Bernie Williams and the Hall of Fame

Bernie Williams will make the Hall of Fame. Not this year, of course. Probably not within the next decade. Hopefully the writers will eventually vote him in, not making him wait until a veteran's committee to do so. Eventually people will see the proper perspective of Bernie Williams' career. He was the cleanup hitter and centerfielder on 4 championship teams, including one of the greatest teams ever, the 1998 Yankees.

While he might not rank with guys like Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Ty Cobb, he does rate well with other Hall of Fame CFs like Richie Ashburn, Max Carey, Earle Combs, Lloyd Waner and Kirby Puckett (who made it on the first ballot).

Bernie is hurt by playing in a high-offensive era, but should that hurt one of the clean players? And as high an offensive era as it was, there was still only one CF with a more productive career, Ken Griffey, Jr (who never won a championship). Williams' career OPS of .858 is .021 better than Puckett's. It's .001 behind Combs' who was also a CF on great Yankee teams, and his counting stats far outshine those of Combs.

Bernie Williams is a borderline guy who will eventually make it. Maybe with more perspective on CFs in the next decade, the writers will vote him in, maybe not. He may have to wait until friends like Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera end up on a version of a veteran's committee. But Bernie will eventually make the Hall of Fame, as he should.