Opinion: Roberto Alomar and the HOF
Roberto Alomar is eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010, and despite his struggles after his arrival in New York, I think he was undoubtedly a Hall of Fame caliber player.
I thought the trade that brought Alomar to the Mets was a great move by Steve Phillips at the time, as I felt he would bring a combination of great defense and all around offense to a lineup that desperately needed it in 2002, but I never would have predicted his skills would diminish the way they did when he arrived in Flushing, even though he was 34 at the time of the trade.
I remember he had one standout game for the Mets and it came in April, 2002 against the Expos when he hit two home runs and I remember thinking that he had finally broken out of his early season haze and he would be fine the rest of the way.
I was wrong – Alomar was nothing more than mediocre at best both offensively and defensively for the Mets, and the trade proved to be a bust in the end.
None the less, I think Alomar was the standard of excellence at second base and he has ten gold gloves to prove it. He also was a 12 time All Star with four silver slugger awards, finished in the top ten for the batting crown five times, and despite not winning an MVP award, he finished in the top ten in voting five times.
He also finished with two World Championship rings and an even .300 career average with over 2700 hits and 1100 RBI, proving to me that he was an offensive force throughout his career.
