Righty starter/reliever John Smoltz is a first ballot Hall of Famer in my book. Sure, he might have been the 3rd best starter on his own team (Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine) but he’s one of only two pitchers in major league history with at least 150 wins and 150 saves (Dennis Eckersley is the other). Smoltz pitched 21 years in the majors and he worked in 723 games (481 starts) in which he was 213-155 with 154 saves, a 3.33 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. He did win 1 Cy Young Award back in 1996 with the Braves. He pitched in 35 games (all starts) for the Braves in 1996 and he was 24-8 with a 2.94 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Smoltz whiffed a major league leading 276 batters in 253 2/3 innings in 1996. Smoltz had elbow issues starting in 2001, so he moved to the bullpen. In 2002, Smoltz became the Braves’ closer and he saved 144 games the next three years. He then made an amazing return to the rotation in 2005 for the Braves. From 2005-2007, Smoltz started 100 games and he was 44-24 for the Braves. Smoltz saved over 40 games 3 times in his major league career and he won at least 15 games in a season 7 times! He was a N.L. All-Star 8 times and he also won a Silver Slugger Award. Smoltz is #16 in major league history in strikeouts wiht 3,084 as he was a power pitcher. Smoltz was also a big game pitcher as he worked in 41 games (27 starts) in the post-season for the Braves and he was 15-4 with 4 saves, a 2.67 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.

When looking at Smoltz’ career in a Hall of Fame context, I like to compare him to Dennis Eckersley who got in on his first try. Eckersley pitched in 1,076 games (361 starts) in his major league career and he was 197-171 with 390 saves, a 3.50 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Eckersley, like Smoltz, won 1 Cy Young Award (he also was the MVP) in 1992 with the A’s. Eckersley pitched in 69 games (0 starts) for the A’s in 1992 and he was 7-1 with 51 saves, a 1.91 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP. Eckersley made 6 All-Star teams.

While Eckersley was a very solid pitcher, I think Smoltz’ career numbers are more worthy of the Hall. Plus, I have seen them both pitch and I just think Smoltz was the better pitcher. To me, he should not only get into the Hall of Fame, but on the first ballot.

Cy Young was a righty starting pitcher who worked from 1890-1911.  Over his 22 year major league career, Young set some records that will never be touched.  He is the majors’ all time leader in games started (815), wins (511), losses (316), complete games (749), innings pitched (7,356) and hits allowed (7,092).  Cy Young won at least 20 games in a season an amazing 15 times and he won more than 30 games in a year five times.  Cy Young pitched in 906 games (815 starts) in his 22 years in the majors and he was 511-316 with 17 saves, a 2.63 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.  Young was elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1937.  He is the measure by whom all pitchers are judged as the award for the best pitcher in each league is named after him…..the Cy Young Award.  Forget about the 56-game hitting streak of Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams’ .406 batting average……no one will EVER touch Young’s all-time record of 511 wins.  To put it into perspective, 44-year old Tim Wakefield is the current leader of active players in wins and he has 194 of them.  34-year old righty Roy Halladay is #2 on the active wins list with 175.

46-year old Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2) won a unanimous decision over Jean Paschal (26-2-1) to win the WBC light heavyweight title last night in Canada.  After the fight, Hopkins said that he wants to fight until he’s 50 years old and I don’t think he’s just blowing smoke.  He has kept himself in outstanding shape and he has picked his fights wisely, fighting only 8 times in his last six years to save wear and tear on his body.  He hasn’t been fighting stiffs either as he has beaten Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright, Kelly Pavlik and Roy Jones during those last six years.  Only two fighters (Jermain Taylor and Joe Calzaghe) have fought Hopkins and have not lost at least once to him.  Hopkins is one of the best fighters in the history of boxing without a doubt and he’s a physical marvel as he had no problem mixing it up with Jean Paschal last night.  Hopkins’ next fight will be against Chad Dawson (30-1) who won on the undercard last night.  It’s going to be a challenge for Hopkins, but I have quit doubting him……as he constantly makes me look bad when I do.

47-year old Bo Jackson was one of the only two sport stars in recent history.  He played 8 years in the major leagues with the Royals, White Sox and Angels.  He also played in four seasons with the Oakland Raiders.  Bo Jackson played from 1986-1990 with the Kansas City Royals and he played in 511 games for them in which he was 460 for 1,837 (.250 avg, .787 OPS) with 278 runs scored, 109 homers, 313 RBIs and 81 stolen bases.  Jackson was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 1986 but he refused to sign with them because they wanted him to give up playing baseball.  The Raiders then drafted Jackson in the 7th round of the 1987 NFL Draft, and he turned out to be an outstanding pick for them.  He played in 38 games (23 starts) for the Raiders (at the same time he was playing with the Royals) and he carried the ball 515 times for 2,782 yards (5.4 ypc) with 16 TD runs.  Jackson also caught 40 passes for 352 yards (8.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs for the Raiders.  But, in 1990, Jackson was injured in a game against the Bengals (dislocated hip).  When the doctors looked him over they discovered that he needed a hip replacement.  That ended his football career and everyone seemed to think that his major league career was over too……except Bo.  Jackson worked hard and he got back to the majors in 2001 with the White Sox.  He went on to play three more years (with the White Sox and Angels) and he was 138 of 556 (.248 avg) with 63 runs scored, 32 homers, 102 RBIs and 1 stolen base.  Jackson finished up his baseball career playing in 694 games in his 8 years in the majors and he was 598 for 2,393 (.250 avg, .784 OPS) with 341 runs scored, 141 homers, 415 RBIs and 82 stolen bases.  He made the All-Star team with the Royals in 1989.  I feel fortunate to have seen Bo Jackson play with my own two eyes as he has a marvel to watch.

 74-year old Harmon Killebrew has decided to enter hospice care as he has decided to drop his fight with esophageal cancer.  He will likely die in the next few days.  The strapping righty swinging 1B/3B/OF made his mark in his 22 years in the majors (21 of them were spent with the Twins/Senators’ franchise).  Killebrew played in 2,453 games in his 22 years in the majors and he was 2,086 for 8,147 (.256 avg, .884 OPS) with 1,283 runs scored, 573 homers, 1,584 RBIs and 19 stolen bases.  He is currently #127 in major league history in runs scored (1,283), #11 in homers (573) and he’s tied for 36th in RBIs with Rogers Hornsby (1,584).  Killebrew made 11 All-Star teams and he was the American League MVP in 1969 with the Twins.  Killebrew was a pure power hitter without any helpers (steroids), so it’s sad to see so many cheaters passing him up on the All-Time homers list in Major League Baseball.  Killebrew was elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1984.  He might be gone in a couple of days but he will live on as a true baseball legend.