Claim OwnershipThe Case For: A Baseball Hall of Fame Podcast
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© 2025 The Case For: A Baseball Hall of Fame Podcast
Description
Attorney and baseball fan extraordinaire Russell Christian discusses former Major League Baseball players and makes the case for or against their enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
32 Episodes
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Graig Kreindler is "The Painter of the National Pastime" whose baseball paintings have been featured in numerous museums and news outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, Fox News, and the New York Times. Rap icon Chuck D (himself an accomplished painter) says that Graig is "a time machine" who "puts you right there with the Cracker Jack and Beer". Graig's paintings bring to life bygone eras of baseball including the 19th century, the deadball era, the Negro ...
Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter and "baseball’s troubadour poet laureate” Chuck Brodsky joins Russell to talk about his baseball songs. Larry Groce of NPR called Chuck “one of the finest singer-songwriters in America” and the New York Times said that Chuck’s music “will appeal to everyone who likes their music with a side of thought”. Chuck is himself an inductee into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and 18 of his songs have been enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of ...
Jesse Orosco pitched 24 years in Major League Baseball and is the all-time career leader in games played for a pitcher with 1252. A hero of the 1986 Jesse earned 3 wins in 4 games during the 1986 NLCS and 2 saves in the 1986 World Series, including the iconic final out for the World Champion New York Mets. Jesse and Omar Vizquel (SS) are the only two players to hold the career games played mark for their positions who are NOT in the HOF. Jesse also has some (but not other) career stats ...
John Franco recorded 424 saves in his 21 year MLB career, the most of any left-handed relief pitcher. He is currently 7th all-time in career saves and 3rd in games played for a pitcher, but at the time of his retirement he was 2nd in both categories. Is this enough to earn John Franco a ticket to Cooperstown?
In the Season 2 Finale Russell breaks down the 2025 BBWAA Ballot vote and previews the 2026 BBWAA ballot including who he thinks will be elected and who has a chance of surviving the dreaded "one and done" 5% vote requirement.
Russell breaks down the entire 2025 BBWAA ballot in advance of the Jan 21st announcement and makes the case for who he thinks will and won't get elected. If you're looking for a crash-course on the 2025 BBWAA ballot look no further! Featuring the exclusive Dan Bern song "That's The List" written for the occasion!
Episode 21 features a very special interview with critically acclaimed singer- songwriter, novelist, painter, and fellow baseball fan extraordinaire Dan Bern. Bern's music has been compared to that of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs and Elvis Costello. A prolific composer, Bern estimates to have written over one thousand songs. His music has been featured in Amazon Prime’s award-winning kids program “The Stinky & Dirty Show” as well as films “Jimmy Carter Man...
Listen as Russell breaks down the Classic Baseball Era Committee ballot voting and congratulates new Hall of Famers Dick Allen and Dave Parker! He'll also break down his prediction for next year's era committee ballot. (spoiler alert - it's Dale Murphy's year!)
The Classic Baseball Era Ballot vote is Sunday, December 8, 2024. The 8 players on the ballot are Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Steve Garvey, Vic Harris, Tommy John, Dave Parker, and Luis Tiant. Who will get in? Who would Russ vote for? Listen to find out!
Famed Cuban pitcher Luis Tiant is up for consideration on this year's Classic Baseball Era Committee ballot. The son of famed Cuban pitcher Luis Tiant Sr., Luis pitched 19 seasons in MLB and is one of only 11 pitchers in MLB history to retire with 225+ wins, 2400+ strikeouts, 49+ shutouts and a career ERA under 3.30. The other 10 are all in the HOF. Tiant's 49 career shutouts tie him with HOFers Don Drysdale, Fergie Jenkins, and Early Wynn for 21st best in MLB history. Every pit...
Left-handed pitcher Tommy John earned 288 Wins over a 26 year career, the second longest in MLB history. Most notably, 164 of John's wins came AFTER he underwent the groundbreaking surgery which now bears his name. A 3-time 20 game winner, John twice led the league in Win-Loss % and led all of MLB in shutouts 3 times (1966, 1967, 1980). A 4 time All-Star, john received MVP votes in 2 seasons (1977 and 1979) and CY Young votes in 4 seasons (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980) including two #2 Cy Young fin...
A 7 time All-Star, Dick Allen won the 1964 NL Rookie of the Year and the 1972 AL MVP Awards. He is one of only 28 players to have won both a ROY and an MVP Award. Allen is one of only 10 players in baseball history to retire with 350+ home runs, 1000+ RBI, 1000+ runs, 100+ stolen bases, and 75+ triples. He is also one of only five players in MLB history to retire with 350+ home runs, a .290+ BA, a .375+ OBP, a career OPS+ of 155 or higher, 75+ triples; and 100+ stolen base...
Felix Hernandez pitched his entire 15 year career with the Seattle Mariners. A 6 time All-Star and the 2010 AL Cy Young Award Winner, Felix finished his career with 169 wins, 2524 strikeouts, and a 3.42 ERA. He also pitched the 23rd Perfect Game in MLB history on August 15, 2012. Despite a very strong 7 year peak between 2009 and 2015, does "King Felix" have the career stats and hardware to land him in the HOF? Will his "fame factor" give him the edge"?
Dave "The Cobra" Parker played 19 year and amassed 2,712 hits, 526 doubles, 75 triples, 339 home runs, 1493 RBI, 154 stolen bases, 4405 Total Bases and a career .290 BA. Parker was a 2 time batting champion, 2 time World Series Champion, the 1979 All-Star Game MVP and the 1978 NL MVP. A longtime fan favorite, his counting stats, hardware, and championships bode well for his Hall of Fame case as does the sentimental tug of time. But modern advanced statistics aren't as kind to Par...
In Episode 13, the last Episode of Season 1, Russell breaks down the 2024 BBWAA ballot including the players elected to the Hall, who fell off the ballot, who is still on for next year and what newcomers to watch for in 2025.
In this episode Russell breaks down the ENTIRE 2024 BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot and discusses the HOF cases for every player not already assigned their own individual episode. The results of the 2024 BBWAA Ballot will be announced on January 23, 2024, if you're curious what might happen or you're a BBWAA voter who is still undecided then take a listen!
Bobby Abreu is 1 of 7 players with 900+ extra-base hits 400+ stolen bases in his career. The others are Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Tris Speaker, Barry Bonds, Craig Biggio, and Paul Molitor. Will this be enough to get Abreu in the Hall of Fame? Born and raised in Venezuela, Abreu first drew the attention of MLB scouts when he was 14 and signed with the Houston Astros organization when he was 16. He would eventually play 18 years in MLB retiring with a career .291 BA, ...
Carlos Beltran played 20 years in MLB with a reputation retiring with very impressive career stats of a 70.1 WAR, 2725 hits, 565 doubles, 435 home runs, 1587 RBI, and 312 stolen bases. He is one of only 4 players in MLB history along with A-Rod, Bonds, and Mays to accumulate 2,500+ hits, 400+ homers, 300+ stolen bases and 1,000+ walks. Arguably one of the greatest post-season batters of all time, "Señor Octubre" hit .307 with 16 home runs and 42 RBI in 65 post-season games. Only ...
Over a 6 year peak 2005-2010 Chase Utley's season average was .298 BA, 27 HR, and 95 RBI. During that period he won 4 Silver Sluggers and received MVP votes in 5 seasons including 3 top-10 finishes. Utley was also in the top 3 NL leaders in WAR for 4 seasons. Utley excelled in the post-season, helping his Phillies win the 2008 World Series and in the 2009 World Series tied Reggie Jackson's World Series record with 5 home runs including 2 games with 2 home runs. He also set the postseason reco...
Andruw Jones won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves with the Atlanta Braves and in 2005 set a franchise record (since broken) with 51 home runs in a season. Defensively he's 2nd all time in MLB history in all players, all positions, in Total Zone Runs (Brooks Robinson is #1). Andruw is also 1 of 5 center fielders to record at least 400 putouts in a season 6 times; the other 4 are in the Hall of Fame. He’s also 1 of only 4 players to have won 10 Gold Gloves with 400 career home runs the others a...
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