I agree with G — give me Puckett over Sammy any day of the week. Granted, Kirby certainly got the sentimental vote, because EVERYBODY loved him when he played, but Puckett was simply a better all-round player than Sammy ever dreamed of being. All Sammy ever wanted to do was hit homers, and that’s all he ever did (okay, he stole some bases early in his career too).

Consider this: Sammy’s driven in 1,575 runs in 17 seasons and 8,401 at-bats. Puckett drove in 1,085 runs in 12 seasons and 7,244 at-bats. At that same career rate, Puckett would’ve driven in 1,258 runs if he had logged as many career ABs as Sammy. The fact that Sosa only bested Puckett by 490 RBI despite hitting nearly three times as many homers is astounding and speaks volumes about how superior of a hitter Puckett was to Sosa.

As for the fact that Sosa’s never tested positive, that doesn’t matter much to me. Bonds has never tested positive, and neither did McGwire. Sammy looked every bit as guilty as McGwire did in front of Congress, when he conveinently forgot how to speak English, and we also know that Sammy’s used a corked bat before. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire, and since Sosa cheated the game once before, it’s not that much of a leap to assume he cheated the game again. The fact that his numbers fell off the face of the freaking planet the moment baseball started testing for steroids is the most damning evidence of all.

In my book, it’s too difficult to put someone into the Hall of Fame with so many dark clouds hanging over his head.

In response to Gigi, Puckett is one of the classic cases of stats not telling the whole story. First the man was a winner – he placed great on the biggest stage and won two World Series.

Also, he played defense as well. He did the little things to help his team win. Sosa, on the other hand, was a very selfish player and sometimes a disaster on defense.

Give me either player at the beginning of their careers, and I’ll take Puckett over Sosa any day.

Man, bad news indeed. Though I look at those numbers and wonder: are those really HOF caliber numbers? Probably sacrelige for me to say right now, but if the voters will keep out Sammy Sosa – who, by the way, has not once tested positive for steroids – then how can they vote these numbers in? Here’s Sosa’s stat line:

.274 / 588 HR / 1,575 RBI / 2,304 H (okay, that’s creepy) / 355 doubles / 234 steals

Puckett wins average and doubles, but Sosa ties one and wins the other two by a country mile. Are they really going to keep Sosa out of the Hall?

But I digress. I’m sorry about Kirby. On the field, he always seemed like a standup guy.