MLB: Hall of Fame ballot out. Vote you slackers!

In My Humble Opinion
1

So this years HoF ballot is out…

And if that’s not an IMHO thread waiting to happen I don’t know what is. Hell, for all of me I’d toss it in GD as I think it’s more interesting than one more Bush/Gore annoyance fest.

Are you with me here?

This years ballot contains the fine and upstanding names:

So how 'bout it folks?

I’m figuring that Molitor is a sure-fire inductee. 3300+ hits, lifetime .306 AVG, 504 SB, 7 time all star, WSMVP (1993)…

That all adds up to a ticket, IMHO…

Then we get to Eckersley…he’s a special case. I’d shoot him right in. But his numbers, because he split time as a starter and reliever, place him on the bubble.

So the question becomes…will the voters see through that and elect him? Interesting.

And I’d like to post notice that Ryne Sandberg deserves a little fucking more than <50% of the votes this year. Sorry, I can NOT be tolerant of this sort of misbehavior!

I also think Blyleven should be in…if nothing else than because he’s better than several of the other pitchers currently in the HoF.

Of the others…

I sit on the fence about several of them…Dawson, Rice, Garvey, Gossage, Hernandez, Mattingly, John, Morris, Smith, Sutter, Trammell. I’ve heard the arguments for and against and could go either way.

So what do you all think?

2

Molitor, Sandberg (Closet Cubbie here), perhaps if old Fernando had had more of a carreer he’d be in…

3

Mattingly should not be in. I grew up with him, he was my baseball hero as a kid in the 80’s, but he isn’t GREAT.
Same goes for Tommy John.
Sandberg, Eckersley, Molitor, and Blyleven. They belong this year.
Though after this season with the Tigers, maybe a Hall of Fame induction would give Trammell the confidence to do better next year.:slight_smile:

4

Only Molitor and Blyleven…

Molitor has 3000 hits and Blyleven had 287 wins and 3700 K’s.

5

Only Molitor and Blyleven…

Molitor has 3000 hits and Blyleven had 287 wins and 3700 K’s.

6

So, does EVERY player with 10 years in get on the ballot?

Jim Eisenreich??? WTF?

7

Molitor is a shoo-in. Eckersley will probably get in either this year or next.

Sandberg’s vote total last year mystified me as well, I’d vote him in.

Think relief pitchers are underrepresented (even with Eckersley) so pick one from Sutter, Smith or Gossage, probably in that order.

Blyleven’s raw numbers look very good, but he just doesn’t strike me as HOF guy, someone who was considered among the best at his position for a number of years, a bar the others listed above scale pretty easily. Leave him out, I would put in Rice. Morris or Dale Murphy before Blyleven.

8

Molitor and Sandberg are probably the best eligible position players not already in the Hall, and I’d have no problem voting for either. Likewise for Eckersley. Blyleven’s case isn’t quite as strong, but I’d probably vote for him. The voters probably won’t, however, for the same reasons they didn’t vote for Jim Kaat, who probably had a slightly better case. Morris is even farther down the list.

As for Mattingly, Rice, Murphy, Dawson, Garvey, Trammell, and even Dave Parker, you have to concede that there are plenty of players with similar career numbers in the Hall, so it comes down to intangibles and to how strict you want the standard to be. I do think there’s a tendency to discount recent players in comparison with the older “legends” of the game – players whose whole careers we watched seem less awe-inspiring than those we read and heard about as kids. Nevertheless, I’m not sure any of that group quite rise to the level.

Among the relievers, I said in a similar thread last winter that while my initial reaction is that Lee Smith isn’t a Hall-of-Famer, on looking closer at the evidence if he isn’t then probably no reliever will ever be. Perhaps if Mariano Rivera keeps up his recent standard for another few years (another three years at his average pace would give him almost exactly 400 saves). Gossage is probably right there with them, but time hasn’t been particularly good to his memory either – you almost never hear him mentioned when people talk about the great pitchers of the last half of the twentieth century. I actually think Sutter is the weakest of the reliever candidates – he made more noise during his career for (a) nearly creating the role of the closer and (b) his huge (for the time) free agent deals, so people remember him. You could actually make a case for Jeff Reardon ahead of Sutter (Sutter had seven seasons with 25 or more saves, eight seasons with an ERA below 4.00, and a career total of exactly 300 saves, while Reardon had 367 saves, eight seasons with 25 or more saves, and eleven seasons with an ERA below 4.00). Not saying that I think Reardon should be in the Hall, just that I don’t think Sutter quite makes the grade either. On the other hand, there’s precedent for electing guys because of a belief that they changed the game – perhaps he belongs in a special wing with Candy Cummings.

I think if I were voting, my ballot would include:[ul]
[li]Bert Blyleven[/li][li]Dennis Eckersley(x)[/li][li]Rich Gossage[/li][li]Paul Molitor(x)[/li][li]Ryne Sandberg[/li][li]Lee Smith[/li][/ul]

9

Yep, that’s the rules. If you appeared in the majors during ten or more seasons (even small appearances) you get to be on the ballot starting 5 years after you retire. That way everyone gets at least one shot.

But there’s a caveat…

If, during any election, you fail to appear on 5% of the ballot you are dropped and will no longer be considered.

So here’s a follow up question:

Which of the players on the ballot won’t get the 5% and will be dropped from the ballot next year?

10

I think I’d vote for Molitor, Eckersley, Sandberg, and Blyleven. (Sandberg probably hurt himself a little by coming back after retiring once.)

The whole idea of relievers in the Hall is a tough one, if only because the role of the reliever has changed drastically within the past 20 years or so, and many of the first dominant relievers are now becoming eligible for the Hall.

11

Easy. Jim Eisenreich! He was mediocre his entire career.

12

And Juan Samuel and Bob Tewkesbury. :slight_smile:

13

Since Ryne Sandberg is my boyfriend, I’d vote him in. :wink:

14

Molitor, for sure, but he’s the only lock.

I’d bet Eckersley is in too, and he’s a good example of how actual dominance in games should be the main criterion, not simple numbers which can mislead. The other closers on the list, such as Smith and Gossage, inflated their save totals by being brought in for the last meaningless out of many games that had already been won. While that makes numbers that impress stat geeks, it doesn’t mean much compared to the performances of a guy who built his rep in games when it mattered. Eckersley effectively created the modern closer’s role, and that combined with relaxation of the save rule has created a lot of imitator prima donnas.

Jack Morris was underrated, and did rise to the occasion in big games like a great player should. He won’t get in, but he’d always have my vote. Jim Rice is the opposite - he rang up some big numbers, but not in the crunch, and his unsportsmanlike character counts against him for me much more than it does for others.

Murphy, Trammell, and Garvey are on my borderline, but if one really has to think about it, the right answer is probably no.

15

My votes:

Molitor, Eckersley, Smith, Gossage, and either Sandberg or Rice.

16

Can anyone explain to me why Sandberg is so wonderful? I look at his career and I think it’s no better than Mattingly’s.

17

Was just waiting for someone to post this… :smiley:

My ballot, in no order in particular:

–Bert Blyleven
–Ryne Sandberg (I swear, if he doesn’t get in… :mad: )
–Alan Trammell
–Rich Gossage
–Dennis Eckersley
–Paul Molitor
–Andre Dawson
–Jim Rice
–Don Mattingly
–Lou Whitaker (write-in)

I’m willing to bet Tewksbury gets some votes due to the time when he threw nothing but junkballs to Mark McGwire. :smiley:

18

You can guess a 7 digit phone number in 24 guesses (CEIL(log(2)(9999999)) = 24)

19

For one thing, Sandberg holds (or at least held) the record for the most games played without committing an error. He also holds the record for most career homers by a secondbaseman, made possible by his comeback.

20

I really should pay more attention when I edit; that should have read “…most consecutive games…”