Will Don Mattingly ever make the HOF?
403666
I am by no means a Mattingly or Yankee fan but he is definitely deserving of the Hall...there are only 4 players in the history of the game who have a career .300 average and 10 (or more) gold gloves: Willie Mays (HOF), Roberto Clemente (HOF), Roberto Alomar (certain HOF) & Ivan Rodriguez (certain HOF).  Had Mattingly won one more gold glove in his career, he would be on this list too.  He won it every year from 1985-1994 with the exception of 1990 where Mark McGwire of all people won it.  They had the same fielding percentage that year (.997) but Mattingly had 2 less errors (5 to 3) albeit in less games.  But if games played were a criteria for winning gold, then Palmeiro would never have won it in 1999 when he only played 28 games in the field (135 games as a DH)!!!!!  In 1990, Mattingly played 90 games in the field.
890928
Good to see Paul O'Neil's name come up. He and Mattingly were my favorites and remain among my favorites to this day. O'Neil was one of those players that brought an intangible to the games he played - a determined grit... a never surrender quality to every at bat. He carried this with him for every game he played.\n\nHe wouldn't give up and wouldn't let anyone else around him give up - a true warrior of the diamond.\n\nThis quality is seldom reflected in stats - a shame... On numbers alone, he wouldn't make the hall. In the minds and hearts of those who saw him play and witnessed his daily contributions - it matters not.
1114116
Yeah, probably, at least according to his numbers posted in the steroid/HGH era (ca. 1986 - present).  But then again, considering all that has been discovered over the past two seaons, I have the strong right to wonder if he were/is probably on some illegal performance enhancer himself.  So I would be hesitant to put his name on the top of the list.  In fact, I don't think any player of this same era should have any record in the record books, considering that there is just way too much of a cloud of doubt surrounding just about every single baseball star who has played during this period.  \n\nPersonally, I find it kind of strange that Clemens seemed to be on the decline of his career in the early-to-mid 90s only to re-surface as an amazingly dominant pitcher again a few years later with Toronto.  I mean, the Red Sox must have known that he was on his way out -- sure, teams make mistakes all the time (and the 1990s Red Sox weren't exactly the smartest team around), but not to the point where an organization would have been so entirely, utterly wrong about the future of a franchise player.  It's all just too fishy.  So, that said, I don't think we can ever really judge the extent of Clemens' "greatness".  Which, by the way, is the same reason why I'm not sure how easy it is to gauge any player's "greatness", because many "great" players have either found ways around the rules (corked bats, spit-ball pitchers, etc.) or have just benefitted from favorable conditions unavailable to players of other generations (such as pitchers during the dead-ball era, or sluggers during the Coors Field/Jose Canseco "juiced" era).
340591
Being a Indiana native/Hoosier. I sure hope he does go into the "Hall Of Fame".
49573
Bob Watson. Mattingly's first game was played in 1982.
190400
HELL YES!!! so what he bet on baseball.. did he bet on his team to lose?? there are drunks , wife beaters and murders in the nfl hall of fame. so what we are telling our children is , you can be an alcoholic who beats his wife and maybe even murders her but you BETTER NOT GAMBLE!!!!\nYES HE BELONGS IN THE HALL OF FAME
685741
Mantle, Williams, Dimaggio, Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Mays, Rose, just to name a few. But these are considered the greatest of all time, so Pujols is right there with them, but he still has to prove it over his whole career. I hope he does, hes a great ball player.
607887
Lou "iron horse" gehrig has the all time most, with 23. Manny Ramirez, an active player, is second on the list.\nDon "donnie baseball" Mattingly hit the most in one season, 6 in 1987
1146761
No.  He's a very, very good player.  But very, very good players don't go to the hall of fame.  Special ones do.  He's not that special.  He had 46 HR's last year - but in today's game, that's nothing special.
931549
Yes, he should go for the following reasons:\n1. He has the stats to be an automatic hall of famer.\n2. What steroid did he take??  He took Creatine, which is a body building enhancer but is not a steroid.  \n3. Even if Sosa and McGuire were jacked up on every steroid known to man, there was no rule against it in baseball until after their record-breaking chase.\n4. People say McGuire and Sosa carried baseball in the 1996-1998 seasons.  Although I agree with ESPN announcer Mike Greenberg that if they did not do it, someone else would have stepped up and carried baseball...I do believe that they were the best ambassadors for baseball at that time.  Can you picture Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez having the same good-guy media image for the game of baseball as those two had?\n5. It's not like McGuire came out of nowhere and started hitting monster number of homreuns.  10 out of 11 seasons where McGuire played 100 games or more, he hit over 30 homers.\n\nAs you can tell, I am a very strong supporter of McGuire going into the hall of fame.  HOWEVER, I don't think he is a first ballot hall of famer, just because of the legends he is facing on the ballot this year.  Ripken and Gwynn are average everyday guys who went to work everyday and worked hard at perfecting their craft.  They became legends while they were playing, not for monster homerun numbers, or huge strikeout numbers,  but for doing the simple things in the game to perfection and showing every   Tom, Dick and Harry out there that if you work hard at what you believe in, you too can acheive greatness.  They were ambassafors to the game every day of their lives.  I am hoping the Hall of Fame voters are smart enough to vote McGuire in on the second ballot.
86788
600 HR. But it's not a "record" per se, it is an acheivement.  A lot of people believe that if you can hit certain marks (X number of HRs or Y number of hits) you can ensure yourself a spot in the HOF.  That is why Palmerio, who was always an above-average player, but questionable HOFer, wanted so bad to hit the 3000 hit mark, because he felt that he could get into the Hall that way.\n\nSosa is currently at 588 and fifth on the list.  While it isn't possible for him to get to fourth (Willie Mays has 660), everyone with over 600 is in the HOF (Ruth, Aaron and Mays) or expected to get in (Bonds).  The interesting thing is that all eligible players with over 500 HRs are also in the HOF.\n\nIf you're interested, below is a list of the career HR leaders.
1156147
No.\n\nMatt Kenseth will.\n\nIf not Matt, Jimmie Johnson will.\n\nIf not Jimmie, Kasey Kahne will.\n\nIf not Kasey, well... you get the idea.....\n\nMark Martin won't.
671502
He will do good but not as good as last year. This is hard for me to say (because I am a Yank fan) he did not deserve to win the MVP in the AL last year (David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox should have won). The biggest problem with him is that he hits home runs after they are winning by 7 runs it is sad but true.
101152
Mattingly....Then Gwynn
412131
Though he did win back-to-back MVPs, he really only had about 5 great years, and then a bunch of average-to-good years.  Generally speaking, players in the Hall either had 9-10 fantastic years (e.g., Sandy Koufax) or 20+ good years, with a few standout years thrown in (e.g., Don Sutton)... 5 great years, while it makes for a nice career for Dale Murphy, does not reach the level of being one of the all-time greats...
804916
Clemens will probably be selected to the Hall of Fame with the highest percentage of votes ever. Seven Cy Young awards says it all.\n\nNo, he's not hurting his legacy at all, especially since he's still a dominant figure while he's out on the mound (even though he only goes 6 innings at the most)...\n\nEven if he was hurting his legacy, what right does anyone else have to tell him not to?  It's his life, it's his legacy, isn't it?  None of us lose anything by having him pitch as long as he has.\n\nI saw Willie Mays hit a home run when he was playing for the Mets in 1972...it didn't matter to me that he was 41 years old at the time, and a mere shadow of his former self... hey, I saw the great Willie Mays hit a home run...  Clemens is a far better player since turning 40 than Mays was (Mays actually had an excellent year at 40, but slipped badly as a 41 and a 42 year old)... but it doesn't matter...he has long since been a shoo-in to be a first ballot Hall of Famer... the fact that he's pitching so great at his age simply means that he will approach or exceed Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver's vote percentages, in my opinion.
1183735
Long in '56, Mattingly in '87\n\nGRIFFEY, JR.  in '93......how could you forget him