This whole Hall of Fame thing is a tricky business. It’s about numbers and fame and agendas, but it’s often simply about the gut feeling of voters as well. What strikes me, however, is that the Hall of Fame is sometimes more about your worst seasons than your best seasons. It’s about what happens in your 30s more than your 20s.
Take Tim Raines, who will be enshrined in Cooperstown this summer. For five seasons in the 1980s, when he was in his 20s, Raines was one of the best players in baseball. That’s a pretty short peak for a Hall of Famer.