Thoughts on the Hall of Fame Vote
In case you missed the announcement yesterday, here are the results of this year’s Hall of Fame vote:
| Player | Votes | Percentage |
| Roberto Alomar | 523 | 90.00% |
| Bert Blyleven | 463 | 79.70% |
| Barry Larkin | 361 | 62.10% |
| Jack Morris | 311 | 53.50% |
| Lee Smith | 263 | 45.30% |
| Jeff Bagwell | 242 | 41.70% |
| Tim Raines | 218 | 37.50% |
| Edgar Martinez | 191 | 32.90% |
| Alan Trammell | 141 | 24.30% |
| Larry Walker | 118 | 20.30% |
| Mark McGwire | 115 | 19.80% |
| Fred McGriff | 104 | 17.90% |
| Dave Parker | 89 | 15.30% |
| Don Mattingly | 79 | 13.60% |
| Dale Murphy | 73 | 12.60% |
| Rafael Palmeiro | 64 | 11.00% |
| Juan Gonzalez | 30 | 5.20% |
| Harold Baines | 28 | 4.80% |
| John Franco | 27 | 4.60% |
| Kevin Brown | 12 | 2.10% |
| Tino Martinez | 6 | 1.00% |
| Marquis Grissom | 4 | 0.70% |
| Al Leiter | 4 | 0.70% |
| John Olerud | 4 | 0.70% |
| B.J. Surhoff | 2 | 0.30% |
| Bret Boone | 1 | 0.20% |
| Benito Santiago | 1 | 0.20% |
| Carlos Baerga | 0 | 0.00% |
| Charles Johnson | 0 | 0.00% |
| Bobby Higginson | 0 | 0.00% |
| Raul Mondesi | 0 | 0.00% |
| Kirk Rueter | 0 | 0.00% |
| Lenny Harris | 0 | 0.00% |
Alomar and Blyleven will both deservedly get in. The names highlighted in that sad shade of blue will be dropped off of future ballots (Parker due to the 15 year rule, the others due to the <5% rule). A few thoughts:
- OK, I get the non votes for guys like McGwire and Palmeiro. I don’t agree with it, but I get it. However, the only reason to not vote for Jeff Bagwell is if you are accusing him of using roids / HGH. His performance was obviously Hall-worthy. Shouldn’t the null hypothesis be an assumption of innocence? Why do we insist that Alomar is clean while Bagwell isn’t? People have really swallowed the idea that steroids = home runs (and vice versa), and that’s unfortunate.
- I’m not a Kevin Brown fan, and a small part of me is laughing at him now, but he really got screwed here. Postseason notwithstanding, Brown’s career was nearly identical to Curt Schilling’s, and I’m guessing Curt will be elected without much resistance (as he should be). There is no doubt that Brown was a better pitcher than say, Jack Morris.
- I was expecting more of a groundswell of support for Tim Raines on this year’s ballot, but it looks like he has stagnated at around 40%. Not a good sign for him.
- Prediction for 2012: Barry Larkin is the sole inductee.
Unrelated gripe:
I often consider getting more into biking, since part of my commute includes 1.5 miles of walking and Boston has become more bike-friendly recently. However, certain encounters make me not want to become a part of that culture, like this morning, for instance:
Me: (walking on a sidewalk near the BU Bridge in 20 degree weather, listening to loud music on headphones)
Biker: “LEFT!!” (in a frustrated “Oh come on!” sort of tone)
Me: (realizing he had said this a few times and I hadn’t heard it, now stepping aside): “sorry man”
Biker: (after pedaling safely 15 yards away from me): “DICK!!”
Me: sigh…
I refuse to become that guy. Walking is just fine.
What was the biker supposed to do? I bet the biker is talking about the dick who is oblivious to others because he was listening to music and not paying attention. When I run I make sure to elbow people like you who think they own the trail.
“What was the biker supposed to do?”
I’ll give this a shot. Let’s see…
1. Use the street?
2. Display some courtesy, and not be a passive-aggressive douche?
Gotta laugh at your last point, though. In over 5 years of walking multiple miles daily, I have never been elbowed by a runner. I guess that’s the sort of idea that looks better on the internet than it does in reality.
Bike and don’t be that guy. We need more bikers to not be that guy. (Rob: the biker is supposed to yield to the pedestrian and pass only when safe.)
Thanks, Villain. Spotted a nice cruising bike for $350 at LL Bean the other day, thinking about taking the plunge.
I’ll admit, I should pay more attention when walking (and doing other things). But, I did step aside and apologize once I realized he wanted to pass. Calling me a dick after that was just wanton surliness.
You should have knocked the real dick off his bike. What an asshole.
As for the Hall of Fame, I think that the player’s peak needs to be given greater weight than the accumulation of stats. Personally, I would only consider a player to be Hall-worthy if he was one of the top 5-10 best players in the league or at the top 1-2 his position for at least a few years. This is why I would have a hard time with Palmeiro getting in. Unless I’m wrong (and I might be…I’m too lazy to look this up right now since I just ate an enormous lunch), but was he ever a top 2 or 3 1b in his league?
Nah, his peak was never that of a top 1-2 1B. There was a 6 year stretch where he finished between 5th and 18th in MVP voting each year. But, a lot of guys not in the hall probably boast a similar streak. Raffy’s counting stats are admittedly what would get him in on my ballot, for the most part.