I don’t really know how they pick umps, but as managers go Herzog is a very deserving choice.
They used to call Harvey “God”, which tells you all you need to know about his qualifications.
Marvin Miller should have gone in too, and arguably Billy Martin.
About his qualifications, or about his self-image? Harvey’s from the time when umpires thought *they *were the show, not the players.
Here’s an article on Blyleven, for anyone who’s interested.
Just Andre Dawson, and Blyleven fell short by 5 votes.
That is a god damn travesty all around. No Edgar Martinez, no Fred McGriff, no Blyleven (I guess), no Alomar, no Larkin. Maybe they’re not all first balloters :rolleyes:, but the fact that none of got in is a joke.
Dawson got in in a squeaker, with 77.9 percent of the vote in his ninth year of eligibility. It looks like Blyleven and Alomar will get in for sure next year because they were each a handful of votes short, but I don’t know who the competition is. I’ll go on record as saying Larkin will make it, but it’ll take five to seven years.
Copied from Baseball-Reference.com:
Andre Dawson 420 77.9% 67.0%
Less than 75% of vote, but still on ballot.
Bert Blyleven 400 74.2% 62.7%
Roberto Alomar 397 73.7% 1st year
Jack Morris 282 52.3% 44.0%
Barry Larkin 278 51.6% 1st year
Lee Smith 255 47.3% 44.5%
Edgar Martinez 195 36.2% 1st year
Tim Raines 164 30.4% 22.6%
Mark McGwire 128 23.7% 21.9%
Alan Trammell 121 22.4% 17.4%
Fred McGriff 116 21.5% 1st year
Don Mattingly 87 16.1% 11.9%
Dave Parker 82 15.2% 15.0%
Dale Murphy 63 11.7% 11.5%
Harold Baines 33 6.1% 5.9%
Less than 5%, will not be on next year’s ballot
Andres Galarraga 22 4.1% 1st year
Robin Ventura 7 1.3% 1st year
Ellis Burks 2 0.4% 1st year
Eric Karros 2 0.4% 1st year
Kevin Appier 1 0.2% 1st year
Pat Hentgen 1 0.2% 1st year
David Segui 1 0.2% 1st year
Mike Jackson 0 0% 1st year
Ray Lankford 0 0% 1st year
Shane Reynolds 0 0% 1st year
Todd Zeile 0 0% 1st year
Ah. I thought this was Blyleven’s last year on the ballot, but I guess he has another couple years, so he’ll be in.
And looking at those numbers, I’d say Larkin is close to a lock, and Edgar is probable, among the new players.
Big jump for Blyleven–looks like the longtime push is finally reaching critical mass.
Very surprised that Alomar didn’t get in, since he’s the best second baseman I’ve ever seen. Then again, it took Gary Carter six tries, so I guess it’s to be expected.
Mildly surprised that Dawson made it, but he won’t be the worst player in Cooperstown.
Dawson’s defense was highly regarded, especially back when he played CF. That typically doesn’t hold in people’s memories unless they were absolute defensive standouts.
Blyleven’s a lock now-if not in '11, in '12, his final year, when the only new notable will be Bernie Williams. Still a damned shame. Alomar got hurt by all those pretentious twits who think a “First Ballot HoFer” is a distinction worthy of remembrance.
Now, I don’t exactly consider myself a Large Hall guy (I’d probably draw my own line at the 30th percentile of all current honorees), but in a recent mock ballot I put down nine names. The piss poor showings of Trammell and Raines are complete travesties-Raines had an OBP 60 points higher than former teammate Dawson (read that again, slowly). If they gave Gold Gloves per outfield position (rather than lumping everybody together into a undifferentiated mass), Raines would have won a few as the best defensive LFer in the league.
The most impressive candidates for 2011 include Larry Walker, Jeff Bagwell, Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez. Lesser lights include John Olerud, Marquis Grissom, John Franco and Benito Santiago.
Looks pretty good for Blyleven and Alomar, I think - but who else is going in?
Bagwell, eventually - I’d say first ballot, but if Alomar isn’t good enough, I don’t know if Bagwell is either.
Walker, probably, as well - interesting that Galarraga didn’t make the 5% cut, I don’t know what that means for how Hall of Fame voters will treat Colorado players in the future.
If McGwire is on the outside looking in, I don’t see how Palmeiro makes it, either.
Juan Gone is an interesting case - short career, dramatic decline, and only 434 home runs for a power hitter, and the statheads don’t much like him, but those 2 MVPs (even though ARod should have won them).
I’ll be darned if I can understand why someone would vote for Andre Dawson but not Roberto Alomar. I mean, seriously? I understand why people might think Dawson was better than Raines - they’re hopelessly, stupidly wrong, but I can kind of see WHY they think it. But better than Alomar? Dawson is a pretty bad choice.
Anyway, Alomar obviously will be elected next year.
Blyleven hopefully will as well.
“Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played.”
Dawson’s a fine choice under the criteria voters are required to use, “hopelessly and stupidly” :dubious: or not. Alomar needed to be discounted because of the spitting incident but will have paid his debt to society by next year, and there’s nothing more to be said about Blyleven. Morris deserved better, but the other votes all seem about right to me.
So is Dawson going to be given an Expos or Cubs cap logo? It isn’t the player’s choice anymore.
Walker and Bags aren’t obviously in but I’d bet that way.
I was reading an article yesterday which showed Win Share totals for a bunch of active and recently-retired players. Bill James has apparently posited that 400 Win Shares is a sure-fire indicator for HoF inclusion. Walker’s only in the mid-300s, IIRC, which would seem to not bode well for him. I liked him a great deal, and he had some excellent numbers, but I wonder if he was good enough for long enough.
McGwire’s percentage ticked up a bit this year, which I found interesting. I suspect, if he does “come clean” at some point here (now that he’s back in the baseball community, as a Cardinals coach), that may help him in the long term. Palmeiro’s been similarly invisible since his departure.
I’m always amazed looking at the bottom vote getters. I loved Ventura, but 7 votes? What arguement can be made for Appier’s vote? The whole process is nuts.
It isn’t the player’s choice anymore, but he does get to voice a preference. But I bet he’ll lean towards the Cubs.
It’s a make-up vote for the Cy Young he was robbed of.
He was one of the best pitchers in the AL throughout the 1990s. He’s extremely underrated. I’m not saying that I think he should be in the Hall of Fame, but a vote for him isn’t completely off-the-wall.