Jose for the Hall? No way!
Posted: Wed May 15, 2002 2:35 pm
Jose Canseco is not a Hall of Famer. He is not for the same reasons that Daryl Strawberry, Tim Raines and Rueben Sierra will never be.
Canseco had a special talent that could have put him in a elite class of baseball players. But he let success go to his head. After a 5 year run of success where he blew away his peers, he became uncommited to the game. In his prime Jose was probably on par with Willie Mays or Henry Aaron in terms of speed and power. But baseball is a marathon not a sprint. What you have with Jose on a career level is a one dimensional slugger ala Dave Kingman. In his early years he was the complete package, but he let his off-field distractions affect his performance.
I feel bad for Jose because he has just realized in the past couple of years the error of his ways. Much like some other stars from late eighties have. If guys like him, Straw, Raines and Sierra had kept their heads on straight during the offensive explosion in the ninties, we wouldn't be discussing why they are falling short of HOF careers. If it was just the injuries, maybe I could see Canseco and some of these guys in the Hall. Instead it was factors they controlled like drugs, failed marriages, training and ego that ultimatley cost them hundereds of games and a Hall of Fame career.
Home run hitting has become fairly common and we expect more out of future HOFers these days. Comparing Jose to his peers I find the following. Some players had great stats and also had a positive influence on the game, like Ripken, Gwynn, McGwire and Ozzie Smith. Some guys just blow you away with numbers and winning like Rickey Henderson. Barry Bonds is almost the same age as Jose and he has decided to eliminate all doubt about his own HOF credentials, by dominating the game late in his career. Unfortunetly Canseco posses none of these qualities and the only thing that stands out is his 40-40 year, which shows you what a waste of talent he became.
Canseco had a special talent that could have put him in a elite class of baseball players. But he let success go to his head. After a 5 year run of success where he blew away his peers, he became uncommited to the game. In his prime Jose was probably on par with Willie Mays or Henry Aaron in terms of speed and power. But baseball is a marathon not a sprint. What you have with Jose on a career level is a one dimensional slugger ala Dave Kingman. In his early years he was the complete package, but he let his off-field distractions affect his performance.
I feel bad for Jose because he has just realized in the past couple of years the error of his ways. Much like some other stars from late eighties have. If guys like him, Straw, Raines and Sierra had kept their heads on straight during the offensive explosion in the ninties, we wouldn't be discussing why they are falling short of HOF careers. If it was just the injuries, maybe I could see Canseco and some of these guys in the Hall. Instead it was factors they controlled like drugs, failed marriages, training and ego that ultimatley cost them hundereds of games and a Hall of Fame career.
Home run hitting has become fairly common and we expect more out of future HOFers these days. Comparing Jose to his peers I find the following. Some players had great stats and also had a positive influence on the game, like Ripken, Gwynn, McGwire and Ozzie Smith. Some guys just blow you away with numbers and winning like Rickey Henderson. Barry Bonds is almost the same age as Jose and he has decided to eliminate all doubt about his own HOF credentials, by dominating the game late in his career. Unfortunetly Canseco posses none of these qualities and the only thing that stands out is his 40-40 year, which shows you what a waste of talent he became.