Grip on Sports: No love for Edgar in Hall

Tuesday: I’m sorry to say, when the voting is announced today for the 2015 class, Edgar Martinez won’t be among the Hall of Fame inductees. 

If the voters weren’t so prejudiced against guys who were designated hitters their entire career – Frank Thomas went in last year but he played quite a few years at first base – and against guys who didn’t drive the ball out of the park, as opposed to up the alleys, then Edgar would already by enshrined.

But he’s not getting in this year, not with all the big names on the ballot. So his window is closing. But the door will open next year for the best Mariner of all time. Ken Griffey Jr. will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2016. He earned that honor in his time in Seattle.

Yes, some of his biggest milestones were passed while he was finishing out his career with the Reds, but Griffey is a Mariner. The numbers say so. His 13 years in Seattle included 417 home runs, 1,216 RBI, a .292 batting average and a .924 OPS. Those are Hall of Fame numbers.

He led the American League three consecutive years in home runs, won an MVP award and was the most spectacular centerfielder of his generation. He’s a lock.

Let’s hope, when voters sit down next year to vote for Griffey, they will re-examine Edgar’s qualifications. And add him to their ballot. It won’t happen, but a guy can dream.

Wednesday: Randy Johnson isn’t known as the nicest guy in baseball history. Far from it.

But when he met the media yesterday to talk about his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, he did a very nice thing. He put in a plug for the Hall of Fame candidacy of his former teammate, Edgar Martinez. Johnson, considered one of the top left-handed pitchers of all time, called Martinez “the best pure hitter I ever saw play or faced.”

Such praise won’t get Martinez elected by the writers – he finished eighth in the voting yesterday but was still light years away from the 75 percent voted needed for inclusion – in his remaining years, but it might hold weight when Martinez moves into the category of old-timer and is considered by a different committee. One can only hope.

• It is easy to criticize the NCAA. The organization does so many oddball things, it’s almost as if it is inviting everyone to make fun of it.

We could list a litany of the truly dumb things from the past five years or so but then you wouldn’t have time to read what’s coming next: an attaboy for college sports’ governing body.

The NCAA will pay a pretty penny to get families to the Final Four in basketball (men and women) as well as granting an emergency waiver for the College Football Playoff folks to do the same for Oregon and Ohio State families.

There will be up to $1,200 for family members to draw upon so they can watch their sons risk life and limb in Texas for the glory of the first big-school football playoff championship. That and make millions of dollars for the coffers of all the schools.

So grab your morning cup of coffee and raise it in honor of the NCAA. It made the right decision. For once.

Thursday: The Oregon football team is preparing for the championship game on an uneven playing field. How’s that?

See, Oregon began second-quarter classes Monday, which means the NCAA’s 20-hour rule is in effect for the team. Ohio State, on the other hand, doesn’t begin classes until next week, so the Buckeyes are free to do as much football-related activities as they want, with no time restrictions.

But before you get all weepy for the Ducks, remember quarter schools have a few weeks at the beginning of the year when they get more practice time than semester schools.

WSU, for example, usually starts classes before games begin. Quarter schools, like Oregon, may play two, three or more games before classes – and the time restrictions – kick in.