twins/mlb

Joe Mauer is the best bet if he can get and stay healthy. Great catcher and by a large calls a gret game for the pitchers. If their is a downside it is his lack of power hitting. Best "singles" hitter in all of baseball. He should join the "Boys in the Hall". Lets hope we see him for at least another 10 years in a Twins uniform.

Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva and Jack Morris in that order should all be in the HOF. They are just as deserving as a lot of players already in the Hall.

Why is Johan Santana's playoff history left out for argument? As a Twin one combined playoff victory between '02 and '06 for 1-3 record and 3.97 ERA. In '02 ALCS, Twins eliminated in 13-5 loss to Angels as Santana gave up 3 runs in 2/3 of inning. In '03 AL playoffs, Twins eliminated in 8-1 loss to Yankees where Santana allowed 6 runs in 3 & 2/3 innings. Oh, and he was the loser in both games. Also Joe Mauer playoff resume: 0 HR, 0 clutch hits, 0 advances. These guys are like the current Twins, they look great in regular season because of weak division, but disappear against the real competition when it matters.

In Tony O's argument for going in, and if anyone knows different please say so, is there anyone not in the Hall that has won 3 batting titles? Also, I bet there are a few in the HOF that had great numbers but their careers were cut short by injury. Kaat's career wins and productive longevity seem worthy to me as well.

Joe Mauer has a long ways to go before being considered a HOFer. Since he is only a singles hitter it will take at least 3000 hits for Joe to be considered. Of course more batting titles would help, but his lack of any sort of power and playoff experience/performance is going to hurt Joe's chances.

Jack Morris' 1991 World Series performance alone should get him in the HOF. That is something that will NEVER be duplicated. He set the standard on the game's biggest stage.

moretexesnow - your argument for Jack Morris isn't very convicning. Don Larsen isn't in the Hall and he threw a perfect game in the World Series. Bobby Thompson had a shot hear around the world, he's not in the hall. Just because someone acheived something that won't be duplicated doesn't mean that player is hall worthy. Look at Lew Ford, the Twins will never have a more useless player yet he's not deserving either. It celebrates the best, not above average with one good game.

Olivia had great talent but I don't think he should be in the Hall simply because membership isn't based on "what could have been". Kaat would have improved his chances tremendously by picking up 13 more wins -- it also would have helped had he been with one team for the bulk of his career. Would he even go in as a Twin -- I think of him more as a Yankee? Morris was only a temporary Twin and would never go into the Hall as one so I guess I don't include him in the discussion of Twins candidates. Johan is the classic example of a modern day player who will be handsomely rewarded in the financial sense but will never be seen as anything more than a "flash in the pan" as far as baseball greats are concerned. Mauer -- way too early to tell, and his lack of durability has hurt him so far.

I think Joe's chances are the best in this list - especially since he's starting to see the benefit of playing gold-glove caliber 1B on a semi-regular basis. Him taking more breaks from catching while still keeping his bat & defense in the game will lengthen his career and help keep him off the disabled list. He's currently batting over .500 as a first baseman. Yes, small sample size but still insane. Match that with making ALL the plays at 1st (including some possibly game-saving plays) - almost makes me think he should be the regular 1B while making spot starts @ catcher.

Trust me, Kaat would go in as a Twin. 14-15 years as a Senator/Twin and only a couple as a Yankee. To me, 283 wins is not 300, but pretty darn close.