"Jamie Moyer is baseball's Dorian Gray. I don't know if the 47-year-old lefthander has a portrait in his attic that takes on fresh wrinkles and other mortifications of aging each time he adds a victory to his four decade resume. His name and Hall of Fame are starting to surface in conversations about his amazing longevity. Jamie Moyer represents riding time, staying healthy and taking the ball. The New England Medical Journal should be studying him. Instead, he is studied by batsmen, scouts and sportswriters.
"I would vote for Dorian Gray as one of literature's creepiest characters. But I would not give Moyer my Hall of Fame vote, with or without an attic hiding a painting that does his aging for him. Not now. His impressive victory total reflects riding time more than the Hall of Fame imperative of dominance in his era. Even with his 9 victories at the All-Star break, Cy Old is not a pitcher you would describe as dominant. He has been Batman and Robin in just two seasons when he won 20 or more games, accomplished when he was 38 and 40 years old while with the Seattle Mariners.
"What could change my mind? The once automatic HOF number of 300 victories would probably insure my vote. It would do more than that. If I someday get to consider a ballot with Jamie's name included, it will mean I am in the home stretch of life with the Biblical four score years and ten in sight."
- Bill Conlin, Philadelphia Daily News
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