Tom Glavine Did Not Deserve Hall of Fame First Ballot Induction

The latest inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame were announced yesterday. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas were elected.

Excuse me if I am not doing cartwheels over any of them and I strongly object to Glavine as a choice.

This summer three members of the incredibly underachieving Atlanta Braves, who won so many divisional titles but only one World Series, will stand together as among the newest inductees to the Hall.

That will not be a welcome sight for me as one is manager Bobby Cox and the other two pitchers; Maddux and Glavine.

The Braves’ failures were in short series and that is where managing and pitching mean even more and the Braves did so much less.

Opinions are like (you fill in the blank) but I have strong memories of the Atlanta failures. It’s odd that Cox will go into the Hall with the manager whose team defeated his in both the 1996 and 1999 World Series,–Joe Torre, who managed the New York Yankees.

In ’96, especially in game four, when Cox and the Braves dissipated a (6-0) lead, the poor managing by Cox was the key. He panicked early, arguing with umpires and not leaving in Mike Bielecki who calmed the game down after the Yankees cut the (6-0) deficit in half.

Cox brought in closer Mark Wohlers for two innings instead and he did not have it. In game 3 Cox with a (2-0) Series lead managed so passively, conceding outs with sacrifices.

Please look up how many times Glavine, who by far is the worst choice, was the losing pitcher in a last day of the season or post season game in which his team was eliminated. I believe at least four.

Also there were some other horrible efforts in near must games, one being game three of the ’99 World Series when he could not hold a (5-2) lead with his Braves already down (2-0) in the series.

New York Mets’ fans remember him being bombed, not losing (1-0) but taking the Mets out of the game on the final day of the season in 2007 vs the Florida Marlins.

His line for that game: 1 batter retired, 7 runs allowed. The Mets tied for playoff position going into that final day, were eliminated as the competition, the Philadelphia Phillies, won.

The Marlins scored 7 runs off Glavine, 4 in the first inning in Atlanta, when they beat Glavine and clinched the 1997 NLCS.

Glavine was not as bad the following year but still was the losing pitcher again in game six at home, when the San Diego Padres clinched the 1998 NLCS. Did this not matter to those who voted for him?

Trust me, take Casey Stengel’s words to heart and “look it up,” there are a plethora of Glavine failures in big games.

In fairness, in his one exemplary big game outing, he pitched one hit ball for 8 innings and was the winning pitcher the lone time Atlanta did win it all, in 1995.

In that game 6 of the ’95 World Series, Glavine was masterful, beyond great. Of course as with almost all of today’s pitchers he did not pitch 9 innings. Wohlers pitched the 9th inning.

It is my strong opinion that Glavine does not deserve to make the Hall of Fame. His many, many failures in big games and the fact his team so woefully underachieved in its championship count, are the reasons.

Of course, I feel even stronger he should not be a first ballot Hall of Famer.