My only point there was that Gonzalez had a (barely) debatable case for discussion. Greg Gagne doesn’t even deserve a second thought.
I’m done trying to sort out the whole steroids mess. It’s ridiculous to exclude Bonds and Clemens…how do I know that Biggio and Bagwell and Piazza didn’t juice? How do I know that the Big Hurt isn’t living a Big Lie? Why are we going to exclude players that supposedly and allegedly did something that wasn’t even banned under MLB rules, at the time? And even if the writers take this “moral” stand, you know the veterans committee will induct truly great players, like Bonds and Clemens.
My only hope for the “steroid ere” is that the standards for the Hall of Fame are raised higher than other eras. I saw Palmiero play and never thought of him as great. Same for McGwire and Sosa.
Btw, is it kosher if I write in non-players on my ballot? For example, let’s say I wanted Marvin Miller to be elected… could I start a write-in campaign?
No, there’ll likely be a chance for him to enter the HOF via the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, or an executive membership, or some other special recognition. It’s hard to argue his not having earned it. I suspect Dr. James Andrews to get similar recognition at some point.
But *Eric *Gagne, the guy on the ballot, was certainly dominant at his position for a couple of years. That isn’t enough - you need to have been very good for a long time too - but it’s something.
Gonzalez is one of those guys who changed teams often enough to gain an unfair image as a journeyman. But he was very good for a long time, and deserves consideration.
I don’t think it’s a journeyman label that’s hurting him (I only associate him with his lengthy stints in Houston and Arizona), but rather his merely-above-average-for-a-long-time career. He’s the type of guy I love having on a team - guys with more walks than whiffs are far too rare these days. But other than that monster season in 2001, what do are you seeing that warrants inclusion?
Yeah, not looking good so far. I thought it might just be luck of the draw, getting a larger share of non-Raines voters in the early returns, but by my count, of the 12 voters listed who didn’t vote for Raines this year, 4 of them did vote for him last year. So, looks like he’ll have a lower vote total this year…
I think, as Bill James suggested, that the pool of voters for the Baseball HOF should be expanded beyond the BBWAA. For one thing, by mostly limiting the selection process to print journalists, the HOF is inadvertantly displaying a bias against “new” media and barring imput from many more-than-well qualified and knowledgeable people who simply made the unwise decision to work in a type of media that came into being after 1920.
Yes. How does Bill James himself not have a vote? Or someone like Vin Scully? Or Voros McCracken? Or some of those SABR historians? You’ll find very few, if any, BBWAA members more qualified to have a Hall of Fame opinion than these people. Why do the writers have a stranglehold on this door to the Hall?