Palmeiro, Art Monk of the MLB?

So, Raffy has 500+ HRs and 3k+ hits. There are only 3 other players in the history of the game to ever have those types of numbers. Automatic induction to the HOF right? Well, there are media people out there saying he doesn't belong in the HOF. It's as rediculous as Art Monk not being in the hall.

Good comparison.

Seems like being good for a long period of time is now a big knock against players.

Being great for a short period of time is sexier I guess. I don't get it.

Raffy should be a shoe-in. Not only does he have 3k hits, 500 HRs, but is the only player in MLB History to hit at least 38 home runs in 9 straight seasons. career .994 fielding percentage, and at this point, he's walked more than struck out. career .289 hitter, and that may be the sticking point for many people.

Raffy should be an absolute lock. He might even finish with 600 homeruns. He said something interesting in his postgame conference on Friday night. Some reporter asked him if he felt slighted that he never really got much respect because he was never the dominant player at any one point.

And he said no, that he didn't want to take anything away from people like Mark McGwire, Mo Vaughn, Juan Gonzalez, etc. because those guys were the best when they were playing and that shouldn't be taken away from them. In a way he was complimenting them. But in another sense, it was almost like he was saying look at all the people who have come and gone and I'm still here.

It makes me mad that guys like Palmeiro and Monk get knocked for being very good for a very long time instead of the best for a couple years. If you look at just about every player in both the NFL and MLB HoFs most of the guys were best were the best player of their time for two or three seasons at most(if at all). Outside of the few dominate players like Ruth and Jim Brown there aren;t a lot of people who were the "best" for long periods of time. So when guys are clearly one of the top two or three for a long period of time it is ridiculous to say they weren't dominate enough to get in.

It will be interesting to see how many commentators who have expressed an opinion on Monk say what they think about Raffy. For one, I'd like to hear Peter King state his position on Palmiero, to see if he diverges from his "must-dominate" opinion in this sport.

Well his HOF bid just took a pretty serious blow.

Suspended (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2121659)

Man, of all people I really believed Raffy was legit. I hope this is all just a mistake

I just heard that on ESPN radio. If he was a borderline hall of famer before he's really going to be hurting for supporters now.

he mentions that he can't pinpoint what he would have taken to trigger the test...so who knows. many that i've talked to have made it seem that he's done it his entire career...

HOF Numbers, but the juice will keep him out.

He seems so sincere in the way he talks. Even the arbitrator said he didn't believe he purposely took anything illegal. I hope they publish what the drug he tested positive for was.