Standing at just 5'11" and weighing 170 pounds, Tim Lincecum appeared more like a finesse pitcher with light throws than a dominant power arm. However, the San Francisco Giants saw exceptional talent, choosing him with the tenth overall pick in the 2006 draft, recognizing him as a Golden Spikes Award winner. His delivery was explosive and high-leverage, with a large stride and vigorous hip rotation. After only one summer in the minors, he burst into the major leagues, earning the nickname "The Freak.” His rise sparked a peak of dominance that reshaped the franchise's identity.

Debuting in 2007, Lincecum emerged prominently the subsequent year. He established a routine of overpowering elite batters with 98 mph fastballs and executing a formidable, tumbling split-changeup. He methodically dismantled National League lineups, concluding the season with an impressive 18–5 record and a 2.62 ERA. That summer, he captured his very first career National League Cy Young Award while pacing the senior circuit in strikeouts (265), FIP (2.62), hits per nine innings (7.2), and strikeouts per nine innings (10.5).

Far from a transient anomaly within a single season, he advanced into an exceptionally exclusive neighborhood by securing a consecutive Cy Young Award in 2009. He demonstrated an exemplary performance in run prevention, concluding the season with a record of 15–7 and a career-best 2.48 ERA, while also leading Major League Baseball with an exceptional 2.34 FIP and accumulating a league-high total of 261 strikeouts over 225.1 innings.

His collective peak reached its absolute emotional pinnacle during the remarkable autumn of 2010. Following his attainment of a third consecutive All-Star selection and a third consecutive strikeout title during the regular season, Lincecum served as the primary postseason ace. He notably outperformed Roy Halladay in the National League Championship Series before decisively defeating the Texas Rangers in the World Series, securing two victories—including an outstanding performance with eight strikeouts in the decisive Game 5—and thereby capturing the franchise's first World Series championship since relocating to San Francisco.

To provide an equitable assessment, it is necessary to acknowledge the abrupt physical deterioration that ultimately disrupted his journey to Cooperstown. His distinctive, torque-intensive mechanics exerted considerable strain on his lower extremities, causing his exceptional physical leverage to vanish with startling rapidity. After a final All-Star appearance in 2011, his statistics commenced a decline over successive summers, attributable to persistent hip and shoulder problems.

Although his days as a frontline starter were over, his competitive drive remained essential to the ongoing dynasty; he seamlessly transitioned to a high-leverage relief role during the 2012 postseason, pitching 13.0 exemplary innings out of the bullpen to assist in securing a second championship ring.

Though his active participation was minimal during the 2014 world title run and his career officially fizzled out following a brief cameo with the Los Angeles Angels in 2016, his short-term peak remains completely unassailable.

Lincecum walked away from the Bay Area mound, leaving behind a highly concentrated statistical foundation that tells the story of a shooting star. Across his nine seasons strictly representing San Francisco, he compiled a 108–89 record alongside 1,704 strikeouts and a 3.61 ERA over 1,643.2 innings of work.  He remains the only two-time Cy Young winner in franchise history.

On a ballot packed with qualified candidates for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, is it possible that none of them will be elected this year?

If that happens, as it did last year, it would be the third time in the last decade that the qualified voters of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) have thrown a shutout at the Hall of Fame. This is an odd paradox considering that after the Big Zilch of 2013, the BBWAA in subsequent years went on to elect 22 players across the next seven ballots, with the various guises of the veterans committee voting in another five players (and six non-players) during that seven-year span. (In 2013, the veterans committee did elect three candidates to the Hall.)

Last year, Curt Schilling, who had garnered 70 percent of the vote on the previous ballot, seemed to be a lock for election. Instead, he stalled with a negligible increase in support, then threw a social-media Trumper tantrum declaring that he wanted to be removed from this year's ballot. The Hall of Fame quickly responded that it would not do so.

In a tumultuous year that was not normal for anything and everything including baseball, one thing that might be back to normal is voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Granted, the 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot has 14 returning candidates, with just about every one of them owning cases for induction that range from borderline to compelling.

This one should be a little interesting.

There was a time when Tim Lincecum was considered the best Pitcher in the National League and rightfully so.  Dubbed “The Freak” due to his powerful arm despite having a slender frame, Linceum is one of the few hurlers to record back-to-back Cy Youngs (2008 & 2009) in a stretch where he would also lead the National League both seasons in Strikeouts, FIP and SO/9.   Lincecum would still receive Cy Young votes over the next two seasons but injuries would render him a fraction of what he was and realistically Lincecum was a player with two excellent seasons, two very good seasons, and a few horrible ones, the latter two of which was when he would become a three time World Series Champion.