2013 MLB Hall of Fame Screechfest

I get a little tired of hearing people equating a no vote to saying a guy "wasn't that good."

You're talking about splitting hairs between the top 1 percent and the top 2 percent.

They're all really really good.

 

maybe you're not the most objective person to judge yourself.

 

Hmmmm

 

wow, ernie. maybe you can recommend a good minister and such since you and bert already cruised the entire state of washington.

 

I'd love to see what would happen if the voters all just picked the guys they believe are Hall of Famers. No protest votes. No refusing to vote for a guy because it's his first time on the ballot. No waiting to see if some guy who maybe, might have used PEDs gets busted for it after the fact, which seems pretty damn unlikely. Just vote based on what they did and the voter's knowledge of the game.

I know. Silly of me. That's far too much to ask.

 

tell me, oop, have you ever been to the hof?

 

Fair statement. Let me rephrase: why little explanation for no vote for the Hall?

I simply ask because when contested guys like Rice, Blyleven, Morris get close the debate on pros and cons is heated. I often hear numerous people (and a lot on this board) pull hard for Raines. Never hear the other side.

 

The problem is that the splitting of hairs in a lot of cases makes no sense.

here are a couple of ballots that have been revealed. The names of the voters aren't important.

1. Bonds, Clemens, Martinez, McGwire, Palmeiro, Piazza, Smith, Sosa and Trammell.

One spot open. No Bagwell or Biggio. Or Raines for that matter.

2. Clemens, Bonds, Bagwell, Biggio, Morris, Murphy, Schilling, Raines, Trammell and Martinez.

A full ballot. No Piazza.

3. Bonds, Biggio, Raines, Smith, Morris, and Schilling.

A vote for Bonds but not Clemens.

4. Bagwell, Bonds, Clemens, Martinez, Murphy, Palmeiro, Raines, Smith and Walker.

One spot open. Nine names and no Biggio or Piazza.

5. Clemens, Bonds, Bagwell, Martinez, Lofton, Raines, Schilling, Trammell, Walker and Biggio.

Another full ballot. No Piazza

 

This kind of "exit polling" is likely unreliable.

 

Which kind, the ballot tracking that is being done by other sites? Because the main one, the one at Baseball Think Factory, will find close to a third of the votes and I expect them to have a lot more this year because of the PED talk. They are already approaching 17 percent. And last year they were within two percentage points on all but four guys.

 

And Della, you're coming down heavily on those with no Piazza, Biggio or Bagwell on the ballot, as if that makes no sense. For the voters in questions, their choices could very well make perfect sense.

 

If you pick 10 names on the ballot ahead of Piazza, it doesn't make sense — unless you vote no on all the "PED" guys.

And more than just those three guys — who I am citing more because they are the top three vote getters right now — it is the splitting of these hairs with so many candidates that is leading to no one getting elected. Guys who put Biggio and Bagwell on a ballot but not Piazza and Raines are washed out by the next who picks Piazza and Raines but not Biggio and Bagwell.

History has already proven it. 1996 they didn't elect anyone. Six of those guys have been named Hall of Famers. And the time before, in 1971, they couldn't put in either Yogi Berra or Early Wynn (who was a third-time holdover with 300 games), to have a class. It is only in spite of themselves and future election issues by not picking anyone, when there will be guys from this ballot.

It's like the protest ballots for only Dale Murphy or Jack Morris. At least Morris has a chance to get elected by swinging less than 50 votes. Murphy needed 350 voters to change their mind. It's a waste of a vote to pick him only.

It all started in 1998. They had a chance to put Rice in then, and he was 16 votes shy
Then in 2009, they could have put in Dawson with Henderson instead of Rice.
Then in 2010, it should have been Alomar on the first ballot with Blyelven, who missed by five, instead of just Dawson.
Then in 2011, instead of Alomar and Blyleven, it should have been Larkin and Bagwell.
And then last year it would have been Raines and Morris instead of just Larkin.

That's three fewer candidates to muck up the options. Because that's the problem when limited to 10. You start looking at Lee Smith as a choice over Piazza, because guys that you are voting have to been on your ballot because they aren't already in.

And if the next couple of years weren't so loaded, I would take no issue. There isn't a break of a monster name until 2020 at the earliest, assuming Rivera retires after this season. If the next two classes were like the last one, when Bernie Williams was the top newcomer, then it would all sort itself out. But the names coming make it really easy for voters to pick them and just them, creating more issues.