Baseball Hall of Fame: Who Should Be In, Who Should Be Out

This weekend's Hall of Fame festivities were a sight to behold.

The record attendance spoke volumes about fans' respect for Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr.—two great players who played the game the right way and stayed loyal to a single team.

But the Steroid Era is a problem the Hall will have to deal with in the future. For the present, I'm more concerned about who should already be in—and who should be out. 

Even as a lifelong Yankees fan, I can say it's a joke that Jim Rice isn't in. He was the most consistently feared hitter of his time, and like Gwynn and Ripken, he did it the right way.

Rich "Goose" Gossage should be there as well. In an age when closers were asked to get more than three outs at a time, he was dominant enough to help make the role famous.

One of my personal favorites is Andre Dawson. The eight-time All-Star finished with over 400 home runs and 300 steals in his career—not to mention an MVP award. It baffles me that the Hawk isn't in.

Any talk of Curt Schilling getting the nod must be tabled until Jack Morris gets his. Morris was the premier big-game pitcher of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Solid cases can also be made for Jim Kaat, Bert Blyleven, and Tommy John, each of whom finished close to 300 career wins. Kaat was the best defensive pitcher ever, Blyleven won two World Series and ranks fifth on the all-time strikeout list, and John surely would have won 300 had he not missed more than a season after undergoing a surgery that would be named in his honor. 

My main problem is with the arbitrary criteria employed by the voters. Ozzie Smith got in for his defense, and deservedly so—but what about Keith Hernandez, Don Mattingly, and Steve Garvey? All were stellar defensive first basemen with great offensive numbers, but none are even close to induction.

Until the voters stop letting personal grudges shape their decisions, a lot of deserving players will be on the outside looking in.

And then, of course, there's the one inductee who never should have been honored in the first place:

Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

As we celebrate the 60th season since Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line, the astute fan can't help but ask, "What took until 1947?"

For the answer, one need look no further than Landis.

The Commissioner is best remembered for banning the 1919 "Black Sox" players, but his outright refusal to integrate baseball had a far more profound impact on the game. Landis even went so far as to block Bill Veeck from buying a team for fear he would integrate it.

Landis was a champion of the darkest chapter in baseball history, and shouldn't be recognized in the same Hall as Robinson or Hank Aaron. In the coming years, I say baseball should address the Segregation Era rather than the Steroid Era and boot Landis from Cooperstown.

If the Hall of Fame is truly about integrity as much as performance,  he belongs out in the cold with Shoeless Joe.