This weekend, Roberto Alomar will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. And a week later, another fine honor as he’ll become the first Toronto Blue Jay to have his number retired. Sean Fitz-Gerald (via the National Post):
Blue Jays Bestow Highest Honor Upon Roberto Alomar
A week after entering the Hall of Fame, Roberto Alomar will become the first Blue Jay to have his number retired. But is there another Jay who deserves that honor?
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Alomar was inducted into the team’s Level of Excellence three years ago, and his name stands next to heroes Joe Carter, Dave Stieb, George Bell and Tony Ferndandez inside Rogers Centre. As of July 31, though, only Alomar’s No. 12 will be removed from the rotation available to current and future Blue Jays.
"Roberto is a very special part of the Toronto Blue Jays organization and arguably the greatest second baseman of all-time," team president Paul Beeston said in a release. "His number deserves to be retired so that his contributions and excellence can stand as a model for all those who have the honour of wearing a Blue Jays uniform."
Well, of course Alomar’s not the greatest second baseman of All Time and Space Continuum. That would be Rogers Hornsby or (my choice) Joe Morgan. He’s not the greatest fielding second baseman, either (which I suppose is what Beeston means). All those Gold Gloves are nice, but Gold Gloves aren’t everything and there have been scads of second baseman who were at least as good with the glove as Alomar (I’m partial to Bill Mazeroski).
None of which is to suggest that Alomar wasn’t an outstanding player, and the 104 Hall of Fame voters who didn’t list Alomar in his first year of eligibility need to have the insides of their heads examined.
The selection of Greatest Blue Jay Ever is fairly easy, though, and it’s not Roberto Alomar.
Alomar was a Jay for five seasons, and over those five seasons he ranks either 16th or 20th in Wins Above Replacement (depending on which version you prefer).
Dave Stieb was a Jay from 1979 through 1992 (and then again briefly during his bizarre comeback in 1998). Stieb was a full-time starting pitcher from 1980 through 1990, and in those 11 seasons he led all major-league pitchers in Wins Above Replacement (or was third, if you like the other WAR).
Both were obviously fantastic players, but Stieb was more fantastic for the Jays for a lot more years. Frankly, unless the franchise has some sort of rule about a guy being in the Hall of Fame, Stieb’s number 37 should have been retired years ago.
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