THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996             TAG: 9601110007
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines

BASEBALL WRITERS PASS OVER SUTTON, NIEKRO UNREWARDED DURABILITY

Any baseball fan will tell you that a pitcher who wins 300 games in his major-league career belongs to one of the game's loftiest, most exclusive clubs. Current membership is a mere 20.

So such a pitcher would seem a shoo-in for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, which is a far less exclusive club and includes considerably more pitchers who didn't win 300 times than who did.

But members of the Baseball Writers Association of America declined for the third year to select Don Sutton, who ranks 12th with 324 regular-season victories. Phil Niekro, 14th with 318, fell short for the fourth time. An umpire would be booed out of the ballpark for such bad calls.

The two players share an unwanted and puzzling distinction: the only 300-game winners not enshrined at Cooperstown.

The rap on both seems to be that they didn't have enough 20-win seasons. Or that neither won a Cy Young or most-valuable-player award. Or that they lost too many games - Sutton 256, Niekro 274. Or that it took them too many seasons to compile their numbers - Sutton played 23 years, Niekro 24.

This last irks us most. In the toughest baseball competition in the world, both players were extraordinary models of consistency, dependability and endurance. In a game that produces so many flashy but fast-fading stars, the BBWAA ought to allot more points, not fewer, for answering the manager's call for almost a quarter-century.

Any baseball fan will tell you that a pitcher who wins 300 games in his major-league career belongs to one of the game's loftiest, most exclusive clubs. Current membership is a mere 20.

So such a pitcher would seem a shoo-in for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, which is a far-less-exclusive club and includes considerably more pitchers who didn't win 300 times than who did.

But members of the Baseball Writers Association of America declined for the third year to select Don Sutton, who ranks 12th with 324 regular-season victories. Phil Niekro, 14th with 318, fell short for the fourth time. An umpire would be booed out of the ballpark for such bad calls.

The two players share an unwanted and puzzling distinction: the only 300-game winners not enshrined at Cooperstown.

The rap on both seems to be that they didn't have enough 20-win seasons. Or that neither won a Cy Young or most-valuable-player award. Or that they lost too many games - Sutton 256, Niekro 274. Or that it took them too many seasons to compile their numbers - Sutton played 23 years, Niekro 24.

This last irks us most. In the toughest baseball competition in the world, both players were extraordinary models of consistency, dependability and endurance. In a game that produces so many flashy but fast-fading stars, the BBWAA ought to allot more points, not fewer, for answering the manager's call for almost a quarter-century. by CNB