hall of Fame consideration, his 163 pitch game four win in Cincinnati to even up the 1975 World Series at 2 games apiece says it all. To that is one of the three greatest Red Sox postseason pitching performances. The other two are Josh Beckett in game 5 against Cleveland in the 2007 ALCS and Pedro Martinez 6 no hit innings in relief in game 5 of the ALDS in 1999. (Schilling , Jim Longborg and Derek Lowe game 7 ALCS 2004 deserve consideration also). But again, Luis Tiant is a hall of famer in my book and I hope he gets in.

This is not a zero-sum game. Red Sox fans know that Catfish Hunter was a great pitcher, and deserved to be in the Hall. At the same time, El Tiante belongs in the Hall of Fame as well. Tiant and Spaceman Lee pretty much carried the Sox through perhaps the greatest World Series in history in 1975 vs. the Reds. Who will ever forget El Tiante's mound gyrations? The distinction from Bill Lee is that Luis Tiant carried the Red Sox throughout the 1970s, while Spaceman was famously mercurial. Catfish Hunter was a great pitcher on a great Oakland A's team that dominated the league in the early 1970s (with Vida Blue). Any Sox fan who watched him winced ... he was a fireball thrower. Tiant's offspeed stuff was better than Hunter's. It was a shame that both of these guys ended up with the Yankees.

Thanks ... Gerry