Well, here we go. The 2013 MLB HOF ballots were sent out this week, and it’s the biggest pool of talent probably in the entire modern era. Let the speculation on everything PED-related begin. [tremendous amount of well-poisoning deleted.] I’m going to go ahead and make this poll public, even though I hate public polls - because the HOF ballot is limited to 10 votes.
Here’s a great chart of all the nominees (including the veterans’ committee slate) if you want a good place to start comparing everyone.
Wow…as I go down the list, it’s amazing how many names end up with a “nope, 'roid monkey” dismissal from me.
I’m still hoping to see Dale Murphy make it…
What a list of talent - I had to use 8 votes and there were at least a few others I could be talked in to.
This will be the moment of truth regarding PED-based voting. Can you have a HoF without Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens? I’m OK with keeping out McGwire and Palmeiro, but a top-3 all-time hitter and pitcher.
I’m holding out hope for Tim Raines - maybe being from before the steroid era will help him this year.
Is this the year Bill Dahlen finally takes his rightful place? Hope so.
Jack Morris
A good pitcher, sometimes very good, never a great one, except for the 1991 World Series. But he’s got a ring for that. So no.
Jeff Bagwell
Bagwell was a hell of a player. I would vote yes.
Lee Smith
No, because I think releif pitcher are overrated.
Tim Raines
Raines is a poster boy for overlooked players. If you look at this career stats, he’s not really SUPER great, though. His qualifications are sometimes a little overblown. Nonetheless he might well be one of the 100 best position players ever, which is way about the HOF line.
Alan Trammell
As good a player as Tim Raines, so yes.
Edgar Martinez
About as good a player as Raines and Trammell. Yes again. I’ve historically been on the fence about Edgar but the numbers are whatthey are.
Fred McGriff
A very good player, but not quite that great. I loved watching him hit when he played for the Blue Jays because if he got hold of one, he could hit it really astounding distances.
Larry Walker
I mentioned this last year but I don 't understand why so many people are bully on Edgar for the HOF but dismiss Larry Walker. Walker was every bit as good a player as Edgar Martinez.
Mark McGwire
I dunno.
Don Mattingly
No.
Dale Murphy
Had a tremendous, but short, peak. No.
Raphael Palmeiro
“Rafael.” Screw him.
Bernie Williams
I think Bernie Williams is a hideously underrated player. He probably won’t get in, but really, I would not mind if he did.
Barry Bonds
Bonds isn’t a likable man but he sure was a great ballplayer.
Roger Clemens
Clemens isn’t a likable man but he sure was a great pitcher.
Mike Piazza
I’d think so.
Curt Schilling
On the bubble; not a no brainer, but a greater pitcher than he is sometimes given credit for. Will probably fall into the Luis Tiant grey area of guys who were awesome but didn’t win enough games.
Kenny Lofton
Lofton was an awfully good player for a long time and was always underrated. Wouldn’t be the worst pick ever, but they wn’t pick him. He was a better player than Fred McGriff.
Craig Biggio
Obviously yes.
Sammy Sosa
I have no idea what to say about the steroid issue - he was never caught, was he? - but WAR rates Sosa as being a bit under the HOF usual. I think he’s at around 55, which for comparison’s sake is below Kenny Lofton. He had a hell of a run but again it was a shorter run, and for much of his career he wasn’t really THAT valuable.
David Wells
Before the 1993 season the Blue Jays just outright released David Wells. I guess theyddin’t like him. To this day I don’t know why they did that, but it goes a long way towards explaining why they’ve won nothing in 20 years; at the time they seemed to just assume they could always replace talent, because they’d been so dominant in their talent acquisition. That decision, that attitude, cost them.
Steve Finley
Good player.
Julio Franco
Good player. Played until he was 89.
Reggie Sanders
Good player. From 1998 to 2004, Reggie played for seven different teams in seven seasons. Most of them made the playoffs.
Shawn Green
Another talent who was partially pissed away by the Blue Jays, who held him up for years because he was quiet and lefthanded and Cito Gaston didn’t like those things.
**Jeff Cirillo
Ryan Klesko
Woody Williams
Aaron Sele
Roberto Hernandez
Royce Clayton
Jeff Conine
Bob Wickman
Mike Lieberthal
Mike Stanton
Tony Bautista
[/QUOTE]
“Batista.” All these guys basically are on the ballot because they were regular players for ten years, but seriously.
Sandy Alomar
Remember when this guy was the shit?
Jose Mesa
Did you know Jose once finished second in Cy Young voting? It’s true.
Steve Kline
Todd Walker
Mike Myers
Damian Miller
Preston Wilson
Jaret Wright
Long ballot this year.
Antonio Alfonseca
MLB’s all time leader in fingers.
You made me go back and look at the stats. You’ve convinced me. Add him to my ballot.
I disagree on this one. Good player, no doubt, but poor defense and not overwhelming numbers. All of those World Series helps, but not enough IMO.
50% more fingers than Mordecai Brown, and he’s a Hall-of-Famer.
100% more.
OK, I’ll show my work:
Alfonseca - 6 per hand = 12 fingers
Brown - Lost 2 fingers on right hand (although maybe he really only lost part of one) = 8 fingers
12 is 50% more than 8. QED. 
Right you are. I thought you were talking about the pitching hand only.
Don’t forget ol’ Rollie Fingers now. If you count his last name as two…
OK, who are the people not voting for Craig Biggio? And, for God’s sake, why not?
Surprised Piazza is in the lead. I picked him, but I’m surprised so many others did as well.
Shooby:
Just the joke I was looking to make, but I had been trying to find out how many kids he has. From the best I can tell, he had four, but maybe grandchildren can make up the difference…
I’m not too surprised Piazza is in the lead. He’s not really like anyone else on the list, and the steroid thing seems to have passed him by.
I didn’t. It wasn’t a lack of talent or qualifications, just a lack of avaiable votes. I’d certainly vote for him next year. Hell - maybe I’d swap out Schilling for him, just so he could get in with Bagwell. He’s definitely deserving.
So Walker voters - are you also voting for Dale Murphy? Surprisingly similar numbers - the only difference is Walker had a higher peak. Despite Murphy’s injury-induced decline, he still played a year longer with 1000 more PAs.
I’m not sure Walker and Murphy were that similar. Obviously it’s trickier to remove Coors Field from Walker, so you need park-adjusted stats.
WAR: Walker, 69.7 Murphy, 42.6
Peak WAR (best season): Walker 9.6 Murphy 7.4
OPS+: Walker 144 Murphy 121
The counting stats are pretty close (thanks to those extra 1000 PAs):
Hits: Walker 2160 Murphy 2111
HR: Walker 383 Murphy 398
But Walker ran a bit more (neither ran a ton) and played significantly better defense than Murphy (I know Murphy won a bunch of Gold Gloves… I trust dodgy defensive statistics way more than Gold Glove voters).
I put the bar for corner OF a bit higher than other positions, which is why I left Walker off my ballot as well. But if I’m going to put Edgar on, I should probably include Walker (giving him a bump for his defensive contributions). To me the bar is somewhere between Walker and Murphy.
Or I could just leave Edgar out, which given my dislike of the DH is probably preferable.
Yeah, that’s probably it. I guess I’m a little gun-shy on Walker due to Coors Field - but you’re right, it’s not that much different than Edgar’s DH-ness.
Voted for Bonds, Bagwell, Biggio, Clemens, Piazza, Raines, Trammell, McGwire, Edgar Martinez, and Schilling.
I may have been underrating Walker, he’s next on my list, followed by Palmeiro.
I voted for:
Raines
Mattingly
Murphy
Bonds
Clemens
I don’t care about the steroid issue. ‘Everybody’ was doing them; some people just did them better than others.