The crafty lefty hall of fame

Joe Posnanski writes a lot of great, deep things. But it’s often his simplest observations that are the best. Like this one:

And so, in Mike Flanagan’s honor, I’ve come up with the Crafty Lefty Hall of Fame. To find my first Crafty Lefty class, I came up with what I consider the quintessential Crafty Lefty performance. I decided this is it: 7 1/3 innings, 8 hits, 3 runs, 3 strikeouts.

I agree that is a near-perfect crafty lefty line for historical purpoes, though we might want to lop off an inning due to reliever specialization in recent years. Pitching into the seventh now is totally crafty enough.

At any rate, Posnanski uses that line to search for his inaugural inductees to the Crafty Lefty Hall of Fame, which actually should exist. Perhaps in a converted utility closet just off the main hallway at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Befitting crafty lefties, the induction ceremonies should be weird and fun. Maybe everyone listens to some Little Feat for a while and then shoots the breeze for a bit. Because really, crafty lefties are anything but solemn.