Blogging About Baseball

No one should be surprised that Chicago’s Mark Buehrle just a set a record for the most batters retired in a row, setting down 45 consecutive en route to breaking teammate Bobby Jenks and old-time Giant Jim Barr’s mark of 41.

It’s what he’s been doing for years, quietly toiling away in that droll, other franchise in Chicago.

For the past nine seasons, Buehrle has started at least 30 games and pitched at least 200 innings. And outside of his rookie campaign and a lackluster 2006, Buehrle’s earned run average has been well-below the league’s mean, only passing 4.00 twice. One member of Baseball Think Factory puts Buehrle’s career into simple terms:

For a decade now, Buehrle’s been an Alpha version of an innings-eater, an uber-effective grinder that will never blow you away with a 100 mile per hour fastball or a slider that moves from the wrists to the ankles, but who, when dealing, is capable of pitching like Cy Young re-incarnate.

In 2007, he pitched a no-hitter against the Rangers. Last week, he threw a perfect game against the Rays. And during his nine full seasons, Buehrle’s finished among the top ten in ERA five times.

But still, that’s not the real story with Buehrle. Durability is his true m.o.

Buehrle’s finished in the top ten in innings pitched seven times, six times in games started, and five times in complete games.

Of those complete games, one-third of them have been shutouts. Over the last ten seasons, Buehrle’s tossed 8 complete games where he surrendered zero earned runs, leaving him in absolutely elite company.

Buehrle’s recent coming out party, if you will, has led to speculation about his chances of making it into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

And while I think the speculation might be premature, it’s hard to deny the strength of Buehrle’s resume. A 38th round draft pick by the White Sox, Buehrle has accomplished a lot in his young career (he’s just 30-years-old).

He has a World Series ring, which he won, while working as a starter and closer, with the Sox in 2005. He’s been selected to the All Star game four times, one of which he started and won. He’s led the American League in innings pitched twice. Now he’s set the record for most consecutive batters retired in a row at 45.

And with his no-hitter in 2005 and his perfect game in 2009, Buerhle becomes only the sixth player to throw a no-hitter and perfect game. The other five? Randy Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning, Addie Joss, and Cy Young.

They’re all Hall of Famers (or soon to be).

Will he be next? What do you think of his chances?

While setting Team Cuba’s starting lineup and pitching staff this morning, I glanced over the day’s headlines and saw “Selig reportedly mulling Rose reinstatement.“

And I hope it’s not a cruel joke.

I understand why Pete Rose was banned from baseball. Betting on games you have a stake in certainly brings the very integrity that forms an essential part of the game into question. The Black Sox World Series scandal of 1919 set the precedent for Rose’s ban and it was completely justified. Rose’s constant and adamant denials during the late 1980′s and on were also idiotic and cemented Major League Baseball’s right to a hard and fast punishment.

However, I’ve always believed that punishment didn’t fit the crime.

Pete Rose’s character, as a human being, is undeniably murky. But as a player, the same can’t be said.

His 4,256 hits is the most all-time; more than the Georgia Peach, Hammerin’ Hank, the Splendid Splinter, the Iron Horse, and the Babe. His 3,562 games played and 14,053 at bats is the most all-time; more than the Iron Man, the Man, Yaz, and Bonds. The list of players ahead of (he ranks seventh) and behind him in career total bases, which is an extremely telling stat, is a laundry list of Hall of Famers. Rose was also a 17-time All Star, a former Rookie of the Year, a World Series and National League Most Valuable Player, a Roberto Clemente Award winner, and a two-time Gold Glover.

For more than two decades, Charlie Hustle was baseball: all dirt, bat, ball, spikes, and consistency.

As far as we know, Rose never partook in any of the substances that so many current player’s careers have been tarnished by. As far as we know, all of Rose’s accomplishments came completely naturally.

Yes, Rose made a fatal mistake. But does that mistake justify excluding, and there is only so much room for debate here, Major League Baseball’s Greatest Hitter of All-Time?

The fact remains that the Baseball Writers Association of America is still debating whether or not to enshrine the one-dimensional Mark McGwire, a player who, if one discounts his 1998 and 1999 steroids tainted campaigns, should not even mentioned in the same breath as the Hall of Fame. Why should players like McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro (who failed an MLB administered test!) even be considered for the Hall of Fame while baseball’s all-time hits leader has never been given that luxury? Are their offenses so far apart?

Pete Rose deserves his rightful place alongside Cobb, Clemente, Williams, and DiMaggio.

I hope this isn’t a cruel joke.

We know all about Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice.

But we don’t know anything about Joe Gordon.

In fact, I’m willing to bet that about only 25 percent of the baseball watching population has any idea that Joe Gordon is even being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame today. The MLB Network is promoting coverage of the ceremonies with absolutely no mention of him other than a blink-and-it’s-gone picture.

And for Joe Gordon, that’s not fair.

Gordon played from 1938-50, seven seasons with the New York Yankees and four seasons with the Cleveland Indians. Gordon’s career is one of the most illustrious and formidable ever compiled by a second baseman.

In 1938, Gordon broke into the majors with the New York Yankees, clubbing 25 home runs and driving in 97 as 23-year-old.

For the next ten years, that was Gordon’s modus operandi.

From 1939-49, Gordon was named to every American League All-Star team. Outside of his 1946 and 1949 campaigns, he was a factor in the A.L. Most Valuable Player vote, actually winning the award in 1942. That season, Gordon edged out Boston’s Ted Williams when he batted .322, hit 18 home runs, drove in 103, and led the league in games played.

Gordon routinely paced the league in putouts, assists, and double plays. His fleet-feet and quick glove earned him the nickname “Flash,” after the popular comic book character of the same name.

Gordon was a part of five World Championship teams: the incredibly dominant ’38, ’39, ’41, and ’43 Yankees and the ’48 Indians, with which Gordon had, arguably, his best single-season campaign.

Gordon still holds the record for most career home runs by an American League second baseman.

And like so many stars of the time, we may never know exactly how good Gordon could have been; he spent the 1944 and 1945 seasons serving in World War II, his age 29 and 30 seasons.

With those prime seasons under his belt, Gordon would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer, without question.

In what is perhaps the biggest testament to Gordon’s ridiculously underrated career, it took endless lobbying from one of his contemporaries, Boston’s legendary Bobby Doerr, to get him into the Hall.

Doerr, who was elected to the Hall by the Veteran’s Committee 23 years ago, battled Gordon during the fierce Red Sox/Yankees rivalries of the forties. The two share close career statistics and were often a part of the same All-Star teams, which Gordon more often started on.

Doerr was bewildered by Gordon’s up-until-now exclusion from the Hall, stating recently, “I don’t understand why it took so long. I guess I was the only one on the committee who really knew Joe and got to see him play. They didn’t get to see him like I saw him, but he’s finally made it.”

Yes he has.

Trivia: Gordon was part of the only manager-for-manager trade in baseball history when the Indians sent him to the Tigers in exchange for Jimmy Dykes in 1960. That alone should occupy a special corner of the Hall.