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Originally Posted by Publius
Not only would I not vote for Gossage and Smith, I'd kick out Sutter, Fingers and Eckersley. "I can get four guys out every other day" isn't HOF stuff.
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I think you are over-simplifying the role of the closer in baseball. As if other people could actually do what these guys can do. Closers belong in the Hall of Fame as much as any starter does. Some teams would have never even gotten a sniff of the playoffs, much less gone to the World Series, without the players you just mentioned.
Padres fans like myself are very thankful that we have Trevor Hoffman as our most valuable asset every year, saving over 500 games over his career. And I remember 1984 as if it were yesterday, and Goose Gossage sure pulled our bacon out of the fire on many occassions. Same with Rollie Fingers. Sutter, Eckersly...how can you even blaspheme their names by wanting to kick them out of the HOF? Where would the Cardinals have been without them?
It's a good thing that we don't have any say-so in this voting, because some of us are awfully critical of some very deserving players.