2015 Baseball HOF ballot released

For so long, it seemed like it was pretty easy to navigate who was getting in and who wasn't. There were always a few guys (Blyleven, Rice, Perez, Morris) who made it interesting, but for the most part we had a pretty good idea who was getting in.

Now? There is a pretty long list of guys who most people have zero clue whether they get in.

 

What a load of typical, self-important BBWAA nonsense.

They all did with honor and integrity in the good ol days, lol.

Joe, you obviously covered the game, you couldn't have been naive enough to not know what was going on back then so I assume you condemned this horrific slight on the game as it was happening. Or were you just another gullible member of the complicit media writing gushing pieces about your hero's?

I hate to break it you and ruin your apple pie but given the chance the speed freaks of the past would have done the exact same thing.

Players have been trying to cheat and gain an edge in baseball for over 100 years and we are shocked and outraged players would do this horrible thing. Gaylord Perry is celebrated for his cheating.

 

As Deadspin pointed out, Smoltz is as much of a right winger as Curt. I liked Curt as an outrageous character when I covered him with the Sox, but I could see if I was cooped up with him on the same team for a season sharing the endless baseball hours, I'dve hated him.

 

Isn't Maddux a right-winger as well?

 

The Hall of Fame is about accomplishment on the baseball field. The rest is just your opinion, not a definition of what the Hall truly represents. Also, there are players who cheated in one way or another already in the Hall of Fame. Why aren't you complaining about them?

The bit about "their pet guy" is unfair to those who disagree with you on this subject. It sounds like you are just trying to dismiss them as fanboys of a certain player rather than give them the same respect you ask us to give you, to treat you as if you are just a voter trying to do the best job possible.

 

The Carlton argument isn't a good one because as much as writers may have hated him, he's one of the best pitchers of the last century. He's not a borderline guy like Schilling.

 

Jim Rice seems like the closest comparison I can immediately think of.

 

Dick Allen?

 

I'd venture a guess that most star MLB players of the last 30 years are right-wingers, even the minorities. They've been filthy rich and paying an assload in taxes since they were in their early 20s, so it stands to reason.

They don't all just shoot off their mouths the way Schilling does.

 

I thought about him because I think he's a slam-dunk Hall of Famer and the best non-PED player not in the Hall, but I think that his exclusion had a considerable amount to do with old-school voters looking at a guy who didn't reach statistical bench marks. He was a victim of playing in a pitchers' era.

That said, to the extent that they "punished" him for his personality, wasn't it more because he was a clubhouse cancer, reportedly (although not according to the White Sox), than because he treated writers poorly? And that seems at least somewhat more legitimate as a reason not to vote for someone.

Albert Belle would be another one.

 

Right. A guy who probably should have gotten in a lot more easily than he did, but had to wait because the writers fucking hated him. I've heard Dave Parker mentioned as someone who was impacted by his relationship with the media, but he probably wasn't as clear cut as Rice.

I'm not as familiar with Dick Allen. Was he a miserable prick too?

 

Many believe Rice should never have gotten in regardless of how he treated the press.