Blue Jays Birthdays: Roberto Alomar

Roberto Alomar turns 54 today.

It is hard to know what to say about Roberto. He was a terrific player. He is also on MLB’s ineligible list because of an allegation of sexual misconduct, which MLB investigated and found credible. The woman, last I heard, isn’t planning to sue or to bring criminal charges.

As a player, he was one of the best.

In five seasons with the Blue Jays, he hit .307/.382/.451 with 206 stolen bases. And he had a flair for the spectacular defensive play.

In his 17 year MLB career he hit .300/.371/.443 with 210 home runs, 474 stolen bases and a 67.0 bWAR. He made 12 All-Star teams, won 10 Gold Gloves and received MVP votes 7 times.

And he was terrific in the playoffs for us. He was MVP in the 1992 ALCS, and he really could have been MVP in the 1993 World Series (but Paul Molitor was pretty good too). For us in the playoffs, he hit .372/.452/.492 with 18 stolen bases (caught just twice).

From the Jays, he went to the Orioles (and made the playoffs twice), Cleveland (making the playoffs twice), Mets, White Sox, Diamondbacks, and White Sox again.

He seemed to age quickly. At age 33, he put up a 7.3 bWAR with Cleveland. He never had a WAR above 1 after that.

Roberto was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011, his second time on the ballot and went in wearing a Jays’ cap.

He’s an example of how the character clause of the Hall of Fame vote is so complicated. When he played, there weren’t many black marks against his character. But we find out things later when he is already in the Hall.

Anyway, I do have great memories of his play, and I try to separate that from what we have learned since.