Roberto Alomar: Next To the Hall of Fame in 2011

These days in Montreal, baseball fans have a reason to cheer for the very first time since the Expos left town to Washington D.C. to become the Nationals.

One of the greats in Expos history will be inducted finally into Cooperstown's Hall of Fame. That is Andre “The Hawk” Dawson.

Next summer, another great city in Canada will probably have its turn at bat to celebrate. 

If the dream comes true this same time around next year in Toronto, it should be time to party to celebrate Roberto Alomar's big moment.

That fantasy could be reality next December when members of the Baseball Writers Association of America will receive the ballots that list candidates eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame in 2011.

With all the historical and stat records furnished to them, and with their own perception of greatness to back up their judgement, there should be great hope also in his native Puerto Rico that the writers will finally consider his election.

His career records should have assured him of gaining the acceptance and earning his plaques in Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility.

However, for reasons with no real explanation he was snubbed by many baseball writers.

Roberto Alomar was one of the biggest stars and arguably the best second baseman in the history of the game.

He was a 12-time All-Star, 11 consecutive seasons from 1991-2001, in 17 major league seasons.

He won 10 Gold Gloves, the most by a second baseman ever. In his prime, he was doing everything right at second base as Ozzie Smith did at shortstop or Brooks Robinson at third base.

Going strictly by his offense, his numbers are Hall-of-Fame-worthy too.

He finished his career with a .300 batting average and among Hall of Fame comparisons he had more career hits and RBI than two other Hall of Fame second basemen—Joe Morgan and Ryne Sandberg.

Not enough?

In Alomar's case, the most basic statistics should serve. Among all second basemen, Alomar ranks sixth in hits, seventh in runs scored, 10th in RBI. and fourth in steals.

When he called it quits, he was just 276 hits shy of 3,000 hits.

Among his hardware, let’s not forget he was an American League Championship Series MVP (1992), All-Star Game MVP (1998), two-time World Series member (1992, 1993), and a four-time Silver Slugger Award.

He was a three-time Toronto Blue Jays Player of the Year. 

The Blue Jays franchise inducted him into their Blue Jays Level of Excellence group, and Alomar was a two-time Cleveland Indians Player of the Year.

Hope next December the baseball writers get it right.