When Luis Gonzalez signed with the Florida Marlins in the offseason, I will admit to thinking he was just a guy who loved the game and was playing out his latter years. Sure he had a good career with many things to be proud of, but the Hall of Fame, not gonna to happen.
I'm starting to think I may have been wrong about that.
Luis Gonzalez hit the 354th homer of his career, a two-run shot in the third off Brett Myers. Gonzalez is tied with Lee May for 74th on the all-time list, one behind Greg Vaughn and four shy of Yogi Berra.
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With one more extra-base hit, Gonzalez will tie Babe Ruth and Jeff Kent(332) for 20th all-time after age 35. Barry Bonds (507) is the career leader and Craig Biggio (409) is the only other player with more than 400 extra-base hits after age 35.
Couple that with he is presently 15th on the all time doubles list And if he hits 5 more he will pass Barry Bonds and when he does everyone above him on the list is in the HOF. With the exception of Craig Biggio and Pete Rose and Biggio soon will be and Rose ain't going to happen, but he has the numbers.
If you look at Bill James' HOF Monitor number, Gonzo presently has a 101.5 and anything greater than 100 is likely the player will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. It doesn't mean it is going to happen, mind you. Bert Blyleven has HOF Monitor number of 120.5 and he can't buy a break.
I guess the point is this: Gonzo has more realistic shot at making to the Hall than I originally thought. Of course, when all of the talking heads start saying steroid era, and they will, it could all fall apart.
Nonetheless, Gonzo is right on the cusp on being Cooperstown bound.