Tony La Russa has some expletives for Harold Baines' Hall of Fame detractors
The most heated debate at this week’s winter meetings hasn’t centered around Bryce Harper or Manny Machado’s next move. Instead, it’s centered around Harold Baines’ election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The longtime Chicago White Sox slugger was surprisingly elected by the Today’s Game era committee on Sunday, where he joined closer Lee Smith as baseball’s newest Hall of Famers. Yet here we are, three days later, with opinions still flowing and emotions still running plenty high.
That’s not just limited to the fans upset over Baines’ election. It also applies to the committee members responsible for pushing Baines through.
Among the 16 committee members who elected Baines was one of his former managers and now a fellow Hall of Famer, Tony La Russa. During an appearance on Christopher Russo’s MLB Network program “High Heat” Wednesday, La Russa defended the selection and attempted to reject any and all push back from Baines’ Hall of Fame detractors with a steadfast and colorful commentary.
The NSFW for work portion of the dialogue can be found here. We’ll do our best to clean it up for those reading.
In response to Russo, who informed La Russa that Baines’ Hall of Fame election isn’t getting a lot of support, La Russa said: “I would love to get into a legitimate confrontation or debate where we pull out the stuff we looked at and that weak-ass superficial bulls— you look at.”
You mean advanced stats, Tony?
Anyway, when asked which accomplishments helped Baines’ case or which stat categories Baines led the league in, La Russa countered with game-winning RBIs. So it’s not like he was offering much hard-hitting baseball material.
Nonetheless, La Russa carried on with his argument.
“Harold Baines is a Hall of Famer and it’s a shame that he’s being looked at as not right,” La Russa said. “In the ’80s and ’90s, almost all of the stats that people trust, he was in the top five for 20 years. He drove in 100 runs late in his career and he drove them in early. Game-winning RBIs, he’s up there with the best of them. He had a very distinguished career.”
Baines’ longevity can’t be argued. Not many guys can last 22 years in MLB and still be productive. However, some are quick to point out that other great players put up similar or better stats in fewer seasons, and many of those players aren’t in the Hall of Fame.
We’ll say this. La Russa is nothing, if not loyal, and that’s completely understandable given the success Baines had under the Hall of Fame manager. But his rejection of advanced stats and his colorful language won’t do much to change opinions on Baines’ Hall of Fame worthiness.
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