Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

As much as I like Fred McGriff, he was NOT a better player than Andre Dawson. The Hawk, in his prime with the Expos, was an outstanding young talent. Playing on Montreal's hard artificial surface definitely hurt him and robbed him of his speed. Saw him when he first broke in and thought he was amazing.
McGriff, couldn't run. His awkward swing and glove work were legendary and he does belong in the hall, somewhere. Unfortunately we are getting into an are where many outstanding players are coming up for nomination.
Another player who definitely belongs is Barry Larkin. His poor showing was very alarming.

 

I don't get it. Someone uses pretty standard statistical evidence - not WAR, not VORP, not DIPS - to show that Tiger Stadium was not a hitter's park when Morris pitched there. Runs. ERA. And the answer is: "I don't care what that says. It was a band box!"

At that point, it becomes analogous to a first-grader holding his breath and stamping his feet.

 

Personally, I'd like to see it take another 50 years for Alomar to get in.

 

Yes he was dick to deal with but there's no mistaking his talent. He deserves to be voted in the hall.

 

What they are doing is questioning the statistical analysis. They are saying that perhaps the Tigers had pitchers who were simply better at home. And please don't try to tell me that there are not such pitchers. I will direct you to Wandy Rodriguez, who is much better at home despite pitching in a park that favors hitters.

 

Someone said it was a "miracle" to have a 3.90 ERA at Tiger Stadium during Morris's era. The evidence very clearly shows otherwise.

 

Another stat fucker.

You never saw Dawson in the outfield apparently. Eight Gold Gloves in center field. McGriff? Woodwork first baseman.

Plus, 98 percent of McGriff's career was played from 1987 onward, when the rabbitball arrived in MLB.

 

Two Three thoughts on this:

-- It sure does seem mean-spirited to intentionally raise the bar higher for people you have no interest in, unless you're an ancestor of Babe Freaking Ruth or something.

-- If they're going to be consistent, those five guys can only vote for new players who come on the ballot going forward. Or not, I suppose. They have rejected everyone on it to this point. But if they're part of a make-Alomar-wait crowd, preserving the phony sanctity of "first-year inductees," then they're complete frauds.

-- Imagine if the American public could file blank ballots -- and have them count against all candidates -- in a Presidential election. We'd never get anyone into the damn White House.

 

I guess I'll amend that it was the best hitters park for left-handed hitters, remembering Lou Whitaker hit popup after popup onto that overhang.

 

Yep. Hit 146 HRs at home, 98 away.

Listen, I'm not trying to be a "stat fucker." I just know that when we merely rely on observation and memory, we make mistakes. If we just did that, we'd still think the earth revolves around the sun.

Today, in the NYT, Randy Johnson talked about facing Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Andy Van Slyke in his debut. The writer looked it up. He didn't face any of them. He wasn't lying. He just "misremembered" it. Taking some of the arguments on here and by BBWAA voters to their logical conclusion, those memories, even when provably false, should still count more than hard data. I don't understand that.

Our memories play tricks on us, as does our perspective.

 

Why would the good pitching staff perform better at home than on the road, and why would the offense do the opposite?