This week Eddie Murray and

This week Eddie Murray and Gary Carter were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Murray’s election was a no-brainer; he had more than 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. Carter’s election might seem questionable to younger fans just looking at his offensive numbers, which may not look that impressive compared to the top hitting catchers of recent years like Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez. However, measured against his era, and coupled with his defensive prowess, they probably justify Carter’s election. In this piece from the Weekly Standard, David Skinner lauds Carter the player and reminds us what a decent person he is. It’s a good article, but I’m bothered by the following line: “Carter was a longtime Montreal Expo, but he entered my consciousness during the 1980s as a New York Met.” While there’s nothing wrong with him entering Skinner’s consciousness that way, I suspect that if Carter had remained in Montreal (and even if he had won a World Series there, as he did in New York), he would still be waiting to be elected to the Hall of Fame, having not sufficiently entered the consciousness of the sportswriting electorate.