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Why I Voted for Mike Timlin

(Mike Timlin, via)

There's a world, ensconced in an alternate space-time continuum, where I'm a member of the BBWAA with a Hall of Fame vote. I cover local small businesses and high school lacrosse for an obscure daily in the foothills of Northern New England. And my particular baseball rooting biases lie with a team who recently won a World Series.

Now that Mike Timlin is officially on the Hall of Fame ballot, it's time for a crazy post arguing that he deserves to be elected. And now that Deadspin is running an ingenious experiment whereby they've purchased a Hall of Fame ballot and have opened it up to their readers, why not? (They also posted their argument for voting him in)

All of which helps explain why I voted to elect him into Cooperstown. Timlin, for all his 18 seasons of generally solid relief pitching for six different teams, is not worthy of enshrinement in the Hall of Fame caliber. At least not in our reality. Is it because of his good but not spectacular career numbers (75 - 73, 1,058 appearances, 141 saves, 1,204.1 IP, 6.5 K/9, 3.63 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 125 ERA+)? Is it because, with the exception of a few seasons in the middle, he spent most of his career toiling through the mid to late innings, rather than closing out games and racking up oh so valued "saves?"

Or maybe it's because, despite his role in a few important moments - most notably the series clinching save he earned for the Blue Jays in Game 6 of the 1992 World Series - his overall postseason numbers are underwhelming: 4.56 ERA in 50.2 IP.

Probably all of the above.

But the logical argument against a vote for Timlin ignores the argument steeped entirely in irrational, blinding passion -

Timlin's high socks when pitching for the Red Sox. The globular sphere of chew protruding from inside his mouth, jutting out from underneath the skin of his cheek. Row upon row of baseball hats whose brims were caked with sweat and rosin and the grit of the game. Four World Series Rings - two with the Red Sox, two with the Blue Jays. As Hardball Talk's Craig Calcaterra put it: "Four World Series rings. That’s four more than Barry Bonds has, suckers."

Or how about that 2005 season where, entering the twilight of his career Timlin accumulated a 203 ERA+ across 81 appearances and 81.2 innings? Let's also not forget the camouflaged glove, a powerful symbol marrying Timlin's love of hunting with his love of baseball:

(Photo via Uni Watch)

Or his sort-of-if-you-close-one-eye resemblance to Michael Rooker, who you might know as Merle from The Walking Dead.

I'm not saying this would be a good vote. I'm not saying that Timlin's candidacy, when compared to the best relievers of all time, holds up particularly well. But this was never about making a well-reasoned, well-rounded argument. It was always about Mike Timlin, the guy who once voiced a character on the children's cartoon Arthur:

For me personally, Timlin is the first player I think of when I think of the 2004 Red Sox. He didn't keep the team alive like Dave Roberts did when he stole second in Game 4 of the ALCS. He didn't destroy his shoulder, and his career, in post season relief for victory like Keith Foulke did.

But he pitched, and I can still picture him pitching. And that's good enough for me.

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What Does Steelers coach Mike Tomlin Expect From Tim Tebow And the Wildcat on Sunday In Pittsburgh? "I don't necessarily have the answer to that. That's something that they control, from a play-calling standpoint. I know that we better be prepared for more than what I saw him do in the game on Sunday. That wasn't very different from what was done in Miami with the likes of Pat White, Ronnie Brown, or others. Obviously, he's a capable passer. That's an element of it that we need to be prepared for."

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