How many of the following active players would you vote into the HOF?

Andruw Jones is in, but not Barry Bonds. Idiotic.

 

No on Boomer, Nomar, Delgado and Edmonds.

Not yet on Moose, Papi, A. Jones, Kent, Sheff, Thome, Chipper and Vlad.

Everyone else is in.

 

Since we're talking about baseball immortality here, if I had any hesitation, I voted no.
That left me with:
Jeter
Bonds
A-Rod
Clemens
Maddux
Glavine
Pedro
Randy Johnson
Rivera
Manny
I-Rod
Griffey

With some more years like the last few, Guererro and Ortiz could make it. Winning another Series would help either quite a bit in my book.

 

I picked 15. Glavine, Ortiz and Ramirez to name a few, aren't among my choices.

 

In for sure:
--Jeter
--Bonds
--A-Rod
--Clemens
--Maddux
--Glavine
--Smoltz
--Pedro
--Big Unit
--Rivera
--Ramirez
--Griffey

Would have to sleep on it:
--Sosa
--Thomas
--Biggio
--I-Rod
--Piazza
On the last two, Carter being in the Hall makes it tough to keep them out. Although Piazza was horrid defensively.

May have a chance with more super years:
--Ortiz
--Andruw (they'd better be awesome)

Only getting into Cooperstown with a ticket:
--Mussina
--Hoffman
--Wells
--Kent
--Nomar
--Sheffield
--Thome
--Delgado
--Chipper
--Vlad
--Edmonds

 

Technically, you don't need a ticket to go to Cooperstown. To get into the Museum, sure. But there's no admission to the town lines or the lawn.

And I disagree with Kent not getting in. He's the best offensive second baseman of all time. He's got 526 doubles, 360 home runs, 1,4439 RBIs and drove in 100-plus runs in eight of nine seasons. If he's not a first-ballot guy, it wouldn't surprise me a whole lot. But I don't think he'll be waiting long after he's eligible, either.

 

I'm not as tuned into baseball as I used to be, so maybe someone can share with me the argument for Smoltz. Looking at his numbers, I figured he'd be on the bubble.

 

If Glavine (he of the 300 career wins, five 20-win seasons, two Cy Youngs, one World Series MVP and 2,500+ strikeouts) didn't make it, I'd be very interested to see the 15 who did. I realize he never blew holes in the backstop with his pitches, but man, it's hard to argue with the results of his approach.

As for Ortiz and Ramirez, I left them off too. Although, upon further review (okay, I looked at baseball-reference.com), the snub of Manny may have been unwarranted. Lucky for him, I don't have a real vote 8)

 

As a Braves fanboy, I've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of HOF support Smoltz seems to have gained this year. I think it's stats (200 wins, 150 saves, winningest postseason pitcher in history, 2,900 strikeouts on the way to 3,000) plus the perception that, at his best, he was every bit the equal of his more celebrated teammates. His reputation as a power pitcher helps too.

 

He may have lost Game 7 of the '91 World Series against Morris, but that was one helluva effort. I can watch that game a million times and it's vibrant viewing each time. Smoltz the rook against Morris the ol' grisled vet.

 

I made this argument on one of the other Hall threads. There has to be a medium between using stats and being able to watch a player and think: "That's a HOFer." It's that unquantifiable feeling that makes these discussions both interesting and maddening since everyone's eyes tell them something different.