Cooperstown Choices: Mike Stanton

With the Hall Of Fame election announcement coming on January 9, 2013, it is time to review the ballot, go over the names, and decide who belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

There are twenty four men on the ballot for the first time this year and we will take a look at each one individually prior to official announcements. You can find all of the profiles in the I-70 Baseball Exclusives: Cooperstown Choices 2013 menu at the top of the page.

In this article, we take a look at Mike Stanton

Mike Stanton
Stanton’s 19 year career would lead him to eight major league teams, most notably the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees. In 2001, he would be selected to the American League roster for the All Star Game.

Year	Tm	W	L	ERA	G	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA+	SO/9
1989	ATL	0	1	1.50	20	10	7	24.0	17	4	4	8	27	245	10.1
1990	ATL	0	3	18.00	7	4	2	7.0	16	16	14	4	7	24	9.0
1991	ATL	5	5	2.88	74	20	7	78.0	62	27	25	21	54	136	6.2
1992	ATL	5	4	4.10	65	23	8	63.2	59	32	29	20	44	90	6.2
1993	ATL	4	6	4.67	63	41	27	52.0	51	35	27	29	43	86	7.4
1994	ATL	3	1	3.55	49	15	3	45.2	41	18	18	26	35	120	6.9
1995	TOT	2	1	4.24	48	22	1	40.1	48	23	19	14	23	109	5.1
1995	ATL	1	1	5.59	26	10	1	19.1	31	14	12	6	13	77	6.1
1995	BOS	1	0	3.00	22	12	0	21.0	17	9	7	8	10	164	4.3
1996	TOT	4	4	3.66	81	28	1	78.2	78	32	32	27	60	141	6.9
1996	BOS	4	3	3.83	59	19	1	56.1	58	24	24	23	46	132	7.3
1996	TEX	0	1	3.22	22	9	0	22.1	20	8	8	4	14	165	5.6
1997	NYY	6	1	2.57	64	15	3	66.2	50	19	19	34	70	176	9.5
1998	NYY	4	1	5.47	67	26	6	79.0	71	51	48	26	69	81	7.9
1999	NYY	2	2	4.33	73	10	0	62.1	71	30	30	18	59	109	8.5
2000	NYY	2	3	4.10	69	20	0	68.0	68	32	31	24	75	118	9.9
2001	NYY	9	4	2.58	76	16	0	80.1	80	25	23	29	78	175	8.7
2002	NYY	7	1	3.00	79	25	6	78.0	73	29	26	28	44	148	5.1
2003	NYM	2	7	4.57	50	24	5	45.1	37	25	23	19	34	93	6.8
2004	NYM	2	6	3.16	83	19	0	77.0	70	32	27	33	58	136	6.8
2005	TOT	3	3	4.64	59	12	0	42.2	49	24	22	15	27	91	5.7
2005	TOT	1	2	6.60	29	6	0	15.0	18	11	11	6	13	68	7.8
2005	NYY	1	2	7.07	28	6	0	14.0	17	11	11	6	12	61	7.7
2005	WSN	2	1	3.58	30	6	0	27.2	31	13	11	9	14	115	4.6
2005	BOS	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	1.0	1	0	0	0	1		9.0
2006	TOT	7	7	3.99	82	22	8	67.2	70	30	30	27	48	110	6.4
2006	WSN	3	5	4.47	56	7	0	44.1	47	22	22	21	30	96	6.1
2006	SFG	4	2	3.09	26	15	8	23.1	23	8	8	6	18	148	6.9
2007	CIN	1	3	5.93	69	11	0	57.2	75	39	38	18	40	78	6.2
19 Yrs		68	63	3.92	1178	363	84	1114.0	1086	523	485	420	895	112	7.2
162 Game Avg.		4	4	3.92	68	21	5	64	63	30	28	24	52	112	7.2
		W	L	ERA	G	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA+	SO/9
ATL (7 yrs)		18	21	4.01	304	123	55	289.2	277	146	129	114	223	99	6.9
NYY (7 yrs)		31	14	3.77	456	118	15	448.1	430	197	188	165	407	121	8.2
BOS (3 yrs)		5	3	3.56	82	31	1	78.1	76	33	31	31	57	142	6.5
NYM (2 yrs)		4	13	3.68	133	43	5	122.1	107	57	50	52	92	116	6.8
WSN (2 yrs)		5	6	4.13	86	13	0	72.0	78	35	33	30	44	103	5.5
SFG (1 yr)		4	2	3.09	26	15	8	23.1	23	8	8	6	18	148	6.9
TEX (1 yr)		0	1	3.22	22	9	0	22.1	20	8	8	4	14	165	5.6
CIN (1 yr)		1	3	5.93	69	11	0	57.2	75	39	38	18	40	78	6.2

NL (12 yrs)		32	45	4.11	618	205	68	565.0	560	285	258	220	417	101	6.6
AL (9 yrs)		36	18	3.72	560	158	16	549.0	526	238	227	200	478	125	7.8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/12/2012.

Why He Should Get In
Stanton, while starting his career as a closer, established himself in the thankless role of being one of the best setup men in baseball. His longevity, durability and stability in the bullpen has him as one of the best players to do what he did.

Why He Should Not Get In
Unfortunately, what he did was something that most writers brush aside. He does not have the key numbers in wins, strikeouts, or saves to warrant his place in Cooperstown. A pitcher in the middle of a baseball game that did not start or close the game, makes it hard to qualify his place in history.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

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